RECORD COLLECTION / COLIN

The Roots - Things Fall Apart . 1999

I grew up in a small town, and unsurprisingly, my exposure to hip hop was extremely limited. Granted, I did have a cherished cassette of MC Hammer's 'Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em', and the second CD I bought was Kris Kross' debut. Needless to say, I was pretty cool as a kid.

However, the next ten years were virtually devoid of any hip hop in my musical upbringing. I was a grunge kid (my favourite artists? Nirvana and Soundgarden), and access to my brother's CDs rounded out my rock education with bands like Rancid and Nine Inch Nails. It was probably no coincidence that at that time I was learning to play the guitar, so for me, the organic aspect of music was magical. I didn't want to hear some guy on a computer make music - I wanted it to be 'real'. Of course, now I realize the arrogance of my ignorance.

The only hip hop I ever really heard during my early high school days had been Eminem, who I have never been impressed with. But when I finally heard 'You Got Me', the major single off The Roots' fourth album 'Things Fall Apart', I was surprised. Was this a real band making this music? And a really great band at that? The lyrical content of the song, so powerful and heartwrenching, reached me in a way I wasn't expecting. I bought the album and was hooked. Jazz chord progressions, political lyrics, percussive vocal phrasings; this was new and this was good.

What became increasingly clear was the importance of the rhythm section. I always thought of the bass as largely irrelevent. Wasn't it the guitar that really set the mood of the song? From the various counter rhythms in 'The Next Movement', to the incredible tagteam duet with Mos Def in 'Double Trouble', to the gliding bassline in 'Ain't Sayin' Nothin' New', I was consistently amazed with the interaction between their drummer ?uestlove and their bassist Hub. It had a patience to it that seemed to be foreign to rock. This album is solely responsible for getting me to appreciate and love hip hop. I felt like a kid who claimed to be great at mathematics, but had never even heard of multiplication.

Hub remains one of my favourite bass players. And while I would certainly not claim to sound similar, I did learn a valuable lesson in subtley and space from his style, and I try to add these traits to Rikers' songs.

Standout Tracks: 'Ain't Sayin' Nothin' New', '100% Dundee' & 'Dynamite!'