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PMac551
 human female priest
[Rating28290428]
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Proud 2 Be A Citizen Of Philadelphia. |
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dufan
[Rating12943770]
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The Roots were always very consistent with their albums. My biggest problem with this album is how fucking long it is. Too many songs are over the four minute mark and it gets repetitive and a struggle to listen to towards the end. A full album of Black Thought and company over great 90s hip hop production.
Best Songs 20 songs minus 3 skits = 17 actual songs (12/17):
2. Respond/React
3. Section
4. Panic!!!
6. Episodes
7. Push Up Ya Lighter
8. What They Do
9. ? Vs Scratch
10. Concerto Of The Desperado
11. Clones
12. Universe At War
13. No Alibi (At 5 minutes this is pushing it, but not a bad song)
17. Ital (The Universal Side) |
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Nodima
 Best in show; pinnacle.
Digital
[Rating26126801]
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Illadelph Halflife [Geffen Records 1996]
1|Intro|0:36 4
2|Respond / React|5:09 (Produced by ?uestlove, Kelo & Black Thought) 4.5 - 5
3|Section|4:11 (Produced by Grand Negaz & Kelo) 4 - 4.5
4|Panic!!!!!|1:26 (Produced by ?uestlove, Grand Negaz & Rahzel) 5
5|It Just Don't Stop|4:35 (Produced by Kelo) 4.5 - 5
6|Episodes (feat. Dice Raw)|5:58 (Produced by Chaos & ?uestlove) 4.5 - 5
7|Push Up Ya Lighter (feat. Bahamadia)|4:38 (Produced by Grand Negaz & Kelo) 4 - 4.5
8|What They Do (feat. Raphael Saadiq)|5:58 (Produced by ?uestlove, Grand Negaz & Raphael Saadiq)) 4.75 - 5
I like how they rework a number of familiar sample staples.
9|? vs. Scratch (The Token DJ Cut)|1:49 (Produced by ?uestlove & Scratch) 5
10|Concerto of the Desperado|3:40 (Produced by Kelo) 3.5 - 4
11|Clones (feat. Dice Raw, M.A.R.S. Co-Op)|4:56 (Produced by Kelo) 4 - 4.75
12|Universe at War (feat. Common)|4:57 (Produced by Chaos) 5
13|No Alibi|5:13 (Produced by Grand Negaz & Chaos) 4.75 - 5
14|Dave vs. Us (feat. David Murray)|0:52 (Produced by Grand Negaz) 5
15|No Great Pretender |4:27 (Produced by Grand Negaz) 4 - 4.5
16|The Hypnotic (feat. D'Angelo)|5:20 (Produced by ?uestlove, LA Jay & Slim Kid 3) 4 - 4.25
17|Ital (The Universal Side) (feat. Q-Tip)|4:55 (Produced by Grand Negaz & Q-Tip) 4.5 - 5
18|One Shine (feat. Amel Larrieux)|5:42 (Produced by Grand Negaz) 4 - 4.5
19|The Adventures in Wonderland (feat. Ursula Rucker)|4:36 (Produced by Grand Negaz & ?uestlove) 4 - 4.75
20|Outro|0:15 4
Overall: 90 - 90.75 4.52/10 90 - 91%: Best of decade; BUY IT
So, basically Blowout Comb plus Low End Theory with way more live elements? If only this were 2006 Black Thought, but this album is where he truly began to feel a greater sense of purpose than entertaining battle rapper. Great production all the way through that marries live instrumentation and boom bap hip-hop to an even greater degree than Blowout Comb to equally great results, Illadelph Halflife is the Roots album. Game Theory feels more important and polished, but this album finds the perfect balance between the band's experimental and traditional sides, Thought's neo-soul consciousness and boom-bap battle stance, and most importantly it just sounds great. Rarely if ever should an album that actually clocks in at 1.3 hours in iTunes hold interest for its entire runtime, but Illadelph Halflife manages that and then some, arguably saving the best tracks for 12 through 17. |
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rhythm_of_life
[Rating25806749]
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The lyrical peak of the Roots, the beats are crazy aswell. |
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SoaPiNuReYe
Digital
[Rating25400107]
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One of those albums that reminds you why you listen to hip hop in the first place. |
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the1_and
 You will like more then half the tracks
[Rating23872090]
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Black Thought is a very good rapper. The Lyrics are good, the flow is good. The album though does start to lose steam at the end. If it were track 1-12 it might have gotten a higher rating. |
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BenniTHEKING
[Rating23734205]
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This is HipHop
1996 was a great year |
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JSelby
Bus Rides home from road games
CD
[Rating23511978]
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"People don't have a problem with conscious rap; they have a problem with conscious beats."
-Chris Rock
A couple of days ago, I decided that I was finally going to get off my ass and get into some Roots shit. I was at Best Buy, and had a choice between this and Like Water for Chocolate, and I chose Illadelph due in large part to the fact that it was advertised as $14, while the former was $15. Of course, the album somehow ended up costing me only $10 anyway, so my rational became a bit flawed.
Anyways, I orginally listened to the album while riding my bike. And let me tell you, folks, I was ready to shit all over this album. I was ready to give it a 2, and defend myself from the oncoming influx of haterade that this site was gonna sip. Of course, when I did it for Stankonia, I had a "funny" gimmick (I mean, you can never go wrong with inserting Kazaam the Rapping Genie into your review). For Illadelph, it was inevitably going to be one of my trademark whiny bitching tirades that I probably despise more than anyone on this site.
But I told myself when I finished the album that I was going to give it a second chance. I knew that the album was much better than my instinct had told me, I was well aware that the lyrics had kind of gone over my head, and I knew that it would sound great driving, something I had wanted to do originally but had been unable to.
Lo and behold, I was right. The album grew on me by the second listen. Now, there was a reason I had originally intended to bitch about the album, and it's the reason I included the Chris Rock quote at the top: The beats. When I first heard the album, I hated the first half of the album's beats. They sounded weak as hell, and far too often, a beat would be plagued by horrific "beeping", which appears to be from like, an electric keyboard or something, in the background. No don't get me wrong, I still think some of the beats on here suck ("Respond-React", "It Just Don't Stop", and "Push Up Ya Lighter",) but plenty of them either grew on me or where pretty damn good to begin with. Still, in general, I'm not a fan of beats that SOUND like alternative rap, as utterly retarted as I am aware that statement is. One of the reasons that I love Lupe Fiasco's and Mos Def's albums was because they had beats that were bangin and great, and I've always been under the belief that great beats only enhance the lyrics even more, which is why Nas' mind-set to get intentionally weak beats on his album is pretty damn backfiring. The beats here can far too often just sound boring, and you can call me an idiot all you want (because quite frankly, there's no real reason not to at this point), but that's my opinion.
Now, if there's one problem the album never had, it was the rapping. Now, I know that Black Thought and Malik B are the rappers in the group, but i honestly didn't even figure out there were only two guys rapping in the group for a bit. I also know that one of them sounds a hell of a lot like Mos Def. This was made even more confusing by the fact that in the second half of the album features a plephoria of guest rappers, with only two that I recognized off the bat (Common and Q-Tip). Despite me looking like a dick for not figuring out the rapping lineup for the Roots, the rapping on the album is great, bordering on spectacular. I think the raps can occasionally become a bit boring, but it's a very minor criticism, and is rarely even an issue.
Aside from the beats, I had a couple of other issues with the album: The album starts of with a whimper in "Respond/React", which is never good for any rap album. I'm also not feeling the spoken word woman at the end. And yes, I am fully aware of the hypocritical statement I just made, considering that I proclaimed the beginning of Lupe's second verse on "Daydreamin'" to be the Line of the Album, but you know what, not only is consistancy not my strong suit, but I don't have to like all of the same thing. I got what she was saying, and I still didn't like it. Sue me.
In the end, I still have mixed feelings about Illadelph Halftime. I keep telling myself that maybe the reason why I currently think it's as good as it is is because I listened to the last 1/2 in the car portion on my birthday today, even though I'm not neccesarily in the greatest mood of all time. Hell, maybe in the future, I'll hate it again. I still don't think it's the bonafide classic many make it out to be... hell, it ain't even the best mid-90's east coast rap album to begin with Ill. But for now, I'll give my props to Illadelph Halftime.
Highlights "Section"; "What They Do"; "Concerto of the Desperado"; "Clones" (I love the fury brought to the mic); "Universe at War" (It's always great to hear Common); "No Alibi"; "The Hypnotic" (I guess); "Ital (The Universal Side)"; "One Shine" (Beautiful beat);
Lowlights "Respond-React" (Pretty weak for an album opener); "Panic!!!!!"; "It Just Don't Stop" (The lyrics are good, but that beat is booty cheeks); "Push Up Ya Lighter"; "The Adventures in Wonderland" (Eh, no thanks.)
Line of the Album
Ayo, it's funny when I see some rap n***** due to make it
A few'll blow up, or go as far as they can take it
-"What They Do"
Huh? Thank God the nickname Illadelph never caught on, because I think even D.C.'s "Chocolate City" is a better name than that. |
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diction
Classic
CD
[Rating9728990]
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Lyrics: 4.5
Beats: 4.5
This used to be my favorite Roots album (and one of my all-time favorites) before the release of Game Theory, but nowadays it just didn't reach me like it did before. Somehow like Do You Want More, I feel that the group can go to higher more advanced levels and this feels a little basic compared to what they are capable of now. The album is still flawless at what it does, trying to find a flaw here is near impossible and it's really outstanding from start to finish. This is the Roots most hardcore hip hop album, it's straight up beats and lyrics and no gimmicks surrounding it. They threw out their jazz sound from Do You Want More, and went for something else. This would be something that would personify the group with the years, they would never look back on their past achievements and just keep evolving... I feel that this is somehow an answer to Mobb Deep's The Infamous, without the gangsta talk of course, but sonically it aims for dark street beats as what most of the east coast rappers were doing in the mid 90s. Lyrically it's a little bit more of the same as Do You Want More, Black Thought and Malik B trade verses in a semi-battle, semi-conscious style... they really offer a great performance, the only thing negative I can say about them is that they don't have the personality of the all-time great rappers, but they really do rap well. A classic album for sure, definitely an essential piece of their discography, but I can't say that it's their best anymore. |
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rn_96
Very Good
Digital
[Rating21204378]
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HIPHOP baby... crazy flow...what they do was smooth and had intellegent lyrics from black though... track of the album had to be "clones".
5 star songs: 5 songs
3.9/5 stars = 78%
RN 96 RATINGS:
1 = horrible (suck ass)
2 = not worth listening (home made garbage)
3 = decent
4 = Amazing
4.5 - 5 = CLASSIC (BUY IT) |
distribution | 0.5 | | 1 | | 1.0 | | 2 | | 1.5 | | 4 | | 2.0 | | 9 | | 2.5 | | 16 | | 3.0 | | 52 | | 3.5 | | 110 | | 4.0 | | 232 | | 4.5 | | 176 | | 5.0 | | 90 |
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This is an awesome record, but.. | | |
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Triumph | | CD |
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Falls just short of perfection | | Digital |
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Average | | Digital |
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very small. | | |
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Not Chad Warden | | Digital |
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are you SERIOUS!!! | | |
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distribution | 8-Track | | 1 | | Cassette | | 10 | | CD | | 418 | | CD-R | | 15 | | Vinyl | | 13 | | Minidisc | | 1 | | Digital | | 232 | | Multiple | | 2 | | Other | | 6 |
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rym
