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The Roots & John Legend cover Ernie Hines' "Our Generation."

Hotsauce84Hotsauce84 8,450 Posts
edited June 2010 in Strut Central
Meh. I think John Legend overdoes it on here:

"Our Generation"

However, Raphael Saadiq covering The Spinners is much, much better:



"It's A Shame"

  Comments

  • bassiebassie 11,710 Posts
    Cripes. Neo-soul is the new hotel lounge scene?

    So bad I'm on the verge of being pissed off.
  • Hotsauce84Hotsauce84 8,450 Posts
    bassie said:
    Cripes. Neo-soul is the new hotel lounge scene?

    So bad I'm on the verge of being pissed off.

    You don't like either?
  • FunkyFlatulentFunkyFlatulent 1,106 Posts
    I think John Legend is :talib: That is not the song to be doing sexual chocolate.

    That it's a shame is surprisingly not complete :face_melt: That seemed tailor made for him. Still good no doubt.
  • Hotsauce84Hotsauce84 8,450 Posts
    Who do we call to get Day on this project?? I'm thinking maybe Saadiq, Aloe or Miles.

    LESDOODIS, BRUTUS!
  • RAW_HAMBURGERRAW_HAMBURGER 1,438 Posts
    the instrumental is the shit, watch for the cover of mike james kirkland... hang on in there...that instrumental is also hot.

    funny how this gets shit on but the stuff that the haters ride for is so bad... john legend is not really my cup of tea either.

    im off to cook some crack in my kitchen, and rap about it. again. later.
  • hertzhoghertzhog 865 Posts
    Not feeling the John Legend at all. Wasn't really feeling his and the Roots cover of "Hard Times" that much either:



    The Saadiq joint on the other hand is perfectly fine.
  • bassiebassie 11,710 Posts
    Herm said:
    bassie said:
    Cripes. Neo-soul is the new hotel lounge scene?

    So bad I'm on the verge of being pissed off.

    You don't like either?

    Not at all.
    They both leave me cold.

    They are too slick and have no real depth or warmth.
  • SPlDEYSPlDEY Vegas 3,375 Posts
    I don't know Soul strut. I'm sorry dudes.

    I gotta give it up to both of those bands on this one.

    Raphael Saadiq's newest Soul re-invention album was boring to me. That Spinners cover on the otherhand was inspired. I thought he did a pretty damn good job. I've never been a fan of his voice. Never ever, but I thought that was pretty good.

    The Roots.

    Man, this is a band that I just can't hate. They got on Jimmy Fallon, and the output quality didn't decline. Admittedly, my interest in that band kinda waned after the 4th LP. I do appreciate how they will out of nowhere, bust out with an interesting cover, or something that will turn me on to them again.

    I'd say those 2 tracks are pretty solid funk covers from a Hip hop band. John Legend was the weakest link, but he also wasn't that bad. Just my opinion, I don't like his personal music at all, and that was maybe the best thing I've heard from that dude. Sure, they're a little weak compared to the originals, but from a polished band like The Roots it didn't come across to me as bad. feel me?

    I think they absolutely kill it here.


    Also, i think this new Dilla mixtape is pretty excellent.


    - spidey
  • noznoz 3,625 Posts
    RAW_HAMBURGER said:
    the instrumental is the shit, watch for the cover of mike james kirkland... hang on in there...that instrumental is also hot.

    funny how this gets shit on but the stuff that the haters ride for is so bad... john legend is not really my cup of tea either.

    im off to cook some crack in my kitchen, and rap about it. again. later.

    YEAH IT IS FUNNY HOW PEOPLE LIKE ONE THING BUT DONT LIKE A COMPLETELY UNRELATED THING. THEY ARE SUCH HYPOCRITES THATS WHY I HYPOQUIT THE BOARD I AM GLAD YOU BROUGHT THIS PERTINENT ISSUE TO LIGHT ITS ABOUT TIME SOMEONE ADDRESSED IT
  • mannybolonemannybolone Los Angeles, CA 15,025 Posts
    Yellow card to Noz (and RH by extension): No fucking way are we going to have another one of these stupid ass back-and-forth arguments with everyone taking up the same positions.

    I'd much rather rag on how bad John Legend sounds here. "Our Generation" cover = fail on both the musical and singing end. Then again, I really liked Badu doing Striplin so what do I know?

    The "It's a Shame" cover is fine; I don't really see how one could call it "inspired" given that Saadiq's approach is fine but flat. It's certainly not fucking with the original and musically, the instrumental sounds near identical. No extra or different flavor on there.
  • faux_rillzfaux_rillz 14,343 Posts
    mannybolone said:
    Yellow card to Noz (and RH by extension): No fucking way are we going to have another one of these stupid ass back-and-forth arguments with everyone taking up the same positions.
    .

    Dude, the raw hamburglar consistently pollutes the board with this crap--more people should call him on it. Being a supercollectro or whatever doesn't give you license to be an idiot.

    It's not like either one of these recordings is actually worth discussing

    I guess I'm glad the Roots have finally abandoned some of the pretense and just resigned themselves to being a boring cover band
  • bassiebassie 11,710 Posts
    faux_rillz said:
    mannybolone said:
    Yellow card to Noz (and RH by extension): No fucking way are we going to have another one of these stupid ass back-and-forth arguments with everyone taking up the same positions.

    Dude, the raw hamburglar consistently pollutes the board with this crap--more people should call him on it. Being a supercollectro or whatever doesn't give you license to be an idiot.

    I am pretty sure RH's comment was meant for me but my days of bothering with him are over.
  • Jonny_PaycheckJonny_Paycheck 17,825 Posts
    "Our Generation": 4/10. Nothing really doing here, it's not as bad as "Hard Times" but all of the feeling has been drained from the original. Legend is not good here and I was hoping The Roots would nail the instrumental but it's not nearly as tight as the original.

    "It's A Shame": 7/10. I like it. True to the original, they didn't do much with it, Saadiq is good (not lights out but very competent), I'm not looking for anyone to reinvent the wheel here but IMO if you're going to step to these classics that have been etched in our brains down to the slightest nuance for years, then you kind of have to kill it. Which leads me to

    "Hard Times" 2/10. Total and complete hackery. The original is mean as fuck and this is frappaccino. Legend sounds like a lounge crooner. You cannot do that to this record and hope to win. They could've gone with a number of other singers that The Roots work with that would've slayed this. His piano playing is wimpy. Cannot diss this enough. I need to go play the original just to cleanse my palate.

    Overall, pretty disappointed. Not the biggest Roots fan but not a hater of them either. All this shit sounds so lightweight. I will never play these over the originals, ever. Honestly, I won't play them at all.
  • fishmongerfunkfishmongerfunk 4,154 Posts
    i like the erykah badu one but the best part of all of those covers posted for me was simply questlove's drumming. that guy has crazy chops.
  • funkfromthesunfunkfromthesun 212 Posts
    Weak. None of these bands would've been recognized in the 60's or 70's. Unfunky drums, sloppy stuttering bass. John Legend proves that he's of a limited scope. Saadiq is my dude, but that shit didn't cut it.f
  • CosmoCosmo 9,768 Posts
    funkfromthesun said:
    None of these bands would've been recognized in the 60's or 70's

    That's hilarious.
  • CosmoCosmo 9,768 Posts
    But on the real though those covers are pretty bad.
  • FunkyFlatulentFunkyFlatulent 1,106 Posts
    what are these for? If they're just some random jam type thing i'll be a little less critical.
  • mannybolonemannybolone Los Angeles, CA 15,025 Posts
    FunkyFlatulent said:
    what are these for? If they're just some random jam type thing i'll be a little less critical.

    http://www.levispioneersessions.com/

    No doubt, there's some parallel forum of Tin Pan Alley enthusiasts popping shit about She & Him covering Bloom and Mercer.
  • ReynaldoReynaldo 6,054 Posts
    Jonny_Paycheck said:
    "It's A Shame": 7/10. I like it.
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