With their liberal politics and rock-band set-up, the Roots are the hip-hop group it's OK for Jools Holland to like, but they pall over long distances. Blame their weakness for jamming, and the dry, earnest rapping of frontman Black Thought. Like fellow rap mavericks Common and Cee-Lo, the Philadelphians have at last twigged that ambition and brevity aren't mutually exclusive; this album, their first for Jay-Z's label Def Jam, is as tight as a fist.
It's a record born under storm clouds, both political (Hurricane Katrina) and personal (the death, after a painful illness, of acclaimed producer J Dilla). From Atonement's slithery Radiohead sample to Long Time's sobering ghetto tales, the tension is palpable. One can forgive their sole lapse into baggy self-indulgence on the closing tribute to J Dilla. This taut, turbulent piece of work is the Roots' best yet.
