The Roots

Released: September 24, 1996

Songwriter: Kelo Saunders Black Thought

Producer: Kelo Saunders

[Hook: Black Thought]
It's the Concerto of The Desperado
R-double-O-T-S, check the flow
If you know like I know, then you know the motto
That's all the fraud/fake shit gots to go

[Verse 1: Black Thought]
Yo, in the glow of the moon, over the melancholy metro
My poetry is set like a U.F.O
The maestro, the lyricist concerto
My physical play the role of a vessel
The level of my lyrics law manifesto
My thoughts wrestle and attack with the killer instincts
Of a gorilla stronger than Samson
Without Delilah, my soliloquy profess my ability to just
Stimulate you like the best sensimilla
The Halflife of Illadel' LP, no filler, proceed
Hitherin' is my death, I will blow your tower to smithe-
-reens, the fiends catch another rhyme river
Deeper than the meditations of a Hindu worshiper
Unorthodox hip-hop minister
Than a Serengeti cheetah, my thought's swifter
You lose your balance when the sound hits ya
So, check for the Fifth Militia
A poet's under pressure, stressin' that you get the picture (Click!)
Even if it mean you gotta hang over the banister
I pull a microphone on any pistol brandisher
And take advantage of ya crew because you're amateur
Styles gunnin' down your sound-man and manager, what!?
This how we do it in the year of '96
With this deliberate attack on pointless rap shit
Breakin' MC's down to fraction, tell your squadron
It's time to go to war, Respond/React once more

[Hook: Black Thought]
It's the Concerto of The Desperado
R-double-O-T-S, check the flow
If you know like I know, then you know the motto
That's all the fraud/fake shit gots to go
It's the Concerto of The Desperado
R-double-O-T-S, check the flow
If you know like I know, then you know the motto
That's all the fraud/fake shit gots to go

[Verse 2: Black Thought]
The implorer, the universe explorer
Treat MC's like the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah
Leavin' these niggas open like the box of Pandora
With styles that's Newer than the World Order
Approximately 3/4 of y'all are water, I straight deport ya
Then orchestrate your torture with roots of culture
The pil-grimage to the line of scrimmage up against your image
Where life is a heist and the strong get a percentage
It's ill as a war and within it, I'm the Lieutenant
That surrounds you like a peninsula to snatch the pennant
You fold like Japan's futons and fans
While I design a plan to make a rapper step like a pedestri-an
I crush a mount-ain into grains of sand
Your pain stains the hand that held the mic inserted to the stand
The Desperado that refuse to follow
The Fifth aficionado break you up into parts like vibrato
I'm deep like the dark of the night
Niggas is sweet and sound silly when they talk on the mic
They use the simple back-and-forth
The same old rhythm that's plain
I'd rather UltraMagnetize your brain
It's the hip-hop purist
That leave you lost like a tourist inside the chorus
Niggas is bringin' nothin' for us
As we're breakin' 'em down to fraction, tell your squadron
It's time to go to war, Respond/React once more

[Hook: Black Thought]
It's the Concerto of The Desperado
R-double-O-T-S, check the flow
If you know like I know, then you know the motto
That's all the fraud/fake shit gots to go
It's the Concerto of The Desperado
R-double-O-T-S, check the flow
If you know like I know, then you know the motto
That's all the fraud/fake shit gots to go

The world’s premiere hip-hop band, The Roots were formed in Philadelphia in 1987 by MC Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter and drummer and bandleader Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson. Since those early days, the band has weathered changes in personnel and record labels while performing hundreds of shows a year and releasing a string of well-regarded (if not always top-selling) albums.

While the musicianship of Thompson and the other band members, as well as their seemingly limitless repertoire, gets most of the attention, real hip-hop fans know that the rapping skills of Black Thought (along with former group member Malik B.) are the group’s hidden weapon. Thought, one of the few MCs brave enough to go toe to toe with Big Pun, handles any groove the band throws at him with aplomb, style, and flash.

Today, The Roots are seen by millions every night as the house band on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, a move that has given the group the chance to indulge its not-insignificant comic side.

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