The Roots

Released: July 13, 2004

Featuring: Dice Raw

Songwriter: Kool G Rap Big Daddy Kane Marlon Williams (Guitarist) Mel “Chaos” Lewis ?uestlove Black Thought Dice Raw

Producer: Mel “Chaos” Lewis

[Verse 1]
Hold your flix, I'm not for the photo op's
It's Black, code name Yaphet Kotto ock
My twist like a ratchet in an auto shop
Since granddaddy old Desoto stopped and he got the Caddie
I been gladly servin, any y'all cats wanna act determined
Spit pesticides for rats and vermin
Seem like none of y'all chumps is learning
Y'all hopeless, and I'm a little better than dopest
Far from a brand new kid to show biz
Tryna hold on, maintain my focus
Coming out the room with a cloud of smoke of dro and
With the punches
I survive and rock
Cause I keep the crowd alive
And the texture of my voice
Is course and kind of hoarse and cut
Like I'm throwing a thousand knives

[Hook]
Party people, gather round
What we have here is a brand new sound
Reach for my waist you hit the ground
You better duck when that awful sound goes...
(Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom)
Yeah! Thats what's happenin in the parking lot
(Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom)
Thats whats happening on stage

[Verse 2]
The man at hand that rule the school
And reach and teach the blind and find a way from A to Z
And be the most to boast I'm load and proud
The game and reign that remain
The heat is on so feel the fire come off the empire or the
More higher level of depth one step beyond dope
To suckers all scope and hope to cope but nope
Cause I could never let 'em on top of me
I play 'em out like a game of Monopoly
Let it speed around the board like an Astro
Then send 'em to jail for trying to pass Go
Shaking 'em up, breaking 'em up, taking no stuff
But it still ain't loud enough
So Questlove let the fire roast
So I can flow and we can kill the whole show cause

[Hook]
Party people, gather round
What we have here is a brand new sound
Reach for my waist you hit the ground
You better duck when that awful sound goes...
(Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom)
Yeah! Thats what's happenin in the parking lot
(Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom)
Thats whats happening on stage

[Verse 3]
I'm live
Design a finer rhyme that's right on time
One step beyond and not behind the line
That seperates thought from divine
You can take it as a caution, or a warning sign
Look for antonyms, words I'm sending em
Homonyms, synonyms good like M&Ms
You know the time when it's Riq Geez slicing
I turn a Mic's last name into Tyson
My brain like a factory constantly creating
Materials stitch by stitch for decoration
My lyrics one fabric the beat is a lining
My passion of rhyming is fashion designing
Now it get sorted cause people wanna sport it ya bought it
If you didn't then you couldn't afford it
Poetry full of surprises it's like a game show
And my brain go, "I do my thing yo!"

[Hook]
Party people, gather round
What we have here is a brand new sound
Reach for my waist you hit the ground
You better duck when that awful sound goes...
(Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom)
Yeah! Thats what's happening in the parking lot
(Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom)
Thats whats happenin on stage

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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