The Roots ~ Illadelph Halflife

[Urban_Journalz]

Along with Kweli & Hi-Tek's "Train Of Thought"
Illadelph Halflife was the only other album that made stop listening to Wu-Tang for like 2 weeks straight because that album was in constant rotation.

Hip-Hop classic. No doubt.

[WuGambino]

9/10.
I really like it but not my fav Roots Album.

Some great moments on it though.

[beardman]

This cd is classic!
________
design host

[ballistic]

hip hop's cream of the crop.
i mean really, what's fucking with this album? easily top ten...i even have an illadelph halflife shirt that i ordered from okayplayer.com. its relentless...black thought stakes a claim for among the best lyricists ever, and malik b is pretty damn impressive himself. not to mention the backing.

[assmoney]

what they do = best song ever

[SickT]

cant really decide between Do you want more/illadelph halflife/Things fall apart. All classics.

[Maxxx Millisecondz]

this and do you want more???!!?!? were my two first Roots albums, and i give them both a 10. i don't agree about them not making quality after Things Fall Apart. i've liked just about everything they put out that i've heard. my only gripe with Game Theory and The Tipping Point is that they are too short.

[DJMethods]

100/10

[thamainfacta]

illadelph halflife is the shit.. top 5 albums of all time for sure and 'what they do' is the greatest song ever. i love that shit to bits. they saw hip hop going commercial way back in 96'. listening to a line like. 'the principles of true hip hop have been forsaken, its all contractual and about money makin'. they saw this coming way before it happened and they were spot on. 10/10 on this album.

[TAURO]

Brilliant album, this and Things fall apart are my fave Roots albums.

[CommSense]

easily a 10. Black Thought at his finest. Same with Malik. so many classic tracks (clones, UNIverse, what they do, section, desperato). top 10 album in my eyes.


alsoo, any else think that MARS verse on Clones is a classic? i love that verse. one of my fav all time.

[benzo]

8.5/10
Classic album. "Clones", "Respond React" are some highlights for me. I actually think that their production and songwriting peaked AFTER this album, though. This is mos def the most "hip-hop" of all their joints but to me, some of the beats start to blend with each other a bit. Still a must-have.

[claaa7]

i don't hand this out to a whole lot album, but goddamn it if this isn't a 5/5 album. every single beat on here is pure hip-hop with a live flavor to it, shit since real big and atmospheric since it's not sampled, Questlove is killing the drums section as well. lyrically it's just as dope, Black Thought lyrical skills is out of this world, definitely an underrated lyricist and Malik B holds his own with him. guest spots from Common, Q-Tip, Bahamadia, D'Angelo and Raphael Saadiq adds to the flavor.

probably the best album of 1996.

[KLAP]

Classic!!! It's hard to say if this whats better "DYWM",Illadelph Halflife, and "Things fall apart" are all classic!!!!

Free MALIK B.!!!!!

[claaa7]

i could never get into "Do You Want More??!!!" like that, it's a good album but i think most of their discography is stronger for me. "Illadelph Halflife" is top-10 to top-20 hip-hop albums of all time tho and "Things Fall Apart" is a masterpiece as well... The Roots is easily one of the most impressive groups/bands i've heard in my life, they never drops a wack album and still keeps it moving with the time. "How I Got Over" sounds NOTHING like "Illadelph..." but they are both incredible efforts.

the only track i skip on this album is the last song, "Adventures in Wonderland" which is a long track with poet Ursula Rucker. to me "One Shine" is the perfect closer before the outro, that shit is straight beautiful and it suits the album very fine to have such a jazzy ending when the rest of the album is so hardcore. "Adventures..." just keeps it dragging to, Ursula Rucker's closing on "Things Fall Apart" was a much better effort that made more sense in the context of the LP imo. still a 5/5 release tho... which one would you say is better - this, "Reasonable Doubt" or "Ironman" (since they both are strong LP's from 1996)?