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8.0
65799
8.0 |
The Observer
The Roots grow ever more challenging, and ever more brilliant
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8.0
65815
8.0 |
Slant Magazine
A trim 35 minutes in length, with 11 tracks and eight proper songs, zooming through its disjointed structure without much padding
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8.0
65852
8.0 |
Paste Magazine
Conceptually, The Roots prove their mastery of mixing high and low culture for diverse audiences. It’s a headier album, but one rife with significance
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8.0
65863
8.0 |
Exclaim
Their most challenging and arguably most polarizing album to date
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8.0
66407
8.0 |
The Music
Doesn’t have all answers for hip hop’s ills, but it’s a fearless statement nonetheless
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7.5
66018
7.5 |
Pretty Much Amazing
The Roots have spent more than two decades perfecting their own handwriting, and this album serves as the natural italic they have slowly adopted over time
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7.2
65931
7.2 |
Pitchfork
Finds the Roots in some version of the comfy purgatory they've been residing since How I Got Over
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7.0
65956
7.0 |
The Line Of Best Fit
It’s an album about ennui, vice, disorientation and urban decay. These are not new themes for The Roots – but that’s precisely the point: not much has actually changed
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7.0
65800
7.0 |
All Music
An album that, depending on the amount of time spent with it, will seem either fragmentary and hollow or fathoms deep - either a trifle or among the group's most remarkable work
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7.0
65802
7.0 |
Rolling Stone
The band seems fueled by a moody, circa-1961 record collection, recontextualizing life before funk
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6.7
65817
6.7 |
A.V. Club
The Roots have managed yet another album individualistic like little else in hip-hop, but unlike their best work this one’s more interested in scholastic provocation than genuine pathos
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6.6
66027
6.6 |
Sputnik Music (staff)
A strong album with several standout moments, but these great moments are often hampered by the inchoate themes and parched ideas surrounding it
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6.0
66189
6.0 |
The Irish Times
The Roots as we once knew them have left the building, leaving behind a band well prepared to think and talk along complex lines
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6.0
66979
6.0 |
Q
It could've been the hip-hop innovators' bleak masterpiece - if only it didn't feel so unfinished. Print edition only
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6.0
67001
6.0 |
Mojo
Short, taut and dense art-rap set. Print edition only
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6.0
65848
6.0 |
Spin
Songs sag and soar at once
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6.0
66014
6.0 |
State
Will serve as a great addition to their discography but probably won’t turn them into bigger stars than they already are now
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5.8
65894
5.8 |
Consequence Of Sound
The album on the whole, a 33-minute journey that ultimately relies too much on its jazz, soul, and classical-indebted instrumentation, is highly fragmented
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5.0
66894
5.0 |
PopMatters
Ultimately, the album always will fall short of the standard the Roots set for themselves
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