The Roots

During the 1990s, the line between jazz and hip-hop had crossed numerous times, leaving the perfect opening for the legendary Philadelphia upstarts The Roots to release their self-produced debut, Organix. The album generated significant enough industry buzz that they were signed to a major-label soon after.

Long before one of the greatest live hip-hop groups of all-time was entertaining audiences of thousands on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, Organix was the band at its' loosest and most playful, and a pinnacle in the development of the group, which would culminate with their landmark release "Do You Want More?!?." An important part of any fan of The Roots, or funk-inflected rap music in general, featuring the smooth basslines of Leonard Hubbard, the sinuous organ-work of an early Scott Storch, and the jazzy beats and esoteric rhymes of the band's longest-serving members, Questlove and Black Thought.