3point5’s ‘In The Groove’ Twitch Show Partners with uDiscover For New Episode
This month’s episode will feature UMe’s Director of A&R for the Urban Catalog discussing albums from Public Enemy, Quincy Jones, and The Roots.
Universal Music Group’s official Twitch channel 3point5 is partnering with uDiscover for a new episode of the Twitch show In The Groove.
On Wednesday, September 4 at 11 a.m. PT, Maxwell Dartey, Director of A&R for Urban Catalog at UMe, will discuss three new reissues from Public Enemy, Quincy Jones, and The Roots.
Dartey will be offering up his thoughts on the new limited edition 2LP version of Public Enemy’s It Takes A Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back; a 40th anniversary edition of Quincy Jones The Dude; and an exclusive 4LP box set of The Roots’ Do You Want More?!!!??!
Public Enemy first dropped It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back on an unsuspecting world on June 28, 1988. Nothing would ever be the same in its wake.
It not only climbed to No.1 on the Billboard 200 and went platinum, but it also carved out a place in history thanks to singles such as “Rebel Without a Pause,” “Bring the Noise,” “Don’t Believe the Hype,” and many more. It yielded an unprecedented collision of jazz fluidity, punchy funk, and fascinating sample alchemy with provocative, powerful, and poetic wordplay about everything from race to revolution.
As for Quincy Jones’ masterpiece, you didn’t need to hear a single note from The Dude to know it was going to stand out. All you had to do was look at the album cover and see that unique South African sculpture on the front. Jones once said he found it while visiting a Los Angeles art gallery with Henry Mancini. “It was as if it yelled over at us and said, ‘My brother, take me home.’” He bought it immediately, saying the statue “had an attitude like I’d never seen before.” And that’s the key word for what you hear on The Dude: attitude. It was a statement of worldly, unquestioned confidence.
Lastly, Do You Want More?!!!??! captured the raw energy of The Roots’ live shows and improv jam sessions. While previous hip-hop acts had been influenced by (and infatuated with) jazz, among them A Tribe Called Quest, Gang Starr, and Digable Planets, The Roots continued to advance the sound, evolving from a hip-hop collective to a full-fledged band.
Production on the album was handled primarily by The Grand Negaz and drummer/bandleader Questlove, who crafted an album of gems, of which “Proceed” stands out as one of the best. It remains one of The Roots’ signature tracks, on which Black Thought brings his adroit lyricism to a jazzy, laid back groove. Elsewhere, with its infectious hook, “Distortion To Static” displays the group’s unique sound, while “Silent Treatment” will go down as one the best rap ballads of the 90s, with its vulnerable ethos and Black Thought’s effusive chorus.
