Driving funk from the Roots; cutesy-pie ska from Lily Allen
Posted: Friday, June 15, 2007 9:52 PM by John Roderick
The Roots
Over on the mainstage the Roots grabbed me and shook me like a bear shakes a salmon. I’m no big fan of modern hip-hop, especially the prevalent brand that glorifies pimps and hookers, and in fact can’t wait for it to wither on the vine. But the Roots are a funk band of the highest order, so much so that even the constant rapping over the music doesn’t quite make it hip-hop. Their “hype guy” is a tuba player, for crying out loud. No disrespect to the MC, because he rapped well, and in fact he wondered aloud from the stage whether hip-hop was a thing of the past, but the Roots have the musicianship to transcend the limitations of the genre.
I was unselfconsciously boogieing throughout their set, although I didn’t devolve into hippy-dancing like much of the crowd. I boogied. There’s a difference. Music played with that much soul is intrinsically positive, and they even vamped on "Inna Gada Da Vida."
Lily Allen
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Lily Allen is a big pop-star in England, coming out of the “Grime Scene,” I guess.
She sounds very much like her contemporaries Lady Sovereign and MIA, cutesy-pie, sing-song rhymes over modified ska music. Her lyrics were of a style we used to call “Riot Grrrl” (except more fun), empowering her peers to stand up to boys and enfranchise themselves through “neener-neener” comments about the size of men’s “willies” and so forth. Meanwhile, a competent Ska band went through the paces behind her. She was charming, and took the initiative to speak to the crowd and explain her songs, which most of the bands at these big shows would never do. Ultimately, though, I started to feel a little self-conscious about the size of my “willie," so I got the heck out fo there right about the time they fired up a Specials cover.
