Phrenology (album)

Following the breakthrough success of Things Fall Apart (1999), its release was highly anticipated and delayed, as recording took two years. The album is named after the discredited pseudoscience of phrenology, the study of head shapes to determine intelligence and character, which was used to rationalize racism during the 19th century in the United States.{{cite journal|last=Venable|first=Malcolm|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tyUEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA124|title=Mo' Money, Mo' Problems|journal=Vibe|volume=10|issue=10|location=New York|date=October 2002|access-date=July 9, 2009|pages=124–128}} Its cover art was created by artist/printmaker Tom Huck.

Primarily a hip hop album, Phrenology features lyrical themes of hip hop culture and its commodification, with musical elements of rock, jazz, techno, hardcore punk, and soul music.Hoard, Christian. "[https://books.google.com/books?id=t9eocwUfoSoC&pg=PT716&dq= Review: Phrenology]". Rolling Stone: 702–703. November 2, 2004.{{cite news|last=Petridis|first=Alexis|author-link=Alexis Petridis|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2002/dec/06/popandrock.artsfeatures1|title=The Roots: Phrenology|newspaper=The Guardian|location=London|date=December 6, 2002|access-date=July 9, 2009}}{{cite web|last=Cinquemani|first=Sal|url=http://www.slantmagazine.com/music/review/the-roots-phrenology|title=The Roots: Phrenology|work=Slant Magazine|date=November 26, 2002|access-date=February 23, 2011}}{{cite news|last=Sterling|first=Scott T.|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-nov-24-ca-rack24-story.html|title=The Roots, 'Phrenology' (MCA)|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=November 24, 2002|access-date=August 11, 2009}} According to music critic Greg Kot, the Roots forge a connection between hip hop and neo soul on the album,{{cite news|last=Kot|first=Greg|author-link=Greg Kot|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2002/11/24/the-rootsphrenology-mcabridging-the-gap-between-hard-core/|title=The Roots: Phrenology (MCA)|newspaper=Chicago Tribune|date=November 24, 2002|access-date=May 2, 2013}} while Treble writer says it can "best be described" as progressive rap,{{cite magazine|last=Terich|first=Jeff|date=January 8, 2012|url=https://www.treblezine.com/the-roots-undun/|title=The Roots : undun|magazine=Treble|accessdate=July 16, 2021}} and Entertainment Weekly{{'}}s Raymond Fiore calls it the band's "left-field rock-rap opus".{{cite magazine|last=Flore|first=Raymond|date=July 16, 2004|url=https://ew.com/article/2004/07/16/tipping-point/|title=The Tipping Point|magazine=Entertainment Weekly|access-date=February 29, 2020}} A production of the Soulquarians collective,{{cite news|last=Kot|first=Greg|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/51234360.html?dids=51234360:51234360&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Mar+19%2C+2000&author=&pub=Chicago+Tribune&desc=A+FRESH+COLLECTIVE+SOUL+%3F+3+BY+GREG+KOT+%2F+TRIBUNE+ROCK+CRITIC.&pqatl=google|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511132544/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/51234360.html?dids=51234360:51234360&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Mar+19%2C+2000&author=&pub=Chicago+Tribune&desc=A+FRESH+COLLECTIVE+SOUL+%3F+3+BY+GREG+KOT+%2F+TRIBUNE+ROCK+CRITIC.&pqatl=google|url-status=dead|archive-date=May 11, 2011|title=A Fresh Collective Soul?|work=Chicago Tribune|date=March 19, 2000|access-date=May 2, 2013|page=1}} the album features contributions by Cody ChesnuTT, Musiq Soulchild, Talib Kweli, and Jill Scott.

On "Something in the Way of Things (In Town)", Amiri Baraka performs a poem about how the spirit of death and decay permeates African-American urban experiences. Set to a fusion of several African-American music influences, his poem observes "something in the way of our selves" and uses unusual imagery such as death "riding on top of the car peering through the windshield" and a "Negro squinting at us through the cage" with a smile "that ain't a smile but teeth flying against our necks".{{cite book|last=Muyumba|first=Walton M.|page=158|title=The Shadow and the Act:Black Intellectual Practice, Jazz Improvisation, and Philosophical Pragmatism|publisher=University of Chicago Press|year=2009|isbn=978-0226554259}}

{{Album ratings

| MC = 87/100

| rev1 = AllMusic

| rev1Score = {{Rating|4.5|5}}{{cite web|last=Huey|first=Steve|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/phrenology-mw0000226035|title=Phrenology – The Roots|publisher=AllMusic|access-date=August 11, 2009}}

| rev2 = Blender

| rev2Score = {{Rating|5|5}}{{cite journal|last=Smith|first=RJ|url=http://www.blender.com/guide/reviews.aspx?id=172|title=The Roots: Phrenology|journal=Blender|location=New York|issue=12|date=December 2002|access-date=June 6, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060504150347/http://www.blender.com/guide/reviews.aspx?id=172|archive-date=May 4, 2006|url-status=dead|page=149}}

| rev3 = Entertainment Weekly

| rev3Score = B+{{cite magazine|last=Hiatt|first=Brian|url=http://www.ew.com/article/2002/11/29/phrenology|title=Phrenology|magazine=Entertainment Weekly|location=New York|date=November 29, 2002|access-date=August 11, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170118114515/http://ew.com/article/2002/11/29/phrenology/|archive-date=January 18, 2017|url-status=dead}}

| rev4 = The Guardian

| rev4Score = {{Rating|4|5}}

| rev5 = Los Angeles Times

| rev5Score = {{Rating|3.5|4}}

| rev6 = Pitchfork

| rev6Score = 8.1/10{{cite web|last=Chennault|first=Sam|url=http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/6832-phrenology/|title=The Roots: Phrenology|work=Pitchfork|date=January 28, 2003|access-date=July 9, 2009}}

| rev7 = Q

| rev7Score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{cite journal|title=The Roots: Phrenology|journal=Q|location=London|issue=199|date=February 2003|page=97}}

| rev8 = Rolling Stone

| rev8Score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{cite magazine|last=Blashill|first=Pat|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/artists/theroots/albums/album/267761/review/6067367/phrenology|title=The Roots: Phrenology|magazine=Rolling Stone|location=New York|date=December 12, 2002|access-date=February 22, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080130073605/http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/theroots/albums/album/267761/review/6067367/phrenology|archive-date=January 30, 2008|url-status=dead}}

| rev9 = The Rolling Stone Album Guide

| rev9score = {{Rating|4.5|5}}{{cite book|last=Cross|first=Charles R.|author-link=Charles R. Cross|editor1-last=Brackett|editor1-first=Nathan|editor2-last=Hoard|editor2-first=Christian|title=The New Rolling Stone Album Guide|publisher=Simon & Schuster|edition=4th|year=2004|isbn=0-7432-0169-8|chapter=The Roots|pages=[https://archive.org/details/newrollingstonea00brac/page/702 702]}}

| rev10 = Spin

| rev10Score = 8/10{{cite journal|last=Pappademas|first=Alex|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2nxQP3qCjFgC&pg=PA95|title=The Roots: Phrenology|journal=Spin|volume=19|issue=1|location=New York|date=January 2003|access-date=February 23, 2011|page=95}}

| rev11 = The Village Voice

| rev11Score = A−{{cite news|last=Christgau|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Christgau|url=http://www.villagevoice.com/2003-01-14/music/escape-claus/|title=Escape Claus|newspaper=The Village Voice|location=New York|date=January 14, 2003|access-date=May 2, 2013}}

}}

Phrenology received widespread acclaim from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 87, based on 23 reviews.{{cite web|url=http://www.metacritic.com/music/phrenology/the-roots|title=Reviews for Phrenology by The Roots|publisher=Metacritic|access-date=June 11, 2009}} Mojo magazine hailed it as a "masterpiece",{{cite journal|title=The Roots: Phrenology|journal=Mojo|location=London|issue=110|date=January 2003|page=100}} while Rolling Stone writer Pat Blashill said it has "a startling array of hip-hop reinventions". Dave Heaton from PopMatters called Phrenology "an impressive, ambitious work" that shows the Roots "filling their sound out and pushing it in a variety of directions", with a form of "tight soul/funk" that "sounds even more exact, funkier and edgier" than on Things Fall Apart.{{cite web|last=Heaton|first=Dave|url=http://www.popmatters.com/review/roots-phrenology/|title=The Roots: Phrenology|work=PopMatters|date=January 8, 2003|access-date=December 5, 2009}} In the Chicago Sun-Times, critic Jim DeRogatis gave the record four out of four stars and called it "a near-classic right out of the gate, an urgent, raucous and thought-provoking 70 minutes that mine the musical territory between hard hip-hop and smoother Philly soul".{{cite news|last=DeRogatis|first=Jim|author-link=Jim DeRogatis|url=http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=CSTB&p_theme=cstb&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0F7E62B2390F485D&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM|title=The Roots, 'Phrenology' (MCA)|newspaper=Chicago Sun-Times|date=December 1, 2002|access-date=December 5, 2009|url-access=subscription |page=4}} Blender{{'}}s RJ Smith called it "a celebration of self-determination, a nonstop joyride through some very complicated brains". Jeremy Gladstone from Kludge felt the Roots had combined "complicated beats" with "complex lyrics" to produce a "shockingly honest sound".{{cite web|last=Gladstone|first=Jeremy|url=http://www.kludgemagazine.com/reviews.php?id=234|title=The Roots: Phrenology|work=Kludge|access-date=May 2, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030206101433/http://www.kludgemagazine.com/reviews.php?id=234|archive-date=February 6, 2003}} In The Guardian, Alexis Petridis found the group "exclusively capable of absorbing other genres", while the "more straightforward hip-hop" is "idiosyncratic and hugely enjoyable". Slant Magazine{{'}}s Sal Cinquemani called the album "subtly progressive" and felt the lyrics "challenge the commodification and subsequent destruction of hip-hop culture".

In a less enthusiastic review, Uncut magazine said Phrenology shows the Roots' "willingness to push the envelope of their organic jazz-rap" that is unparalleled but sometimes musically pretentious or indulgent, particularly on "Something in the Way of Things" and the coda to "Water".{{cite journal|url=http://www.uncut.co.uk/reviews/album/roots-phrenology|title=Roots – Phrenology|journal=Uncut|location=London|issue=69|date=February 2003|access-date=May 5, 2015|page=86}} AllMusic editor Steve Huey felt it is "a challenging, hugely ambitious opus that's by turns brilliant and bewildering, as it strains to push the very sound of hip-hop into the future." He also called it the band's "hardest-hitting" album because they successfully "re-create their concert punch in the studio." In his column for The Village Voice, Robert Christgau believed the Roots have finally discovered how to write tuneful and structured music on Phrenology, as they "humanize their formal commitment with injections of singing and guitar".{{cite news|last=Christgau|first=Robert|url=http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/pnj/pj02.php|title=Party in Hard Times|newspaper=The Village Voice|location=New York|date=February 18, 2003|access-date=May 5, 2015}}

At the end of 2002, Phrenology was named one of the year's best albums.{{CN|date=December 2023}} It was voted the seventh best album of 2002 in The Village Voice{{'}}s Pazz & Jop, an annual poll of American critics.{{cite news|url=http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/pnj/pjres02.php|title=The 2002 Pazz & Jop Critics Poll|newspaper=The Village Voice|location=New York|date=February 18, 2003|access-date=May 5, 2015}} The Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004) later gave it four-and-a-half stars and cited "Water" as a highlight, "that begins with the age-old Bo Diddley beat and ends as an extended musique concrète-style instrumental fantasia". Phrenology was included in the 2010 reference book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die{{cite book|author1=Robert Dimery|author2=Michael Lydon|title=1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die: Revised and Updated Edition|date=23 March 2010|publisher=Universe|isbn=978-0-7893-2074-2}} and in Tom Moon's 1000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die (2008).{{CN|date=December 2023}} Slant Magazine listed the album at number 231 on its "Top 250 Albums of the 2000s" (2010).{{CN|date=December 2023}}

Information is adapted from the album's liner notes. "(co.)" denotes Co-producer. Track numbers continued from Things Fall Apart.

{{Track listing

| extra_column = Producer(s)

| title87 = Phrentrow

| note87 = featuring Ursula Rucker

| writer87 = {{hlist|Ahmir Thompson|Rucker|Omar Edwards}}

| extra87 = {{hlist|Questlove|Omar the Scholar}}

| length87 = 0:18

| title88 = Rock You

| writer88 = {{hlist|Tariq Trotter|George Spivey}}

| extra88 = {{hlist|DJ Scratch|The Grand Wizzards (co.)}}

| length88 = 3:12

| title89 = !!!!!!!

| writer89 = {{hlist|Thompson|Benjamin Kenney|Leonard Hubbard}}

| extra89 = The Grand Wizzards

| length89 = 0:24

| title90 = Sacrifice

| note90 = featuring Nelly Furtado

| writer90 = {{hlist|Trotter|Thompson|James Gray|Hubbard}}

| extra90 = {{hlist|Kamiah Gray|Kamal Gray (co.)}}

| length90 = 4:44

| title91 = Rolling with Heat

| note91 = featuring Talib Kweli

| writer91 = {{hlist|Trotter|Thompson|Gray|Kyle Jones|Talib Greene|Karl Jenkins}}

| extra91 = The Grand Wizzards

| length91 = 3:42

| title92 = WAOK (Ay) Rollcall

| note92 = featuring Ursula Rucker

| writer92 = {{hlist|Thompson|Gray|Hubbard}}

| extra92 = The Grand Wizzards

| length92 = 1:00

| title93 = Thought @ Work

| writer93 = {{hlist|Trotter|Thompson|Hubbard|Gray|Kenney}}

| extra93 = Questlove

| length93 = 4:58

| title94 = The Seed (2.0)

| note94 = featuring Cody ChesnuTT

| writer94 = {{hlist|Trotter|Antonious Bernard Thomas}}

| extra94 = {{hlist|Questlove|Cody ChesnuTT (co.)}}

| length94 = 4:27

| title95 = Break You Off

| note95 = featuring Musiq

| writer95 = {{hlist|Trotter|Thompson|Hubbard|Gray|Jones|Kenney|Jenkins|Taalib Johnson|Jill Scott}}

| extra95 = Kamal Gray

| length95 = 7:27

| title96 = Water

| writer96 = {{hlist|Trotter|Thompson|Hubbard|Gray|Kenney|Tahir Williams}}

| extra96 = {{hlist|Tahir Jamal|Kelo Saunders (co.)|The Grand Wizzards (co.)}}

| length96 = 10:24

| title97 = Quills

| writer97 = {{hlist|Trotter|Karriem Riggins}}

| extra97 = {{hlist|Karreem Riggins|The Grand Wizzards (co.)}}

| length97 = 4:22

| title98 = Pussy Galore

| writer98 = {{hlist|Trotter|Scott Storch}}

| extra98 = {{hlist|Scott Storch|Zoukhan Bey}}

| length98 = 4:29

| title99 = Complexity

| note99 = featuring Jill Scott

| writer99 = {{hlist|Trotter|Thompson|Hubbard|Gray|Scott|Edwards}}

| extra99 = {{hlist|The Grand Wizzards|Questlove (co.)|Omar the Scholar (co.)}}

| length99 = 4:47

| title100 = Something in the Way of Things (In Town)

| note100 = featuring Amiri Baraka

| writer100 = {{hlist|Thompson|Kenney|Baraka}}

| extra100 = The Grand Wizzards

| length100 = 7:16

}}

{{Track listing

| headline = Unlisted tracks

| extra_column = Producer(s)

| title101 = Rhymes and Ammo

| note101 = featuring Talib Kweli

| writer101 = {{hlist|Trotter|Thompson|Greene}}

| extra101 = The Grand Wizzards

| length101 = 4:32

| title102 = Thirsty!

| length102 = 2:47

}}

Sample credits and notes

• "Thought @ Work" contains elements from the composition "Apache{{Broken anchor|date=2025-04-10|bot=User:Cewbot/log/20201008/configuration|target_link=Apache (instrumental)#The Sugarhill Gang: "Apache" (1981)|reason= The anchor (The Sugarhill Gang: "Apache" (1981)) has been deleted.|diff_id=818712010}}" by The Sugarhill Gang, "Jam on the Groove" by Ralph McDonald, and "Human Beat Box" by The Fat Boys. According to Questlove, recording artist Alicia Keys "drop[s] in" on the track.{{cite AV media notes |others=The Roots|title=Phrenology|year=2002 |publisher=MCA Records}}
• "Water" comprises three parts, noted in Questlove's liner notes as "a. the first movement / b. the abyss / c. the drowning", and contains elements of "Her Story" by The Flying Lizards.
• "Quills" contains elements of "Breakout" by Swing Out Sister and features guest vocals from Tracey Moore of the Jazzyfatnastees.
• "Pussy Galore" contains elements of "Because I Got It Like That" by the Jungle Brothers.
• On the CD version of the album, there are 18 tracks instead of 16: Tracks 15, 16 and 17 are silent blank tracks. Track 18 starts with another 2:00 of silence, and after that consists of two untitled songs, identified as "Rhymes and Ammo", originally from Soundbombing III (2002)Juon, Steve (February 23, 2011). [http://www.rapreviews.com/archive/2002_12F_phren.html RapReviews.com Feature for December 3, 2002 – The Roots' "Phrenology"]. RapReviews. Retrieved on 2011-02-23. and featuring Talib Kweli, and "Thirsty!", which is originally a track by Elektrochemie LK called "When I Rock".[http://new.music.yahoo.com/roots/albums/phrenology-explicit--29251610 Phrenology (Explicit) by The Roots]. Yahoo! Music. Retrieved on 2011-02-23.

Credits for Phrenology adapted from Allmusic.[http://www.allmusic.com/album/phrenology-r597334/credits Credits: Phrenology]. Allmusic. Retrieved on 2011-02-23.

{{col-start}}

{{col-2}}

• Black Thought – vocals
• Sarah Chun – cello
• Omar Edwards – arp synthesizer
• Nelly Furtado – background vocals
• Michelle Golder – cello
• Kamal Gray – keyboards, theremin, production
• Jef Lee Johnson – guitar
• Alicia Keys – featured artist
• Talib Kweli – vocals
• Malik B. – featured artist

{{col-2}}

• Tracey Moore – background music
• James Poyser – moog synthesizer, strings
• Questlove – assistant engineer, drums, mixing, production, sequencing
• Rahzel – beatboxing
• Ursula Rucker – featured artist
• Jill Scott – vocals
• James Blood Ulmer – guitar
• Nuah Vi – cello
• Hope Wilson – screams
• Ben Kenney - guitar

{{col-end}}

{{col-start}}

{{col-2}}

• Jon Adler – assistant
• Pablo Arraya – assistant
• Jim Bottari – engineer
• Andrew Brooks – assistant
• Cody ChesnuTT – producer
• Jeff Chestek – engineer, mixing
• Tom Coyne – assistant, mastering, mixing
• Kareem Da Bawl – producer
• Andre Dandridge – assistant
• DJ Scratch – producer
• Robert "LB" Dorsey – assistant, engineer
• Caliph Gamble – assistant
• Chris Gehringer – mastering
• Gordon Glass – assistant
• Jason Goldstein – mixing
• Kenny J. Gravillis – design
• Tom "Evil Prints" Huck – illustrations
• Ben Kenney – mixing

{{col-2}}

• Steve Mandel – assistant, engineer
• Carlos "Storm" Martinez – engineer
• James McKrone – assistant
• Shinobu Mitsuoka – assistant
• Kurt Nepogoda – assistant
• Richard Nichols – executive producer, mixing
• Omar the Scholar – producer
• Bob Power – mixing
• Kareem Riggins – producer
• Kelo Saunders – producer
• Jesse Shatkin – assistant
• Jon Smeltz – engineer
• Scott Storch – producer
• Tahir – producer
• Shawn Taylor – assistant
• Steef Van De Gevel – assistant
• Vince Vilorenzo – assistant
• Scott Whiting – assistant
• Ray Wilson – engineer

{{col-end}}

{{col-start}}

{{col-2}}

{{col-2}}

{{col-end}}

{{Certification Table Top}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=United Kingdom|artist=The Roots|title=Phrenology|type=album|award=Silver|relyear=2002|certyear=2013|certmonth=7|id=10410-3171-2|access-date=June 28, 2023}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=United States|artist=The Roots|title=Phrenology|type=album|award=Gold|relyear=2002|certyear=2003|access-date=June 28, 2023}}

{{Certification Table Bottom}}

{{reflist|30em}}

• {{cite book | author = Nathan Brackett, Christian Hoard (eds.) | title = The New Rolling Stone Album Guide: Completely Revised and Updated 4th Edition | publisher = Simon and Schuster | year = 2004 | isbn = 0-7432-0169-8 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/newrollingstonea00brac }}

• {{Discogs master|type=album|name=Phrenology|39900}}
• [https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2003-jan-12-ca-george12-story.html "Between Grooves"] by the Los Angeles Times

{{The Roots}}

{{Soulquarians}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:2002 albums

Category:Albums produced by Questlove

Category:Albums produced by Scott Storch

Category:Albums produced by DJ Scratch

Category:Albums recorded at Electric Lady Studios

Category:MCA Records albums

Category:The Roots albums

Category:Progressive rap albums