Naturally, The Roots chose to capitalize on their newly gain popularity with their second consecutive concept album ...And Then You Shoot Your Cousin, a follow up to 2011's Undun, a record most of their fans hold in high regard. Whereas Undun told the story of Redford Stephens life, ...And Then You Shoot Your Cousin seeks to illustrate satire in hip hop culture with the help of multiple characters, which will of course mean further development in the devaluation of Black Thought's role in the group. Thought, one of my all time favorite rappers, only has six verses on here, which hurts my soul, but it's ?uestlove's group, and usually he makes decent musical decisions. I guess.
Anyways, ...And Then You Shoot Your Cousin is a dark project that reports the struggles of not the middle class everyday citizens, but rather the trials of those at the very bottom of the social totem pole. The worst of the worst. ?uestlove and Black Thought lead their charges though an eleven-track, thirty-three minute journey that follows each of these people's lives, conveying the general hopelessness that follows their everyday lives. This is done using verses from Black Thought, Dice Raw, and Greg Porn, while utilizing largely cord/piano driven instrumentals that attempt to set a tone of despair.
So yeah, lotta shit going one during such a short period of time and the decision to add satire into the equation is incredibly ambitious for any genre, let alone hip hop, but if I had to bet on who I think could pull it off, my money's going on The Roots...
1. Theme From The Middle Of The Night (Feat. Nina Simone)
I've always enjoyed Nina Simone's vocals, so ...And Then You Shoot Your Cousin starting off with a quick two minute intro featuring her singing about people starting their days in the middle of the night actually works out pretty well. The music surrounding is appropriately ominous, so I can't really label this as a "boring ass intro". Would I ever feel the need to listen to this again? Never, but it is what it is.
2. Never (Feat. Patty Crash)
The first real song on ...And Then You Shoot Your Cousin is in the same vein as the intro. Bleak instrumental, hopeless lyrics, and Thought still sounds pretty good, as his character can't seem to get a handle on life and feels like the current dire situation will last forever. Unfortunately, the song relies way too heavily on Patty Crash's singing, and quite frankly, it sounds like shit. Yes, it sets the mood well, but I really don't need all this whining. But I liked the track overall: I've always wanted to hear a Black Thought solo album, but he usually plays his role on an album's theme well and this is no exception.
3. When The People Cheer (Feat. Greg Porn)
I really didn't like this song when it was first released as a single, and I'm still not all that high on it, but it sounds better in the context of the album. The Roots gracefully hand off the first verse to the artist formally known as P.O.R.N. (as if "Greg Porn" is any better), who delivers a pretty alright verse, but Black Thought arrives after another shitty hook and rightfully steals the show. His character is a self-described "sex-addicted introvert" that waits for women on the street to take home whenever he's not blowing all his money at the strip club. I found it interested that they chose this character to represent the bottom of society, but its effective nonetheless. Hell, Thought even sounds disgusted with himself, which hopefully was the goal. Back to the hook, though. I stand by my statement that the unnamed female vocalist doesn't sound very good, but the lyrics are interesting. Keep in mind that she says "Everyone acts like God is all that/ but I got a feeling he ain't never coming back" (the line will be important to the theme down the road), before stating that one of the things she hates most is seeing other people being happy. Heavy material.
4. The Devil (Feat. Mary Lou Williams)
Another very short interlude, which must be incredibly frustrating for people hoping for a long album (even as a fan of short albums, I know that eleven songs with three interludes seems like half-assing it), but I'm glad this wasn't attached to the next song. As I'm sure you can already tell by the title, the message is that the devil's work appears in everyone, especially these characters. The thing that really blew my mind, though, is that this was performed by a woman. Her voice sounds deeper that Black Thought and Greg Porn's combined. That's about the only reason I'd ever return to this.
5. Black Rock (Feat. Dice Raw)
Alright guys, good shit. We finally get a change in tempo and an appearance from one of my all time favorite weed carriers: Dice Raw. I mean that with all the respect in the world, and he performs nicely here. If I'm not mistaken, his grinding-to-get-by tone plays into the satire of the stereotypical hip hop song, but it still sounds good. The overall theme of ...And Then You Shoot Your Cousin remains on "Black Rock", but you'll be forgiven if you've forgotten the overall existential themes while listening to this track, thanks to its oddly hopeful vibe the music gives off. But maybe that's just me.
6. Understand (Feat. Dice Raw & Greg Porn)
This shit was dope. I know "Understand" is technically part of a concept album, but this could easily slide onto any other Roots project, thanks to the organ-loaded instrumental and Dice Raw's masterful job on the hook, which happen to be some of the hardest bars on 2014: "People ask for God, 'til the day he comes/ see God's face—turn around and run". Black Thought rips the shit out of his verse and Greg Porn's bars aren't too bad either, creating a perfect representation of peoples' unwillingness to make sacrifices when change is presented to them. This was nice.
7. Dies Irae (feat. Michel Chion)
Yet another interlude, and boy does this suck from a musical standpoint. Avant-garde specialist Michael Chion arrives to basically play the most annoying sounds you can think of for a minute and seven seconds. From a storyline standpoint, this isn't completely useless. "Dies Irae" translates to "Day of Wrath" and from what I've gathered, this is supposed to be representative of one of the characters being shot. So just keep that in mind while you're recklessly pushing the skip button.
8. The Coming (feat. Mercedes Martinez)
I'm about to type a word that I absolutely hate to use, but in this case it's justified: boring. I mean my God, could we at least make this story progressing somewhat entertaining? Martinez's singing is decent, but the music is uncharacteristically dull. I think this is supposed to be from the viewpoint of a girl hearing the preceding shooting, repeatedly saying that she's seen it all. I understand what they're going for, but this was pretty damn boring.
9. The Dark (Trinity) (Feat. Greg Porn & Dice Raw)
Swings the pendulum back in the right direction. The instrumental on here is probably the most traditional hip hop sound on the album, but it's still relatively abstract. I'm a bit confused with the storyline, though. The last two tracks would lead one to believe that one of the characters had been shot, but here they are, all three sitting on the corner getting rained on, gradually getting more depressed in synthesis with the beat. I found Greg Porn's initial singing to be a bit inappropriate (if you can't tell, I'm just not all that fond of him overall), but Thought and Dice Raw both deliver equally powerful verses that really summarize the whole concept of the album. Kind of breaks of the story, but I'm glad this was included on the album.
10. The Unraveling (Feat. Raheem DeVaughn)
Alright, here's the death of Black Thought's character. Not sure how it happened, but it did. Guest Raheem DeVaughn's singing, while sounding good, manages to sound completely boring at the same time, but out of nowhere comes a verse from Tariq. Thought comes off more jubilant than he has the entire album as he looks forward to the freedom provided him by death, no longer suffering on earth. This all leads up to DeVaughn closing with "A man with no future, a man with no future...", signifying that Thought isn't really gaining any type of freedom or future through death.
11. Tomorrow (Feat. Raheem DeVaughn)
...And Then You Shoot Your Cousin concludes with enough positive vibes to make up for every bit of the bleakness spread throughout the previous ten tracks. The crew's instrumental sounds like the audio form of sunshine, and if you listen to the song you'll know exactly what I'm talking about. Raheem DeVaughn returns again, this time all by himself, to sing an uplifting hook and two verses that narrowly avoid being cheesy. This also brings a fitting closure to the album. The character is having a conversation with God, pleading to keep his life (which shows the change in tone from the quote I mentioned earlier). I guess the whole idea of the story is that however bad a situation get, be thankful that you're alive, because its sure as hell better than death. Things get better for people in even the darkest of scenarios. There aren't too many rap albums that would have the balls to tie things together in this fashion, but like I said at the beginning of the review, my money's on The Roots. And with that, were out.
Rating: 4/5
...And Then You Shoot Your Cousin is short, sweet, and not to the point. Its obtuse to a fault, in the sense that it sounds like nonsense upon first listen, but if you're willing to give it the time it deserves to be digested, there's brilliance to be found. Trust me, there's no way I would've been able to give that much analysis had I not given this over ten spins. Once you're fully emerged in the album, the music created by Black Thought, ?uestlove, and the rest of the Roots Crew is broad enough for listeners to enjoy the music without thinking too much about the underlying narrative, although it does exist and sends a universal message relevant to most people. Ultimately, after getting past the initial density, I enjoyed most of ...And Then You Shoot Your Cousin (which's title comes from a KRS-One line referencing how people are driven to insanity from constant hopelessness) There were a couple tracks I just didn't give a fuck about and really only exist to move along the story, but nothing on here is completely useless. The Roots take the general idea of Undun and complicate it by adding interludes, more characters, and unexpected guest features. The density is to the point that its physically impossibly for someone to wrap their minds around it after a singular listen. As pretentious as that sounds, ...And Then You Shoot Your Cousin is worth picking up. It isn't perfect, and there's no true standout tracks, but the music re-emphasizes a new-found maturity for a group that was never interested in current trends. They've always been one step ahead.