The Roots | HOME GROWN VOL2 (EX) | CD

The Roots: Black Thought.
Additional personnel: Dice Raw, Musiq Soulchild, Beanie Sigel.
With their organic, live sound, laid-back jazzy grooves, and fierce intelligence, the Roots have been the kings of alternative hip-hop since they appeared on the scene in the early 1990s. HOMEGROWN! is a collection of outtakes, live recordings, remixes, BBC sessions, and other oddities that span the group's career up to the mid-2000s. Not surprisingly, given the Roots' musicianship, a great deal of the material is top-notch, and the best of it highlights the band's brilliant inventiveness as well as their unabashed love of hip-hop's rich past. In addition to the beats, drummer and band historian ?estlove provides exhaustive track-by-track liner notes.

• Format: CD
• Genre: Pop
• Released: 11/15/2005