The Roots - Why (What's going on?)

[CastleWhite43]

Where has this gone

[Madvillainy91]

Progressive

[shootracists]

The Root's lyrics are relevant to what is going on in this world.

It's better then those other rap "artists" who just rap about gang banging and drugs.

Oakland California baby.

Stay punk!!!!!

Free your mind and always do whats right.

[shootracists]

@shootracists pass this shit on...... to the world.

Zev Silverman

Oakland California baby!!!!!

[itsJif]

timeless.

[Ropasmoke114]

this type of music moves me

[Ropasmoke114]

brings tears to my eyes and inspiration to my heart to keep movin no matter the circumstances

[guitarlover891]

This cuts deep

[baidawi]

I know some of the grimiest of men say this song brings tears to their eyes. One of the best raps ever created.

[2013angelle]

my teacher had us listen to this song and write a bellringer on 3 lyrics and what they mean. haha i love history

[boldcrazyman]

@2013angelle damn thats a good teacher you have, if my history teacher let us listen to this he would get fired

[shootracists]

@boldcrazyman Dude im studying these guys in English right now.

Oakland California baby.

Stay punk.

Crack Rock Steady!!!!!

Free your mind and always do whats right..

[SoapsAreStupid]

@shootracists lmfao, 'Being and Unbeing'?

[shootracists]

@SoapsAreStupid Yes.



[Goombafool]

fresh

[picklezenator]

0:00 - 4:20  ;)

[static1200]

I used to love this song because of you.

Now I hate it because of you.

[chrillrc]

thats how wee roll boys

[opiiatee]

I used to think Hip Hop and Rap were different. Then I realized when you try to defend that statement it's futile. It's all just music. Honestly when I think of Hip Hop I do think of The Roots, I think of Tribe, I think of the Fugees. And when I hear rap I think of Big L, I think of Rakim, I think of Big. There's definitely I difference in style. But don't go sayin OH Wayne and all them mainstream dudes is rap and that they're wack. They're wack because of their music, not because of their genre

[jas1511]

@opiiatee very well said!

[badazz1912]

the only thing that could make the song better is if it was longer.

[DaanOFF321]

damn man, my version of Why is 17 min long!

[linguistic76]

@DaanOFF321 send it to me I wanna hear.

[DaanOFF321]

@linguistic76 It's a combination of In Love With Da Mic, Why and an instrumental song

[dadab12]

Best Song ever, not just the words. it's the symphony

[cezaleo1000]

i love this songgggg! and i hear u on all that witht he rap n hiphiop

[downwithit100]

I agree there are mainstream like eminem,50,kanye but then there are the roots,talib kweli,common,that are a bit more under ground and alot of people dont even know what the artists names are unless thevye heard it on the radio even though common talib and the roots have been around for years anf they tear it up.Even Outkast who are half mainstream and half under ground alot of people know songs like hey ya and sorry miss jackson but Outkast have so many tracks that rip the shit out of anyone.

[prdaca]

Why ?

Because this is the shit & if you don't like it, fuck you ! Thats why !

[ghirignogno]

4 people had their speakers turned off

[monoruotaboy]

TOP!

[SOSTacoJohnson]

When I look at difference in view# for something like a new roots release versus a lady gaga song... I grow very scared and wonder, are we getting more stupid? Or have we always been this stupid?

[0nn3]

i get the chills from this song :D

[Ginga]

Soulful track. My favorite on the album after "Guns Are Drawn". 

[SoleNomad]

The Roots= Legendary to the Nth power.

[SOSTacoJohnson]

@SoleNomad Let N = 100 to the Nth power = 1 Googleplex

[mynameisdady]

This isn't just rap. This is music.

[thirdmoonrecordings]

such a real song....the four people who clicked dislike are some sad, stupid, and lonely motherfuckers

[MSingleton93]

@TheDISENCHANTMENT album came out in 2004.

And their new album is another one of theirs that gets added to the list of best albums for me.

And yet they barely get heard. Kinda sad :'/

[bc146]

i really feel like kid cudi bit this style

[SOSTacoJohnson]

@bc146 cudi is mediocre shit. name shouldnt be mentioned around roots

[BCorps94]

not crazy about the chorus but this is probably my favorite Roots song

[DrBienlein]

daaamn questlove is just too good

fucking amazing track

[secCheGuevara]

@saandymichael Haha. For Real.! ^^

[SKILLOLLO]

One of the tightest track todate

[xXxChavo90]

maaaaaan alter heftiges ding . . geht unter die haut liebe den track

[Kman2025]

I am quite sure the guitar sample was inspired by Edie Brickell & New Bohemians - What I Am , which was also used by New Edition on Something About You ...the Brickell tune was famously covered by Emma Bunton! Some bitesize facts....

[Kolczomen]

Damm alwsome I luv' tht

[Olivervinterchatham]

1 of my Favorites man its so awesome

Tha Roots <33

[emmet242]

one a my favorite songs this shit iz real yo deadass makes me think about bein on my roof lookin at the bk bridge an shit mad chill makes me space out

[TheMichael951]

one of the deepest songs ever to be made

[MRSxHARDC0R3]

Dang this is some true stuff.

Got me think about stuff.

Bomb ass song.

I wish music these days had meaning like this.

[likenumber23]

That hook is just amazing... wow!

[madamesepulveda]

in my heart

[aflovi]

lil wayne is caca!!!!!!jajajaja

[WalkWalkity]

i never heard anythin off this album until now... this shit is bananas.

[caffeinesa]

good shit to chill to

[2theendoftheworld]

this is the realest song ever written. period.

[itsgoingdownnow]

take that lil wayne!

[3ooFFS]

Awesome! never been on The Roots concert, but heard that they go everywhere, so hope to meet them one day. Till then Big Up from Poland! [=

[leeperryismerry]

qaulity tune!

[hotsum0ta]

dam! this is wicked! neva heard this in ma life. great stuff.

[fatbrotha71]

U been missin out homey. One of my favorites. Love those guitar licks. Matches tone of lyrics

[hotsum0ta]

actually i may have heard it and un-intentionally ignored it. DX

but i still thhink they are good, and i just found some where to get them for "free".

*cough* illegal download *cough*

[WCcompanyyy]

Damn! :) ...

[xrader1029]

PWNAGE

[775hiteenaa]

I love the roots they bring the real music

[deucemndbndr]

"We in the last innning,the world keeps spinning,my people steady losing, while the rich keep winning,it's like we neva smile,& da devils steady grining,killin wat we representin,even our children & women!!" Everything Black ever spits is so real!!!

[NomRhymes]

wow

been a while since i heard this one

1!

[Drewski6005]

True music.

[shahiermoenna]

BIG UP!

[ZZz7ZZzzZZz7ZzZZzz7Z]

organic Hip HOp...

[synapsenzwiebel]

so amazing!!!

[karoloandria]

the beats are a trip

[imeemin]

Black Thought is fucking amazing

[MannoMagic]

that's no black thought, that's revolutianary spiritual thougt

the colour is unimportant

[dogpoundXproductions]

i completely agree with the last two comments. great song.

[style9n2swagg]

The first time i heard this song i said,"Damn!... This is the shit!!" lol

[cha0ticjosh]

This is one of the best songs i have heard in a while..

[face6iny]

I wore this song out when I first got Tippin' Point. Hell I sitll give it regular rotation.

[producentLBU]

Kozacki kawałek ;D;D pozdro

[6sexxxykitten9]

like a kid sniffin glue somewhere tryna escape it haha

[crucifook]

rap and hip hop are completely different.. its very possible to love hip-hop like, roots, nas, pac, and not like todays rap such as wayne, soulja boy, 50 cent, they only talk about money and bull. hip hop is true talk.

[dsruptad]

i understand where your coming from but rap can be the realest talk of all at times.. the art of freestyle, vibing in a cypher. that type of shit.. there are amazing rappers around like talib kweli and his cats..

I think that the commercial game and all the new artists should come up with a different genre name you know? not hip hop so at leat others dont get confused and place good artists in the same group as wack ones like souljah boy

[dsruptad]

maybe hip pop? lol

[JnGDmK]

no no feeble minded person...never that...atleast not the roots

[Allands36]

Rap is one of the four pillars of hip hop culture, and often also call it loosely hip hop.

[simonallin]

@crucifook allahu akhbar!

[froghoul]

@crucifook naw dog, rap is a part of hip hop, hip hop is a culture, rap is the MCeeing part of hip hop, there is also B-boys graffiti and dj'ing. You dont say that your hip hopping you say that your rapping. Now rap has its two sides to it. the 50 cent type rap and the hip hop type rap.

[Kain6033]

@crucifook

youre damn right!

[0nn3]

@crucifook bla bla, preaching to believers...

[GiulianoMicalizio]

@crucifook damn bro , u miss alot of knowledge, no offend but how can u say that 50 cent and wayne aint hip hop ? ofc it is bro, its just a style that u cant stand i guess, i cant stand them either, but i respect them for who they are, and check out the comment of krs one on 50 cent, it might change your point of view

no offend, peace out bro

[YungH023]

@GiulianoMicalizio

50 and Wayne aint HipHop, because HipHop is a life style and music to teach you instead of to show how much money and power you got, thats what all you dumbass faggots dont understand, yall dont even see the difference between rap or hiphop then you come here and try to act like you to. Living a lie eventually thinking it's true.

[champanddylanstop10]

@crucifook rap is rap man it's in hip-hop, no need to hate on cats like 50, wayne, and them; hate spreads hate. . . but this song, and the roots in general, are musically on a different level, and in my opinion lyrically as well.

[zebatov]

@champanddylanstop10

Hate breeds hate.

[linguistic76]

@crucifook true talk I like that interpretation. My thumb up wasn't enough needed to comment.

[loligerlolzer]

@crucifook lol there.. so u gotta say early 50 cent is hip-hop and now he's rap because he became shit?

u are talking shit dude...

[TonyBigz]

@crucifook Man please... Hip Hop is a culture, Rap is a music. You better recognize. Even KRS One said that Hip Hop is something that been lived, Rap is something that been done, or somethin like that. I know I'm late with this comment but sayin like this makin me pissed off. Can't believe you got 58 thumbs up. Peace anyway

[Sandrunia94]

@TonyBigz trueeeeee

[KruxBand]

I hate hip hop.

Rather, I HATED hip hop . .

Thanks The Roots.

You changed my mind.

Well, I still hate most of it . .

[siminton]

fuk u dude hip hop hates u u can hate rap but not hip hop fuk u

[MyZyna]

tight yo

I can't sleep yo I'm paranoid, it's code orange

It's far from right, I guess that's why it feels so wrong

To see the world get stripped out of every resource

And people pray to Coca-Cola now instead of the gods

What's goin' on?

[baidawi]

"but still they working all their life

pushing for the light

giving everything they got

to switch some swooshes on your nike

putting pockets on your jeans

mining diamonds for them rings

rewarded by small change

or bullets in their brain"

Love how a universal struggle is portrayed in this song. Such a pertinent and complete song.

[nuvolalibre]

fucking 50 cent

[nuvolalibre]

fuckin haole

[nickgalbraith]

if you dont love this song fuck you

[dsruptad]

haha agreed

[visyoual]

@nickgalbraith Couldnt agree more. Delayed feedback, but nonetheless. If you dont like it, youre fukkin lost.

[SOSTacoJohnson]

@nickgalbraith FUCK DEM NIGGAS

[ejaculatingcock]

@nickgalbraith F U too buddy thats communism

[basserg]

This song is real.

[taffgunna]

its crazy how people call them selfs real emcees but they cant think outside the box art immitates life true indeed but none of these niggaz realy living that shit they talkin... thanks black thought for the real hip hop

[balbutalbu]

That's MUSIC

[prazus]

Well oldschool hiphop/rap for ever. Beat is nice for the ear song is nice i really like it. The shame is that there is no longer music created like this;/

[Paraz1tul]

i propose this kinda music should have its own genre and be separated from "main stream hip hop" cos hip hop allready has such a bad name, the best would be if this would be called "hip hop" and all the other shit some other type of genre

[Rory19081908]

A true classic,nice to see it has so many views...

[mobillionblack]

MEDIA MADE MEN keep your heads to radio and indulge yourselves/remain toxic and regurgitate the contaminants/ till your organs start deforming and forget what they purpose is ./this is for those that have minds that function at higher frequency /the modern day marcus garvey society needs to follow WE......

[ak24ek13]

wow man the lyrics so real

i don't get it how u ppl can compare this to lil wayne and all the other shit :)

[jacekmina]

perfect song, real Hip-Hop

peace

[Ninejahman]

May songs like this make the H-H synonym with words like conscious, intelligent & truth, and not like it is today with commercial, materialism, sexism & bling bling!!

Big up for all the originators and all the continuators of the spirit of the real Hip-Hop!!

[thatdarndavidkid]

im not a big fan of some hip hop because of how the music industry exploits the African American community and instead of promoting good music like this they sell ignorant high school kids stuff like that song lolly pop.

[espen2000]

This is the best song i have ever heard: )

[providenceb]

Keep the real music alive.

[burn5143]

Dude,TRUE hip hop like this will never die^^

tfw, "spolja boy" i dont consider to be hip hop, u gotta distinguish the real hip hop from the rest :D

love peace and cow chease :D

[Bcg276]

i luv dis soo much.....so raw man...the roots are classic....

[joelkingofslugs]

this is the single greatest rap song of the past 10 years. it has everything. good lyrics, flow, music, beat. everything

[Zuppaz]

tha reason hip hop iz diyin iz cuz ass rappers iz gettin dealz and real raw shit like this aint bein made nemore...

[CocoaBruvaz]

This is hip hop. It aint dead, but it is dying.

[DellaEnzo]

yeah whassop cocoa brovaz , only the strong survive .

[Mitsuruggi13]

the roots,respect!

[3003ian]

people will tell you that real music isn't something you chose to like, it's about something which you can't control logically but something which you feel!.

I FEEL this

[taaffeman122]

defo man, well said!

[CorkRebel19911]

The roots have their own brand of music.

Even though they are hip-hop, they have class and they are sophisticated. This song is raw music. It is a disgrace its not on iTunes

[EK525]

I think it's on iTunes

[CorkRebel19911]

The roots have their own brand of music.

Even though they are hip-hop, they have class and they are sophisticated. This song is raw music. It is a disgrace its not on iTunes

[CorkRebel19911]

The roots have their own brand of music.

Even though they are hip-hop, they have class and they are sophisticated. This song is raw music. It is a disgrace its not on iTunes

[CorkRebel19911]

The roots have their own brand of music.

Even though they are hip-hop, they have class and they are sophisticated. This song is raw music. It is a disgrace its not on iTunes

[Billytok97]

This song's pretty dope, but the best part is the hidden track at the end with ?uestlove doin the Afrikka Bambatta.

[Zuppaz]

this is that raw hip hop

[frizzcat]

Music to my ears.

[flaconyc1]

Fucking Sick!

[BcatAT06]

...still get chills everytime.  Thanks for the inspiration!!!!

[laPennello]

The Roots -- HipHop Legends in my book

[flaconyc1]

No doubt

[Itspodjo8604]

Black Thought And Mos Def Most underratted mc's of all time in my eyes.. Shit is amazing paint a picture wuth rhymes don't even need the video that's all Mc's R beatiful real music

[chillcharley]

agreed

[blacknoble]

They smile and insult you like you shinin' their loafers

[lmurda07]

anyone who cant love this song our the roots themselves is hatin.this album is such an inspiration

[Bynio7]

pretty fuckin' good

[firstjoe]

I love the Album "The Tipping Point. Real Instrumentals and dope shit

[CesarParker]

absolut herrlicher shit...zweifellos!

[startaa]

derbes schnitzel man!!

[superdanu]

sick!!!

[nickgalbraith]

Love this song. Still get chills when i hear it.

[xtybe33]

But still they workin' all they life, they pushin' for the light

Givin' everything they got to stitch them swishes on ya Nike's

Puttin' pockets on our jeans, mining diamonds for them rings

Rewarded with small change and bullets in the brains

And it makes me feel strange everything we take for granted

At times I feel stranded on this planet of mine

Now should I pull the hammer, clap it out, and laugh about it

Or stand up, be counted while I cast my ballot

[humenflash]

nice lyrics

[Mafioozooo]

arggghhh it's soooo great

[TomBandfield]

Great song... favourited :-)

[Itspodjo8604]

The Roots are what hip hop should be. Instead just talking about drugs, guns, and sex. Shit there the truth defintion of true MC's. R.I.P J Dilla

[dhruvsanon]

best song eva or wat!

[brsrkr77]

people and critics slept on this album - but no one can front on the roots - even their shit is gold compared to the top 40

[orangkai]

Damn I like this Song

[RSkafte]

Great ablum, great music, great song!

This song reeally grabbed me first time i ever heard the cd.. THIS IS MUSIC!

[xtybe33]

I have all the Roots albums and The tipping point's one of my favourites (..its the Roots..theyre all my favourites!) But every time I listen to this song for the last few years, I Still cant believe how powerful the lyrics wrong.

[xtybe33]

i meant lyrics ARE.. I was thinking of something totally different while writing that lol

[Tzukuyomi]

this is the realest song ever

thx alot for uploading

It's really a shame that there ain't much people who know this masterpiece

[Jymem]

You're welcome :)

that's exactly the reason why i uploaded it

spread the word

[88HJS]

Now why have I never heard this song on the radio?