The Roots Detail New Album ‘And Then You Shoot Your Cousin’

Despite their status as one of the world’s hardest-working bands in any genre — from their gig as the Tonight Show house band, to regular tours, constant collaborations, and individual member side-projects — The Roots have recorded a new album, titled And Then You Shoot Your Cousin.

The band revealed the title back in January and now frontman Black Thought has opened up about the details behind the band’s 11th studio album, the follow-up to their critically-acclaimed 2011 concept album, Undun, which Black Thought says is “coming soon, hopefully sometime this spring.”

Speaking recently to XXL, Black Thought said the new LP is “another concept album in the spirit of Undun, but it’s not just about just one kind of character. We create quite a few different characters in this record. It’s satire, but in that satire it’s an analysis of some of the stereotypes perpetuated in not only the hip-hop community, but in the community. I don’t know if that makes any sense.”

The rapper explained that the characters have been pulled from the lives the band members lead as “musicians, Philadelphians, New Yorkers…as black men,” adding, “We kind of introduce them to the rest of the world in a manner that makes them more easily understood than maybe seeing it.”

He continued by explaining that the album will be “short enough to take in, to digest in one sitting,” however will be far more “sonically dense” than the 2011 effort. “So dense that maybe in one sitting you’ll listen to it and only listen to the piano and string arrangements,” he said.

“Then you’ll listen…and you’ll get into the actual words that are being said, and you’ll listen again and get into some of the other musicality. There’s very many layers to this record, but it doesn’t take place over very much time.” The band’s 1999 LP, Things Fall Apart, turned 15 last Sunday.

Gallery: Falls Festival 2013/2014, Day 2 – Lorne, Victoria 29/12/13

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