Roots album might be hip-hop's 'Abbey Road' by Brendan Funtek The Ranger A&E Editor

With a literate experimental tone, the musical group the Roots went ahead and decided to release the most daring sonic album in the history of hip-hop.

And it's not even the group's best album. Skeptical about where this album would stand among the other knockouts (Things Fall Apart and Do You Want More) I approached Phrenology with a mix of glee and trepidation.

After months of delayed release and some unnecessary haggling from a Best Buy clerk ("I don't have my driver's license on me," followed by a menacing eyebrow raise), the album immediately was treated with the status of other music nerd "dream dates": sound by headphones, company of none.

After the album was churned through the grinder that is my intense musical analysis (and a lot of uncontrollable white-boy caboose shaking), I screamed random profanities for the next three minutes, walking around the house in an utter daze. I left a message on my own answering machine to my apathetic roommates with the vague declaration, "By the way, the Roots can do everything."

Then I listened to the album again and again and again over a period of days that notably included normal periods of eatdrinksleep.

Oh, I'm sorry, were you expecting a review over the album's content? Well, first of all, who am I writing to?

"I don't know who the Roots are and don't like hip-hop. In fact, I have no idea how I've got this far into the review." - No Jive from Lynwood Drive.

Are you under 40? Then I recommend the album. I want the printed word to reflect that if you ever listen to your first hip-hop album, it needs to be Blackalicious' Blazing Arrow, which is by far the most ambitious introduction to the genre. But if you enjoy vitality, experimentation, independence and that exciting feeling of having no idea where the album is about to go, like that first auditory walk across Abbey Road, welcome Phrenology to your speaker system.

"I'm into gangsta. I don't like that whole alternative rap scene. I heard sum dat Things Fall Apart and ain't into that R&B @#!$." - From Kingswood Circle, the dirty part.

...Well. If you like Busta Rhymes or Outkast, you may venture over to this album. But if you spend your cash money on Cash Money, keep steppin'.

"Would you please just mention a song already? Name me the one song that will make me buy the album so I can download it." - Teenie techno-geek girl off Bell Street.

"The Seed (2.0)." Features one of the most intriguing artists to grace the $2 Bill scene twice by the name of Cody ChestnuTT. The song is a mix of reggae, R&B, Motown and the dirtiest, primal bass pedal stomp since Charlie Watts had a pulse. You have no choice but to enjoy this song after hearing it.

Overall, please buy this album.

I'm not sure if it's more accessible than Things Fall Apart, but you can tell the devotion to acceptance. Some of the six artists in the Roots are off into focused side-projects and have publicly stated their displeasure at being recognized only by critics and college campuses. I don't think anyone in the group has delusions of wallowing in the mainstream, but if you had to constantly witness opening acts become headliners in a nine-year span, you also would become frustrated.

This album has all the signs of an unnecessary coda.