Lateef the Truth Speakers join forces with Jah Yzer and Winstrong for a new project Roots and Tings which will culminate into the debut album ‘All of This’ which is now available on streaming platforms as wells as on vinyl.
About Roots And Tings – Lateef The Truthspeaker (Quannum, Latyrx, Blackalicious), Jah Yzer (Acclaimed Dj-Producer), And Winstrong (Multi Talented Musician)
In a nutshell, Roots and Tings describes themselves as “Quannum and Solesides co-founder, and Grammy nominated MC, Lateef the Truth Speaker has joined forces with acclaimed Bay Area DJ and producer Jah Yzer and the multi-talented musician and reggae artist Winstrong. Together they have combined elements of dancehall, reggae, and hop-hop into their own brand of Revolutionary Culture Music with a Bay Area bend on their newest project Roots & Tings. “
Lateef the Truth Speaker was born and raised in Oakland, CA and is the son of Black Panther parents. He has been in the industry of upward of 20 years now and has several accomplishments under his belt. Jah Yzer is a DJ And Producer who has made a name for himself om the Bay Area with his reggae riddims after starting his career as a radio personality right here in Miami at 94.1. Beach Radio. Winstrong came on the scene as an Urban Dancehall artist. The trio have known each other over a decade with unique relationships. This collaborative project came about organically through a unique creative process. Their original idea for a mixtape of remixes quickly evolved into more original ideas and Roots and Tings was soon born. The group has been working on the project over the last two years and recorded over 50 tracks but we are only privy to a fraction of those.
Thoughts on Roots and Tings
- Dangerous: The project starts with such smooth vibes. Dangerous with the lyrics and if this is how we start, I am going to be super chill after this project.
- Highest Grade: Smoking good tree is so important and this song is all about describing the right kind of tree. They talk about the irony of being incarcerated for tree and the path to legalization.
- All of This: It’s all about the love on this track. It’s about finally finding love and how it affects us. Can you handle all of this love?
- Oh: The instruments on this track peaked my interest. There were so many small things that caught my attention. This track was also a bit different than the first three with the flow and subject matter.
- Class War: Story time, the two extremes of our society the CEOs and the struggling poor. It’s a major class war that we live in each day. The powerful only want more, the richer get richer and we get poorer.
- New Dub Plate: This song was not my favorite off the project. I just wasn’t feeling it.
- Dominoes: We continue on with the smooth reggae vibes. This song is about the music and the culture. Music goes with us everywhere we go. The video adds more context to the song and is a fun way to see them all doing their thing. Check it out here.
- No Shout Outs: Racial topics is what we discuss here and how fucked the government is. They discuss various racial issues in history not just America. They also touch base on the the media’s role in it. There is no breaks on this track. He spits for the entire song without a break which is impressive.
- Front & Center: The beat is all too familiar here and you will recognize it immediately. The beat does overpower the artist and it may have just been a leveling issue. The lyrics were about a girl and how she is front and center in his world. The song was a bit long for me at nearly 5 minutes which included a monologue at the end. The monologue served as an intro to the next song but I think it should have been separated.
- Rough Waves: The daily grind has us all wanting to be on a beach somewhere. The beach makes everything easier, let’s just close our eyes and imagine we are there.
- My One Girl: All about that one girl who you do anything for. Need her with you all the time. He thinks about this girl all the time, whether at the office or at the club. She just needs to give him a chance.
- Do it Again: Continuing on the topic of love. He keeps going back to her and they do it again everyday. She’s a wild one and she has her grips on him.
- Down by the Riverside: He is fed up with the war and I think we all feel him. He is going to stop studying war and go down by the riverside. There was a pause for an instrumental. This song is made for a movie, during a campfire scene before the climax.
You can listen to the entire album over on Spotify by following this link: ‘All of This’ – Roots & Tings https://open.spotify.com/album/3Iv5ybIAL0wRueBnEHT1tQ?si=AiA54XmeR-qcc1M7tamOag
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Overall, the album did as is intended, it took us to the roots and chilled us out while portraying various heavy messages. They know what works and are sticking to it. You can follow their journey by checking out these links:
www.rootsandtingsofficial.com
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