How I Got Over (album)
Encyclopedia
How I Got Over is the ninth studio album
by American hip hop
band The Roots
, released June 22, 2010 on Def Jam Recordings
. Production for the album was primarily handled by band members Black Thought
, Questlove, Dice Raw
, and Rick Friedrich during 2008 to 2009. It contains a subtle, somber sound that incorporates musical elements of soul
, jazz
, indie rock
, and gospel music
, and features lyrics concerning themes of existentialism
, perseverance, and modern society.
The album debuted at number six on the US Billboard 200
chart, selling 51,000 copies in its first week. Upon its release, How I Got Over received general acclaim from most music critics, earning praise for its eclectic, cohesive style and profound lyrical themes. It was nominated for a Grammy Award
for Best Rap Album
, presented at the 53rd Grammy Awards
in 2011.
(2008), until drummer and producer for The Roots, Questlove, stated via his Twitter
account that the band would release an album called How I Got Over in the summer. How I Got Over was recorded during The Roots' tenure as the house band for Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
. The album was set to be released in February 2010, but was subsequently pushed back to June 8, 2010. Their ninth album, it was released June 22, 2010 on Def Jam Recordings
.
the album features a wide array of guest singers and rappers. John Legend
appears on the single 'The Fire' and alternative rock group Monsters of Folk
help The Roots remake their own song, 'Dear God' into an updated '...2.0' version which was released as the most promoted single. The album also feature a track that samples Joanna Newsom
's "Book of Right-On," a track featured on her 2004 release The Milk-Eyed Mender
, as well as new overdubs for the track, The Roots' version appears under the title 'Right On' here.
The album was expected to have political content relating to the presidencies of George W. Bush
and Barack Obama
. On June 23, 2009, Billboard reported: "Among the tracks expected to make the cut are 'Walk Alone,' the vintage R&B-leaning 'Make a Move,' 'The Day' featuring Icelandic vocalist Patty Crash and a cover of Frank Zappa's instrumental classic 'Peaches en Regalia.' 'How I Got Over' is also expected to include a version of Cody Chesnutt
's 'Serve This Royalty;' the singer-songwriter rose to fame in 2002 when the Roots re-recorded his song 'The Seed' for their album Phrenology
".
chart with first-week sales of 51,000 copies. It also entered at number three on Billboard
s R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and Rap Albums
charts, and at number four on the Digital Albums chart. In its second week, the album dropped to number 17 on the Billboard 200 and sold 21,000 copies. The album fell to number 25 on the chart and sold 14,000 copies in its third week. To date the album has sold 151,000 copies in the US. In Canada, the album entered at number 14 on the Top 100 Albums
chart. It also charted at number three in Switzerland, at number 117 in France, at number 61 in the Netherlands, and at number 35 in New Zealand.
, which assigns a normalized
rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average
score of 86, based on 22 reviews, which indicates "universal acclaim". Music critics commended the album's slow-grooving sound, its guest artists' contributions, and its content's lyrical depth. Allmusic writer Andy Kellman gave it 4 out of 5 stars and described it as "deeply planted in realism... gracefully and cleverly sequenced". Entertainment Weekly
s Simon Vozick-Levinson complimented the album's "funk/soul/jazz vibes". Steve Jones of USA Today
gave it 4 out of 4 stars and stated "The band's daring genre-bending eclecticism and insightful socio-politicism make Over worth revisiting time and again". Nate Jackson of OC Weekly
wrote that the band sounds "like they've taken some notable artistic leaps with this record without losing the core of what makes them special". Rolling Stone
writer Nathan Brackett complimented The Roots' incorporation of indie rock
elements into their "in the pocket" sound. Under the Radar
s Matt Fink gave it a 7/10 rating and called it "their leanest, most economic release, using smoky jazz flourishes, aching soul, and lushly arranged backdrops to glide through a tight 14-song set". Pitchfork Media
's Nate Patrin called it "a particularly efficient album... the Roots' shortest (a lean 42 and a half minutes), one of their most lyrically straightforward, and a work of strong stylistic cohesion".
In contrast, Eric Henderson of Slant Magazine
found it lyrically inconsistent and "mildly self-delusional", and described it as "stylistically the most inert, contemplative, offputtingly soft music they've possibly ever released". Sputnikmusic
's Sobhi Abdul-Rakhman noted that "some tracks come off as 'light' on the beats spectrum and slightly unfocused filler", but ultimately called it "a step in a different direction" and "a great record". Steve Juon of RapReviews gave it a 9/10 rating and stated "The Roots are pleasing you musically at the same time they stimulate you intellectually. The message doesn't usurp the groove or vice versa". Jon Pareles
of The New York Times
called it "a serious deliberation on perseverance: a message for an era of recession", stating "Even in its boasts, How I Got Over is selfless: an album of doubts, parables and pep talks". Spin
s Charles Aaron praised its profound themes, writing "You'd have to rewind early-'90s Scarface
or Wu-Tang
for such convincingly cold-eyed hip-hop existentialism". In his consumer guide for MSN Music
, critic Robert Christgau
praised its rappers for expressing "garden-variety upper-middle-class anxiety... directly, thoughtfully, eloquently, and entertainingly", while writing that "they up the ante and confront those anxieties with a fortitude and even optimism embodied by Kamal Gray's keyboards, never my idea of this band's strength, and, especially, ?uestlove's drums".
Jesse Serwer of The Washington Post
described the album's guest artists as "augmentation" to Black Thought's "always stellar, if stiff, rhymes". Lou Thomas of BBC Online expressed that "the importance of collaborators is paramount", and found the album similar to Curtis Mayfield
's Super Fly (1972). Crawdaddy!
s Daniel Alvarez wrote that The Roots "push the stylistic and sonic boundaries of their sound without eschewing their foundations of soulful beats, socially conscious lyrics, and the underlining spirit of musical and emotional collaboration". New York Daily News
writer Jim Farber praised the band's musical fusion as "a new level of invention" for hip hop and stated "their words pour out in a thoughtful, assertive, funky rush". James Shahan of URB compared it to their previous album Rising Down, stating "While How I Got Over is cut from the same cloth... the fabric of it is unique to itself. It’s dark and tragic in places, but also enlightening and empowering". Chicago Tribune
writer Greg Kot
characterized its first-half as a "brooding meditation" with a "jazz-soul vibe", while noting its second-half as more upbeat "where the mellow melancholy of the album subtly brightens and the beats harden". The A.V. Club
s Nathan Rabin stated "The sound is as airy and intimate as Rising Down was claustrophobic and menacing". Matthew Fiander of PopMatters
called it "a timely, and honest, record about making it through tough times" and commended its "unified feel". The Guardian
s Dave Simpson compared the album to Marvin Gaye
's What's Going On
(1971) and stated "their rejections of negativity and belief in humanity are inspiring".
.
Studio album
A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...
by American hip hop
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
band The Roots
The Roots
The Roots is an American hip hop/neo soul band formed in 1987 by Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter and Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are famed for beginning with a jazzy, eclectic approach to hip hop which still includes live instrumentals...
, released June 22, 2010 on Def Jam Recordings
Def Jam Recordings
Def Jam Recordings is an American record label, focused primarily on hip hop and urban music, owned by Universal Music Group, and operates as a part of The Island Def Jam Motown Music Group...
. Production for the album was primarily handled by band members Black Thought
Black Thought
Tariq Trotter , better known as Black Thought, is an American hip-hop artist who is the lead MC of the Philadelphia-based hip hop group The Roots and occasional actor...
, Questlove, Dice Raw
Dice Raw
Dice Raw is a hip-hop artist associated with The Roots, and one of the founding members of musical group Nouveau Riche.In 2000, Dice Raw recorded his solo debut album, Reclaiming the Dead on MCA Records....
, and Rick Friedrich during 2008 to 2009. It contains a subtle, somber sound that incorporates musical elements of soul
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
, jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, indie rock
Indie rock
Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others...
, and gospel music
Gospel music
Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....
, and features lyrics concerning themes of existentialism
Existentialism
Existentialism is a term applied to a school of 19th- and 20th-century philosophers who, despite profound doctrinal differences, shared the belief that philosophical thinking begins with the human subject—not merely the thinking subject, but the acting, feeling, living human individual...
, perseverance, and modern society.
The album debuted at number six on the US Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
chart, selling 51,000 copies in its first week. Upon its release, How I Got Over received general acclaim from most music critics, earning praise for its eclectic, cohesive style and profound lyrical themes. It was nominated for a Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
for Best Rap Album
Grammy Award for Best Rap Album
The Grammy Award for Best Rap Album is an award presented to recording artists for quality albums with rapping at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards...
, presented at the 53rd Grammy Awards
53rd Grammy Awards
The 53rd annual Grammy Awards were held on February 13, 2011, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. They were broadcast on CBS with a rating of 26.6 million viewers. Barbra Streisand was honored as the MusiCares Person of the Year two nights prior to the telecast on February 11. Nominations were...
in 2011.
Background
In 2008, The Roots stated that their final album would be Rising DownRising Down
Rising Down is the eighth studio album by American hip hop band The Roots, released April 28, 2008 on Def Jam Recordings. The album's title is adapted from William T. Vollmann's book Rising Up and Rising Down: Some Thoughts on Violence, Freedom and Urgent Means...
(2008), until drummer and producer for The Roots, Questlove, stated via his Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
account that the band would release an album called How I Got Over in the summer. How I Got Over was recorded during The Roots' tenure as the house band for Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon is an American late-night talk show hosted by Jimmy Fallon on NBC. The show premiered on March 2, 2009, as the third incarnation of the Late Night franchise originated by David Letterman....
. The album was set to be released in February 2010, but was subsequently pushed back to June 8, 2010. Their ninth album, it was released June 22, 2010 on Def Jam Recordings
Def Jam Recordings
Def Jam Recordings is an American record label, focused primarily on hip hop and urban music, owned by Universal Music Group, and operates as a part of The Island Def Jam Motown Music Group...
.
Music
From the tracks initially expected to make the album, only 'The Day', 'Walk Alone' and the title song 'How I Got Over' made the final track listing. Similar to the previous The Roots full-length, 2008's Rising DownRising Down
Rising Down is the eighth studio album by American hip hop band The Roots, released April 28, 2008 on Def Jam Recordings. The album's title is adapted from William T. Vollmann's book Rising Up and Rising Down: Some Thoughts on Violence, Freedom and Urgent Means...
the album features a wide array of guest singers and rappers. John Legend
John Legend
John Roger Stephens , better known by his stage name John Legend, is an American singer, musician, and actor. He is the recipient of nine Grammy Awards, and in 2007, he received the special Starlight award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame.Prior to the release of his debut album, Stephens' career...
appears on the single 'The Fire' and alternative rock group Monsters of Folk
Monsters of Folk
Monsters of Folk is an American supergroup, consisting of Jim James from My Morning Jacket, Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis from Bright Eyes, and M. Ward, renowned solo artist. The band was formed in 2004 when the members were on tour with their respective bands and solo projects. After playing...
help The Roots remake their own song, 'Dear God' into an updated '...2.0' version which was released as the most promoted single. The album also feature a track that samples Joanna Newsom
Joanna Newsom
Joanna Newsom is an American harpist, pianist and singer-songwriter from Nevada City, California.- Early life :Newsom grew up in the small town of Nevada City, California...
's "Book of Right-On," a track featured on her 2004 release The Milk-Eyed Mender
The Milk-Eyed Mender
The Milk-Eyed Mender is the debut album by American singer-songwriter Joanna Newsom, released on March 23, 2004 on the Drag City label ....
, as well as new overdubs for the track, The Roots' version appears under the title 'Right On' here.
The album was expected to have political content relating to the presidencies of George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
and Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
. On June 23, 2009, Billboard reported: "Among the tracks expected to make the cut are 'Walk Alone,' the vintage R&B-leaning 'Make a Move,' 'The Day' featuring Icelandic vocalist Patty Crash and a cover of Frank Zappa's instrumental classic 'Peaches en Regalia.' 'How I Got Over' is also expected to include a version of Cody Chesnutt
Cody ChesnuTT
Cody Chesnutt is an American R&B and neo soul musician.-Biography:Cody Chesnutt is an African American musician from Atlanta, Georgia, whose music blends elements of rock, funk, soul, hip hop, and blues. Chesnutt and his former band, The Crosswalk, had a brief stint with Hollywood Records in which...
's 'Serve This Royalty;' the singer-songwriter rose to fame in 2002 when the Roots re-recorded his song 'The Seed' for their album Phrenology
Phrenology (album)
Phrenology is the fifth studio album by American hip hop band The Roots, released November 26, 2002, on Geffen Records and MCA Records. Recording sessions for the album took place during June 2000 to September 2002...
".
Commercial performance
The album debuted at number six on the US Billboard 200Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
chart with first-week sales of 51,000 copies. It also entered at number three on Billboard
Billboard charts
The Billboard charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs or albums in the United States. The results are published in Billboard magazine...
s R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and Rap Albums
Top Rap Albums
Top Rap Albums is a record chart published by Billboard magazine that ranks Rap and hip-hop albums based on sales compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The chart began publication for the week of November 13, 2004....
charts, and at number four on the Digital Albums chart. In its second week, the album dropped to number 17 on the Billboard 200 and sold 21,000 copies. The album fell to number 25 on the chart and sold 14,000 copies in its third week. To date the album has sold 151,000 copies in the US. In Canada, the album entered at number 14 on the Top 100 Albums
Canadian Albums Chart
The Canadian Albums Chart is the official album sales chart in Canada. It is compiled every Wednesday by U.S.-based music sales tracking company Nielsen Soundscan, and published every Thursday by Jam! Canoe and Billboard, along with its sister charts the Canadian Singles Chart and the Canadian BDS...
chart. It also charted at number three in Switzerland, at number 117 in France, at number 61 in the Netherlands, and at number 35 in New Zealand.
Critical response
How I Got Over received general acclaim from most music critics. At MetacriticMetacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, which assigns a normalized
Standard score
In statistics, a standard score indicates how many standard deviations an observation or datum is above or below the mean. It is a dimensionless quantity derived by subtracting the population mean from an individual raw score and then dividing the difference by the population standard deviation...
rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average
Weighted mean
The weighted mean is similar to an arithmetic mean , where instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others...
score of 86, based on 22 reviews, which indicates "universal acclaim". Music critics commended the album's slow-grooving sound, its guest artists' contributions, and its content's lyrical depth. Allmusic writer Andy Kellman gave it 4 out of 5 stars and described it as "deeply planted in realism... gracefully and cleverly sequenced". Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
s Simon Vozick-Levinson complimented the album's "funk/soul/jazz vibes". Steve Jones of USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
gave it 4 out of 4 stars and stated "The band's daring genre-bending eclecticism and insightful socio-politicism make Over worth revisiting time and again". Nate Jackson of OC Weekly
OC Weekly
OC Weekly, a sister publication of both LA Weekly and The Village Voice, is a free, left-wing weekly paper distributed in Orange County, California and also in Long Beach....
wrote that the band sounds "like they've taken some notable artistic leaps with this record without losing the core of what makes them special". Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
writer Nathan Brackett complimented The Roots' incorporation of indie rock
Indie rock
Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others...
elements into their "in the pocket" sound. Under the Radar
Under the Radar (magazine)
Under the Radar is an American magazine that bills itself as "The solution to music pollution" and features interviews with accompanying photo-shoots. Each issue includes opinion and commentary of the Indie music scene as well as reviews on books, DVDs and albums.Items are reviewed based on a...
s Matt Fink gave it a 7/10 rating and called it "their leanest, most economic release, using smoky jazz flourishes, aching soul, and lushly arranged backdrops to glide through a tight 14-song set". Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...
's Nate Patrin called it "a particularly efficient album... the Roots' shortest (a lean 42 and a half minutes), one of their most lyrically straightforward, and a work of strong stylistic cohesion".
In contrast, Eric Henderson of Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine is an online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New York Film Festival.- History :...
found it lyrically inconsistent and "mildly self-delusional", and described it as "stylistically the most inert, contemplative, offputtingly soft music they've possibly ever released". Sputnikmusic
Sputnikmusic
Sputnikmusic, or simply Sputnik, is a music website offering music criticism and music news alongside features commonly associated with wiki-style websites...
's Sobhi Abdul-Rakhman noted that "some tracks come off as 'light' on the beats spectrum and slightly unfocused filler", but ultimately called it "a step in a different direction" and "a great record". Steve Juon of RapReviews gave it a 9/10 rating and stated "The Roots are pleasing you musically at the same time they stimulate you intellectually. The message doesn't usurp the groove or vice versa". Jon Pareles
Jon Pareles
Jon Pareles is an American journalist who is the chief popular music critic in the arts section of the New York Times. He played jazz flute and piano, and graduated from Yale University with a degree in music. In the 1970s he was an associate editor of Crawdaddy!, and in the 1980s an associate...
of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
called it "a serious deliberation on perseverance: a message for an era of recession", stating "Even in its boasts, How I Got Over is selfless: an album of doubts, parables and pep talks". Spin
Spin (magazine)
Spin is a music magazine founded in 1985 by publisher Bob Guccione Jr.-History:In its early years, the magazine was noted for its broad music coverage with an emphasis on college-oriented rock music and on the ongoing emergence of hip-hop. The magazine was eclectic and bold, if sometimes haphazard...
s Charles Aaron praised its profound themes, writing "You'd have to rewind early-'90s Scarface
Scarface (rapper)
Brad Terrence Jordan , better known by his stage name Scarface, is an American rapper, and recording artist from Houston, Texas and a member of the Geto Boys. He is originally from South Park, Houston.-Life and career:...
or Wu-Tang
Wu-Tang Clan
The Wu-Tang Clan is a hip-hop group from Staten Island that consists of RZA, GZA, Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, U-God, Masta Killa, and the late Ol' Dirty Bastard. They are frequently joined by fellow childhood friend Cappadonna, a quasi member of the group...
for such convincingly cold-eyed hip-hop existentialism". In his consumer guide for MSN Music
MSN Music
MSN Music was a part of the MSN web services. It delivered music news, music videos, spotlights on new music, artist information, and live performances of artists. In 2004, Microsoft created an MSN Music download store to compete with Apple's iTunes Music Store, though its sales in comparison were...
, critic Robert Christgau
Robert Christgau
Robert Christgau is an American essayist, music journalist, and self-proclaimed "Dean of American Rock Critics".One of the earliest professional rock critics, Christgau is known for his terse capsule reviews, published since 1969 in his Consumer Guide columns...
praised its rappers for expressing "garden-variety upper-middle-class anxiety... directly, thoughtfully, eloquently, and entertainingly", while writing that "they up the ante and confront those anxieties with a fortitude and even optimism embodied by Kamal Gray's keyboards, never my idea of this band's strength, and, especially, ?uestlove's drums".
Jesse Serwer of The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
described the album's guest artists as "augmentation" to Black Thought's "always stellar, if stiff, rhymes". Lou Thomas of BBC Online expressed that "the importance of collaborators is paramount", and found the album similar to Curtis Mayfield
Curtis Mayfield
Curtis Lee Mayfield was an American soul, R&B, and funk singer, songwriter, and record producer.He is best known for his anthemic music with The Impressions during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's and for composing the soundtrack to the blaxploitation film Super Fly, Mayfield is highly...
's Super Fly (1972). Crawdaddy!
Crawdaddy!
Crawdaddy! was the first U.S. magazine of rock and roll music criticism. Created in 1966 by college student Paul Williams in response to the increasing sophistication and cultural influence of popular music, Crawdaddy! was self-described as "the first magazine to take rock and roll...
s Daniel Alvarez wrote that The Roots "push the stylistic and sonic boundaries of their sound without eschewing their foundations of soulful beats, socially conscious lyrics, and the underlining spirit of musical and emotional collaboration". New York Daily News
New York Daily News
The Daily News of New York City is the fourth most widely circulated daily newspaper in the United States with a daily circulation of 605,677, as of November 1, 2011....
writer Jim Farber praised the band's musical fusion as "a new level of invention" for hip hop and stated "their words pour out in a thoughtful, assertive, funky rush". James Shahan of URB compared it to their previous album Rising Down, stating "While How I Got Over is cut from the same cloth... the fabric of it is unique to itself. It’s dark and tragic in places, but also enlightening and empowering". Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
writer Greg Kot
Greg Kot
Greg Kot is an American writer and journalist. Since 1990, Kot has been the music critic at the Chicago Tribune, where he has covered popular music and reported on music-related social, political and business issues...
characterized its first-half as a "brooding meditation" with a "jazz-soul vibe", while noting its second-half as more upbeat "where the mellow melancholy of the album subtly brightens and the beats harden". The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club is an entertainment newspaper and website published by The Onion. Its features include reviews of new films, music, television, books, games and DVDs, as well as interviews and other regular offerings examining both new and classic media and other elements of pop culture. Unlike its...
s Nathan Rabin stated "The sound is as airy and intimate as Rising Down was claustrophobic and menacing". Matthew Fiander of PopMatters
PopMatters
PopMatters is an international webzine of cultural criticism that covers many aspects of popular culture. PopMatters publishes reviews, interviews, and detailed essays on most cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, films, books, video games, comics, sports, theater,...
called it "a timely, and honest, record about making it through tough times" and commended its "unified feel". The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
s Dave Simpson compared the album to Marvin Gaye
Marvin Gaye
Marvin Pentz Gay, Jr. , better known by his stage name Marvin Gaye, was an American singer-songwriter and musician with a three-octave vocal range....
's What's Going On
What's Going On
What's Going On is the eleventh studio album by soul musician Marvin Gaye, released May 21, 1971, on the Motown-subsidiary label Tamla Records...
(1971) and stated "their rejections of negativity and belief in humanity are inspiring".
Track listing
The track listing was confirmed by OkayplayerOkayplayer
Okayplayer.com is an online hip-hop and alternative music website and community, described by Rolling Stone as a "tastemaker" and "an antidote to dull promotional Web sites used by most artists". The group was co-founded by The Roots' drummer Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson as a loose musical...
.
Personnel
Credits for How I Got Over adapted from liner notes.- Executive producer: Richard Nichols
- A&R: Lenny S., Karl Jenkins
- A&R operations: Leesa D. Brunson
- A&R administration: Mark Tavern
- Mastered by: Dave Kutch
- Marketing: Chris Atlas, Paul Resta
- Management: Shawn Gee, Richard Nichols
- Business management: Shawn Gee, SEFG LLC
- Creative management: Richard Nichols, CoolHunter LLC
- Art direction: Richard Nichols, Kenny Gravillis, Todd Russell
- Design: Gravillis, Inc.
- Art, photography coordination: Kristen Yiengst, Tai Linzie
- The Roots photography: Ben Watts
- Styling: Rebecca Pietri, www.hommepourfemme.com
- Gromming: Fahim
- Legal counsel: Brad A. Rubens
- Business affairs: Randy McMillan, Antoinette Trotman, Ian Allen
- Sample clearances: Deborah Mannis-Gardner for DMG Clearances, Inc.
Chart history
| Charts (2010) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Canadian Albums Chart Canadian Albums Chart The Canadian Albums Chart is the official album sales chart in Canada. It is compiled every Wednesday by U.S.-based music sales tracking company Nielsen Soundscan, and published every Thursday by Jam! Canoe and Billboard, along with its sister charts the Canadian Singles Chart and the Canadian BDS... |
14 |
| Dutch Albums Chart MegaCharts MegaCharts is responsible for the composition and exploitation of a broad collection of official charts in the Netherlands, of which the Mega Top 50 and the Mega Album Top 100 are the most known ones. Mega Charts also provides information to the Stichting Nederlandse Top 40, of which the Dutch Top... |
33 |
| French Albums Chart Syndicat National de l'Edition Phonographique The Syndicat national de l'édition phonographique is the inter-professional organization which protects the interests of the French record industry... |
117 |
| New Zealand Albums Chart Recording Industry Association of New Zealand The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand is a non-profit trade association of record producers, distributors and recording artists who sell music in New Zealand... |
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| Swiss Albums Chart Swiss Music Charts The Swiss Music Charts are Switzerland's main music sales charts. The charts are a record of the highest-selling singles and albums in various genres in Switzerland.The Swiss Charts include:* Singles Top 75... |
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| US Billboard 200 Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
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| US Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a chart published by Billboard magazine that ranks R&B and hip hop albums based on sales compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The name of the chart was changed from Top R&B Albums in 1999... |
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| US Billboard Rap Albums Top Rap Albums Top Rap Albums is a record chart published by Billboard magazine that ranks Rap and hip-hop albums based on sales compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The chart began publication for the week of November 13, 2004.... |
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External links
- How I Got Over at DiscogsDiscogsDiscogs, short for discographies, is a website and database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. The Discogs servers, currently hosted under the domain name discogs.com, are owned by Zink Media, Inc., and are...
- How I Got Over at MetacriticMetacriticMetacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...