Phrenology (album)

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Phrenology
Phrenology cover
Studio album by The Roots
Released November 26, 2002
Recorded June 2000 – September 2002
Genre Hip hop
Length 60:47
Label Geffen Records
Producer ?uestlove
Professional reviews
The Roots chronology
The Roots Come Alive
(1999)		 Phrenology
(2002)		 The Tipping Point
(2004)

Phrenology (released November 26, 2002) is the fifth album from The Roots. Immediately following the breakthrough success of Things Fall Apart, its release was highly anticipated and highly delayed, as recording took two years. The album includes guest appearances from artists including Nelly Furtado, Cody ChesnuTT, Musiq, Talib Kweli, and Jill Scott. Phrenology did not chart as high as Things Fall Apart, reaching #28 on the Billboard 200 in comparison to Things Fall Apart's eventual peak of #4. However, like The Roots' previous album, Phrenology sold steadily and was eventually certified gold, signifying sales of at least 500,000 units.

The album was named for the discredited pseudoscience of phrenology, the study of head shapes to determine intelligence and character. Phrenology was sometimes used to justify racism in the past.

Contents

[edit] Track listing

  1. "Phrentrow" (featuring Ursula Rucker) – 0:18
  2. "Rock You" – 3:12
  3. "!!!!!!!" – 0:24
  4. "Sacrifice" (featuring Nelly Furtado) – 4:44
  5. "Rolling with Heat" (featuring Talib Kweli]) – 3:42
  6. "WAOK (Ay) Rollcall" (featuring Ursula Rucker) – 1:00
  7. "Thought @ Work" – 4:58
  8. "The Seed (2.0)" (featuring Cody ChesnuTT) – 4:27
  9. "Break You Off" (featuring Musiq) – 7:27
  10. "Water" – 10:24
  11. "Quills" – 4:22
    • contains elements of "Breakout" by The Swingout Sisters
  12. "Pussy Galore" – 4:29
  13. "Complexity" (featuring Jill Scott) – 4:47
  14. "Something in the Way of Things (In Town)" (featuring Amiri Baraka) – 7:16
  15. Untitled (hidden track, silent) – 0:20
  16. Untitled (hidden track, silent) – 0:20
  17. "Rhymes and Ammo/Thirsty!" (featuring Talib Kweli,Dice Raw) (hidden track, silent until 2:00) – 7:59
  18. Untitled (hidden track, silent) – 0:05

[edit] Album chart positions

Year Album Chart positions
Billboard 200 Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums
2002 Phrenology #28 #11

[edit] Singles chart positions

Year Song Chart positions
Billboard Hot 100 Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks Hot Rap Singles
2002 "Break You Off" #99 #55 -

[edit] Trivia

"Thought @ Work" was originally recorded to be on a Black Thought solo album which has been scrapped. The original version used a sample from The Beatles' "Hey Bulldog" but at the time Michael Jackson and Sony Music were fighting over who owned The Beatles' music and thus no samples were being cleared. Questlove tried what he could, including contacting John Lennon's son Sean, but there was nothing that could be done except to remake the track.

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