I've been listening to this track nonstop for the past two days. In addition of being the original sample of Blackalicious' "Swan Lake", this is just a great song. Enjoy your summer Sundays.

Here's a smooth R&B track from the Brand New Heavies and arguably my favorite MC in the rap game, Phonte of Little Brother. This song will be on my iPod playlist all summer.

Vanilla Thrilla + Timmy T = The Odd Couple. This new group from St. Louis only has a few songs so far, but it's always refreshing to hear rappers talk about something I can actually relate to. Their beats are pretty good too.

Check 'em out at Myspace: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=377264036

With my second installment of "The Roots Week," here's one of the singles off of The Roots' third album entitled illadelph halflife. Like their second LP, this album was critically acclaimed as one of The Source Magazine's Best 100 Rap Albums of all time.

Unlike their first two albums, illadelph highlife sounds much more like a gritty east coast album. Songs like Clones, Concerto of the Desperado, Episodes, and UNIverse at War are good examples of this change in style.

But this particular song, "What They Do", is more along the lines of a jazzy influence. With Rafael Saadiq on the hook, the listener can just mellow out to the vibe for the long 6-minute song. The music video is even better because it pokes fun at the cliches in popular rap videos such as showing off expensive cars and girls dancing with little or no clothes on - not that there's anything wrong with that : )