TAGS : john legend

John Legend is back with the official first single from his collaborative project with The Roots titled Wake Up! “Wake Up Everybody” is a cover of the classic song by Harold Melvin & The Bluenotes [RIP. Teddy Pendergrass]. Out of all the recent John Legend covers we’ve posted, this one is pretty incredible. The new track features some smooth vocals by Melanie Fiona and some new verses by Common for this uplifting song. The new album Wake Up! is due in stores September 21st. You can peep the track listing for it here. [via]

You can stream “Wake Up Everybody” below or download it after the jump.

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I am not sure I have ever talked about John Legend here on Potholes, but now that I have the chance, I will express my true animosity. Sure, he released a pair of solid albums, but to me his music feels empty and unoriginal. Not to mention, he is an arrogant son of a gun on stage. That’s enough aimless ranting from me, though, let’s talk about this cover song that John Legend and The Roots just cooked up for Levi’s Pioneer Sessions. We have been following this series pretty closely over the past month, as it has yielded fantastic cover songs from She & Him, Passion Pit, Nas, Dirty Projectors and more. While I am not exactly in love with the back-to-back John Legend appearances on The Roots’ How I Got Over, I feel like the two had a much smoother chemistry on the cover of the Ernie Hines classic, “Our Generation”. This song will appear on the collaborative effort, Wake Up!, which will be available on September 21 via Sony Music. That album will feature John Legend and The Roots taking stabs at some of their favorite 60′s and 70′s music with underlying themes of activism and awareness. I also included the Raphael Saadiq cover of  The Spinners’ “It’s a Shame”, to show you what a real soul singer was made of. Check out the songs, let us know what you think, and enjoy your weekend!

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The Roots just released the third leak, “The Fire”, from their upcoming album, How I Got Over. It’s the second track off the album to feature crooner John Legend. The Roots first premiered this song during the the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics. This is another uptempo and inspiring track for their anticipated LP. While I’m not the biggest John Legend fan, he does very little to ruin this song for me. Black Thought sounds focused, and the instrumentation and production is superb. I can’t wait to see them on tour this month. The Roots also released the final track listing for the album which drops June 22, which you can check out below. Please give the song a spin and let us know what you think. [via]

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We all heard what’s now being dubbed the lead single from How I Got Over last week in the smoky, downtrodden “Dear God 2.0“, which heavily samples the track “Dear God” by Jim James and Monsters of Folk. And I think it’s safe to say almost everyone that’s heard it has loved it and praised the hell out of the track either on their own blog or in some site’s comments section. Well, I think the Roots and their OkayPlayer (props to Shamz) brand were thinking it might be smart to continue the winning streak with another leak.  “Doin It Again” hit the ‘net today and it features a re-appropriation of John Legend’s “Again”, akin to how the aforementioned “Dear God 2.0″.

While I’m absolutely in love with this track — I truthfully don’t give a shit if Black Thought rehashed his BET Awards cypher freestyle — I am finding it slightly odd how much more frequently the Roots are essentially remixing tracks and reworking the title or adding “2.0.” This isn’t some kind of foolish hatred either, as I clearly stated I’m a fan of “Doin It Again” and a giant fan of the Legendary in general. Personally, I find it interesting how they are essentially remixing a track but also, in a way, sampling it in the traditional hip-hop sense. But I’m really curious as to what our readers think about this. Hit the skip to download the track.

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9th Wonder returns with his second installment of the 9th Invented the Remix (AGAIN). 9th Wonder released his original remix project was back in 2003 after the success of Little Brother’s The Listening. The new mixtape has some notable hip-hop and R&B remixes. Some of the highlights include Little Brother’s – “Not Enough (More)” (9th Wonder STILL Ain’t Enough Remix), Tweet’s – “Turn Da Lights Off” (9th Wonder Oh No You Didn’t Remix) which samples Teddy Pendergrass’ “Turn Off The Lights” remixed with 9th wonder’s drums. Some of the other R&B remixes were a bit underwhelming, but he did remix “Wordplay” by A Tribe Called Quest so there’s still a lot to like on here. Please let us know the what you think. Props to Eskay

Download: 9th Wonder Presents: 9th Invented the Remix (AGAIN)

Hit the jump for the track listing…

This was posted on a few sites the other day, but I only got around to posting it now. Brought to us by Scrap Dirty & The Violater, DJ Supa, cooked up this 25 song mixtape of memorable Slum Village tracks. Newbies and big time fans alike can enjoy this mixtape, especially as a refresher as we approach what looks like a new LP from the Slum. Check it out and share your thoughts on the mix… (Props to RIK)

Download: Slum Village – Remember the Classics (Right-Click, Save-As)

Hit the skip for full artwork and tracklist…