Tho the way back rap joints were MCs over live bands, mostly reconstituting then current disco bangers, Reaganomics & street level entrepreneurials convened & intervened when drum machines & samplers provided the means to divvy the split in a leaner fashion. The Roots've never really been the ones to champion economy when excess'll suffice (witness "The Session" [Longest Posse Cut in History]), and they chuck a chocka folks on How I Got Over (at least 18 co-conspirators dip divin betwixt the twee indie of Monsters of Folk, Joanna Newsom & the Dirty Projectors to the gully known associates like P.O.R.N. & Dice Raw to the [little] brothers from another like Phonte & Blu). Seems like Kamal's ditched some of his plug ins & gone back to classic Rhodes & ivorys, fortifying the soul aesthetic. Tracks like "Doin It Again" bop kinetically in a way that some of the more dour offerings of the last few albums lacked. The interstitials (the woozy wobble of "Dillatude" & "Tunnel Vision"'s snap, crackle & wop) put the bumps in bumper music. And tho it's nice to hear Black Thought split spittin with an Anthony Hamiltonish croon, as one of the fiercist lyricists goin, he deserves more time on the mike in his MC incarnation. But, still & all, there's a consistency to HIGO that's got to, in some way, reflect their day job of housebanding the Jimmy Kimmel Show. Maybe this is their variety show, with guests galore, but affirming their place in the spotlight.