The 333 Best Pop Songs of the 2000s: #273

#273: "The Seed (2.0)" (2002) - The Roots & Cody ChesnuTT

The Roots have been releasing records for fifteen years now, and with each album, their lyrics and music get tougher, darker, more mature, more political...and less accessible. Their musical style has evolved from jazz lite to hard funk, somewhat mirroring the musical growth (or shrinkage) of Sly & the Family Stone, going deeper within themselves and their culture and society in general, looking straight into the worst aspects of the world that surrounds them and the world within themselves. Their hip-hop is dark, and at times it's inscrutable. And they're a better band because of it, one of the most important ones of this past decade. If OutKast are the Beatles of hip-hop because of their vibrance and eclecticism and expansiveness, then the Roots are (now) its Velvet Underground, producing dirty and gritty tales with ever-increasing claustrophobia.

Their album Phrenology contained their last great single (though not their last great music--and there's a difference), "The Seed (2.0)." The notation following the title reflects the song's status as a cover, the original recorded by none other than Georgia neo-soul singer Cody ChesnuTT--the same artist on this version. This version's a re-make as much as it is a cover, as ChesnuTT sings his original, but this time he's surrounded by expert musicians and a great producer--the Roots' drummer ?uestlove. ChesnuTT's original had a dandy of a melody, but it's sound was compressed and anemic. ?uestlove opens up the record, adding some reverb to ChesnuTT's reggae guitar and giving it space to work. He also gives himself a fantastic, live drum sound. The tougher yet looser sound--along with Black Thougt's raspy rapping--provides a rugged counterpoint to ChesnuTT's sweet tenor, giving the record a great sense of balance.

As great as the music is, the lyric is even better. First time I heard it, though, I was taken aback by what I thought were lines that were a clumsy and awkward and explicit-as-it-gets-without-swearing. I wondered how this song ever got any rotation. I wasn't offended, but I was mildly shocked. And then I googled the lyrics. Oops. What ChesnuTT sings in the chorus is "I push my seed in her push for life." Oh. I thought the second push was, uh, another word entirely. This makes more sense--except that it doesn't...not literally. Initially, I though this song was about male reproductive virility. I was wrong...and I was right, too.

The song is about reproduction, and it is about virility, but it is not about sex. It's about procreation of a different sort. The song is an allegory about the evolution and revolution of rock and roll and soul and rap--and the solution created by the compounding of all three. It's about the need to make one's self heard, about the need to create, about the need to leave a musical legacy greater than the current one. Essentially, it's about the need to form a new cultural and musical integration that can grant immortality. ChesnuTT's & the Roots' reach may exceed their grasp here, but they come close.