With the enthralling rapping of Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter and the exciting drumming of Ahmir "Truest Love" Thompson, the Roots (pictured), the Grammy-winning hip-hop group, will hit Beijing on April 17.

Famed for a heavily jazzy sound and live instrumentation, the Philadelphia-based hip-hop band produces most of their music live as opposed to using samples. For the past dozen years, the band has garnered critical acclaim and influenced later hip-hop and R&B acts.

Established in 1980s, the Roots' debut album, Organix, was a live recording from a concert in Germany that was sold at their shows. The album earned enough industry buzz for them to get offers from major record labels, and they signed with DGC records, which at the time was better known for its grunge rock releases.

But it was not till 1996 that the band made a real impact. Their 1996 release Illadelph Halflife was the group's first album to crack the Top 40 on Billboard's album chart.

In 1999, the band released Things Fall Apart (named after a novel by Chinua Achebe), their breakthrough album. The track You Got Me, duet with R&B singer Erykah Badu, earned them a Grammy award for Best Rap performance.

The band's album Phrenology in 2002 introduced a more mainstream sound, earning it a Grammy nomination for Best Rap Album. Its sales were boosted by radio and TV airplay for two duets on the album, Break U Off and The Seed 2.0. The video for the latter earned a nomination for the MTV2 Award at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards and was also featured on the soundtrack to the Mandy Moore movie Chasing Liberty.

Its 2004 release, The Tipping Point, took its name from a 2000 book by Malcolm Gladwell. The album earned two more Grammy nominations: one for Best Urban/Alternative Performance for the track Star, another for Best Rap Performance for the track Don't Say Nuthin'. The album was an immediate hit, debuting at No 4 on the Billboard album chart and selling over 100,000 copies in its first week of release.

The band's newest album, Game Theory, was released last August.

In their first visit to China the band is expected to perform most of their Grammy-winning singles and some pieces from their latest album .

Xiao Changyan

280-480 yuan. 7:30pm, Apr 17. The Star Live, 3rd floor of Tango, north of Yonghegong bridge. 6425-5166.

(China Daily 03/28/2007 page12)