March 23, 2024 - Our Roots Run Deep

We had a nice mix of soulful music on this week’s show, for all the crate diggers and soul junkies within earshot. Don’t forget to follow @PurpleRoomRadio on Instagram for playlists and announcements regarding the show.

​Here are some of this week's highlights!

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Montreal’s Dominique Fils-Aimé has completely captivated me with her 2023 album Our Roots Run Deep which was on repeat for a solid week in The Purple Room. 

Our Roots Run Deep is a cultural roadmap that touts the pride, mental strength, and confidence it takes to stand in our own power. Check out the title track and To Walk Away for a nice cross-section of what the album has to offer, but truss that this album (and Dominique’s other releases) is going to get a lot of play in The Purple Room over the next little while. 

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Sly Stone was on a creative tear in the late 60s and early 70s. Between 1967 and 1976, he released eight solid albums, peaking with 1971’s There’s a Riot Going On. Many of Sly's songs released in that era are still standard today, from the poignant Family Affair to the energetic Dance to the Music, and the inspirational Higher, Everyday People, and Stand. 

One of his lesser-celebrated albums of that era was 1968’s Life, which featured Into My Own Thing, Love City, and M’Lady. If you can’t get down with Sly Stone’s golden era, you’re in the wrong place.

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Ali Shaheed Muhammed & A Tribe Called Quest 

Speaking of family affairs, I capped the show off with a definite brotherhood. First, Ali Shaheed Muhammed and Adrian Younge with Lonnie Liston Smith from Jazz is Dead 17 and their track, What May Come. 

Ali Shaheed Muhammed also played the background in Hip-Hop mainstay A Tribe Called Quest for decades. Melatonin comes from Tribe’s sixth and final album as a group, exhaustingly called “We Got it From Here … Thanks For Your Service.” The album was released nine months after the unexpected death of Phife Dawg, one of the group’s key members.

Muhammed wasn’t involved in “…Thanks for Your Service” – not the way he was with the previous Tribe albums. This one was recorded in Q-Tip’s home studio and features a roster of solid guest appearances by Jack White, Busta Rhymes, Andre 3000, Kanye West, and the return of prodigal Tribe member Jarobi, who we rarely heard from over the group’s career. 

Thanks again for following the show, reach out at [email protected] or on Instagram, and you will hear me next week in The Purple Room, peace. ​​

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The Purple Room Playlist for March 23, 2024

Dominique Fils-Aimé
Our Roots Run Deep

Diggs
The habit of taking orders from a machine

Dominique Fils-Aimé
To Walk Away

Kaleta & Super Yama Band
Mr. Diva

J-Live
The Plot Twist

Chris Dave
Pookie on Mars

Yussef Dayes f/ Masego
Marching Band

Vieux Farka Touré et Khruangbin
Savanne

Sly & The Family Stone
Into My Own Thing

Rascalz
Strange Brew (Instrumental)

Patrice Rushen
The Hump

D’Angelo & The Vanguard
Back to the Future (Part 1)

Pat Stallworth
Questions, Part 2

Adrian Younge x Ali Shaheed Muhammad f/ Lonnie Liston Smith
What May Come

A Tribe Called Quest
Melatonin