The Roots (featuring Joanna Newsom & STS), “Right On” (2010)
find it on How I Got Over

Look, there really isn’t any way around this: this week’s FTF selection is right in our wheelhouse. A new album from Philadelphia’s The Roots always provides an occasion to perk one’s ears up. But when word leaked that How I Got Over would feature contributions from the Dirty Projectors, My Morning Jacket’s Jim James and Joanna Newsom? Suffice to say, the level of intrigue increased considerably.

Thankfully, How I Got Over is more than just an indie rock crossover gambit; it’s another notch in the belt for one of hip-hop’s most consistently pleasing and inventive acts. And “Right On” is one of the album’s highlights. Here ?uestlove makes unlikely bedfellows of Joanna Newsom’s “Book Of Right-On” and a meat-and-potatoes, but tried-and-true, hard hitting beat. Black Thought and STS bookend the hook with some old school braggadocious verses. And that’s that. Call it a hit.