The Roots to take IU back to 'old school'

The two-year drought has ended.\nHip-hop group The Roots will play a concert at the IU Auditorium for Little 500 week, bringing back a tradition of inviting major musical acts to perform during the "World's Greatest College Weekend."\nTickets for the April 14 show go on sale at 10 a.m. Thursday at the Auditorium Box Office and cost $27 for students and $35 for nonstudents. \nThe hip-hop band will play IU as part of its 18-stop "Gymnasium Invasium" tour of college campuses. \nThe Little 500 tradition of music concerts had been broken during the past two years. Fraternities and sororities staged smaller shows with Bone Thugs-n-Harmony and Rusted Root. But the last Union Board-sponsored artist to play a Little 500 concert was Guster in 2002.\n"We are very excited because The Roots are known as one of the best live hip-hop acts," said Lana Kleyman, director of concerts for Union Board. "This show gives the whole feel, energy and excitement of Little 500."\nThe Roots will not have an opening act. All four band members will make the trip: Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter (vocals), Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson (percussion), Leonard Hubbard (bass) and Kamal Gray (keyboard). The band signed a contract to come to IU the day before spring break, Kleyman said. \nThe Roots were nominated for two Grammys this year for Best Urban/Alternative Performance for the song "Star" and Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group for the song "Don't Say Nuthin'." Both songs are from their eighth album, "The Tipping Point," which debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 chart in 2004, according to www.okayplayer.com.\nThe band earned its only Grammy in 1999 for Best Performance By a Rap Duo or Group for "You Got Me" from its Gold album "Things Fall Apart."\nKleyman said the band is "known for its live show." It tours about 250 days out of the year.\n"We have wanted a hip-hop show for a while," she said. "We haven't had one in quite a long time."\nOther stops on The Roots' "Gymnasium Invasium" tour include Syracuse University on April 12 and Butler University on April 17,\n"That's going to be so amazing," said junior Derrell Asante-Addae. "I can't wait to go."\nHe said he appreciates the depth of the lyrics on the albums "Phrenology" and "Tipping Point."\n"When you hear them, it's like 'that's so true,'" he said. "Other artists say things like money, cash, clothes and all of that is not true. What The Roots are saying is what they've been through." \nJunior Hashim Hathaway, who worked on Union Board last year, said the major obstacle to bringing an artist for Little 500 was that artists only want to play in the summer, he said. \n"We received a lot of flak for not bringing a concert," he said. "Believe me it was not for a lack of trying."\nHe said The Roots are a throwback to Funkadelic and Sly and the Family Stone because they perform with live instrumentation as opposed to two turntables.\n"When you see The Roots perform, you get your money's worth," he said. "When you replace synthesized drum beats with an actual drummer and have a multi-piece band, you bring something more to the audience. They bring that quality from the old school. It's refreshing."\n-- Contact General Assignments Editor Adam VanOsdol at avanosdo@indiana.edu.