The Roots Wake Up

• "Compared to What"
• "Hard Times"
• "Little Ghetto Boy"
• "Wake Up Everybody" (featuring Common and Melanie Fiona)
• "Our Generation"
• "Love the Way It Should Be"
• "Hang On in There"
• "I Can't Write Left Handed"
• "Wholy Holy"
• "I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free"
• "Shine"

This collaborative project kicked off in 2008, when John Legend and the Roots were both on the presidential candidate (and thereafter elect) Barack Obama campaign trail. They were looking to record a track that would embody the feeling of the campaign. But what started as a single song grew into much more. According to the Roots' drummer Questlove, 2010's The Wake Up Sessions transformed from a single track, to an iTunes excusive, to an EP, to a side-project, to a proper Legend album, to an eventual full-on covers LP featuring both the piano-centric crooner and the Philly rap group. It's set to feature heavier political overtones than at least what has been heard before from Legend, whose previous efforts primarily focused on relationships and the drama surrounding them.

Abstract by Andrew Martin