Today, April 1, in hip-hop history...

therootsgroundup
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1994: Before they were a late night headlining band, the Roots were just another jazz-soul band from Philadelphia trying to break through.

After the guys independently released their debut album, Organix in May of 1993, their sound caught the attention of DGC and Geffen Record execs who signed ?uestlove and the crew shortly after. Under Geffen, The Roots dropped their first EP entitled From the Ground Up on April 1, 1994. With only a tracklisting of six songs on From the Ground Up, The Roots enticed listeners with their bluesy, jazz rap sound. Geffen gave the band creative control to see what they would do with it, so the EP was subsequently produced by members ?uestlove, Kelo, and Black Thought.

Four of the songs on the EP, including "Distortion to Static" and "Do You Want More?!" would later be featured in the band's second album, Do You Want More?!!!??! which dropped in 1995.

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