The Seed (2.0)

"The Seed (2.0)"
Single by The Roots featuring Cody Chesnutt
from the album Phrenology
ReleasedMarch 31, 2003[1]
RecordedNovember 2001
Genre
Length4:27
LabelMCA
Songwriter(s)Cody Chesnutt, Tariq Trotter
Producer(s)The Roots
The Roots featuring Cody Chesnutt singles chronology
"Break You Off"
(2002) 		"The Seed (2.0)"
(2003) 		"Don't Say Nuthin'"
(2004)
Not to be confused with "The Seed" from the Aurora album A Different Kind of Human (Step 2).

"The Seed (2.0)" is the second single by The Roots from their fifth album Phrenology (2002). The track, which features Cody Chesnutt on the guitar and vocals, is an "uptempo retooling" of his song "The Seed" from the album The Headphone Masterpiece.[2] The song's music video was nominated for the MTV2 Award at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards.[3] Jeff Vrabel of Billboard described the track as "a genre-bending mix of rock guitars and Prince-styled keyboards and drums".[4]

Music and reception

"The Seed (2.0)" is a hybrid mix of "distorted rock, hip-hop and psychedelic soul".[5] Brett Berliner of Stylus Magazine called the track "a rock song, featuring a little bit of funk and just a very little bit of hip-hop."[6] The song was favorably received by music critics. Robert Christgau called it the album's "centerpiece", "2002's freshest roots rock track and jammingest avant rap track".[7] Pitchfork's Sam Chennault described the song as an "orgiastic garage funk number" and called it the album's "most immediately satisfying track".[8] In 2009, Pitchfork listed it at number 330 in "The Top 500 Tracks of the 2000s".[9] Stylus Magazine's Brett Berliner declared it the album's "best track" with its "catchy hook that stays with listeners for days".[6] In The A.V. Club's 2002 top fifteen "Songs of the Year", Stephen Thompson listed the single at number nine.[10] Jake Coyle of the Associated Press called it "one of the best rock songs of the decade".[11] It was ranked as the 43rd best song of the decade by Rolling Stone.

Charts

Chart performance for "The Seed (2.0)"
Chart (2003) Peak
position
Australia (ARIA)[12] 78
Denmark (Tracklisten)[13] 2
Finland (Suomen virallinen lista)[14] 5
Germany (GfK)[15] 67
Netherlands (Single Top 100)[16] 31
Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[17] 22
UK Singles (OCC)[18] 33

Cover versions

  • American rock band Person L covered the song for the Fearless Records compilation Punk Goes Crunk in 2008.
  • Italian soul singer-songwriter Zucchero Fornaciari imitated the style and arrangement of the song, without directly covering it, on "Un kilo", a song from his 2006 album Fly. As "Un kilo" is not a full cover, it was credited only to Fornaciari.
  • American jazz singer Kurt Elling covered it on his 2021 album Superblue, featuring guitarist Charlie Hunter.

References

  1. ^ Nettleton, Chris. "The Roots: The Seed (2.0)". Drowned in Sound. Accessed November 12, 2008.
  2. ^ "The Seed". Billboard (April 5, 2003). Archived on Allbusiness.com. Accessed November 12, 2008.
  3. ^ "MTV Awards 2003: The winners". BBC News (July 24, 2003). Accessed November 12, 2008.
  4. ^ Vrabel, Jeff (December 9, 2002). "The Roots / Dec. 4, 2002 / House of Blues (Chicago)[dead link]". Billboard. Accessed November 12, 2008.
  5. ^ Petridis, Alexis (December 6, 2002). "The Roots: Phrenology". The Guardian. Accessed November 13, 2008.
  6. ^ a b Berliner, Brett (September 1, 2003). "The Roots Archived 2010-02-04 at the Wayback Machine". Stylus Magazine. Accessed November 13, 2008.
  7. ^ Christgau, Robert (January 14, 2003). "Escape Claus". The Village Voice. Accessed November 13, 2008.
  8. ^ Chennault, Sam (January 29, 2003). " Phrenology | Pitchfork". Pitchfork. Accessed November 13, 2008.
  9. ^ "The Top 500 Tracks of the 2000s: 500-201 Archived 2014-05-09 at the Wayback Machine". Pitchfork (August 17, 2009). Accessed August 20, 2009.
  10. ^ Thompson, Stephen (December 11, 2002). "Best Albums of 2002". The A.V. Club. Accessed November 13, 2008.
  11. ^ Coyle, Jake (February 20, 2009). " The Roots Take Over "Late Night"". NBC. Accessed May 27, 2009.
  12. ^ Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988–2010 (PDF ed.). Mt Martha, Victoria, Australia: Moonlight Publishing. p. 239.
  13. ^ "The Roots feat. Cody Chesnutt – The Seed (2.0)". Tracklisten. Retrieved September 13, 2022.
  14. ^ "The Roots feat. Cody Chesnutt: The Seed (2.0)" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat. Retrieved September 13, 2022.
  15. ^ "The Roots feat. Cody Chesnutt – The Seed (2.0)" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. Retrieved September 13, 2022.
  16. ^ "The Roots feat. Cody Chesnutt – The Seed (2.0)" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved September 13, 2022.
  17. ^ "The Roots feat. Cody Chesnutt – The Seed (2.0)". Swiss Singles Chart. Retrieved September 13, 2022.
  18. ^ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved September 13, 2022.