John Legend & The Roots: writing a score to these modern (and political) times

John Legend and The Roots initially planned to record an EP to celebrate Barack Obama's unprecedented electoral victory. When they got into the studio to make that happen, the reunion led to a greater project: an entire album. Wake up (2010) consists, mostly, of covers that carry a significant amount of social and political content. Backed by the skillful musicianship of The Roots, John Legend offers an astonishing performance that asks for equal amounts of seriousness and candor. Recording a political album may be a delicate -and even pretentious- task for some artists, but John Legend and The Roots have undertaken this endeavor by giving us great music along the way. Wake up is a remarkable effort by a couple of outstanding acts to make music by taking pulse to a highly politicized society.

This is a live performance of Hard times