Cassette Review // Chadio & The Gumshoe Strut "Root Sellers" (Hand'Solo Records)
On "Root Sellers" Chadio has put together more than just a collection of songs, as from start to finish this cassette tells a story of regret and loss over the passage of time. The first song- "Bring It Back"- is about how "most of us don't have a plan or even stick to that". This is how you might feel in your 20s, like you're just kind of here but without direction. Somehow, when you jump from your 20s to 30s you hit this sense of urgency, which comes up on "Expiry Dates", about how there is only so much time in life and you feel like you've wasted it.
Though the clock might be clicking down midway through these songs, as we hit the end, the last song "Been A Minute", has more of that feeling you get in your 40s when life goes on and sometimes other things fall to the side. This comes out in the lyrics "I just wanna know how ya been, been a min' since I seen ya, friend". There might be a time in your life before you hit your 40s when you wonder how someone can go so long without talking to someone else, but you just sort of begin to lose track of time and it doesn't feel the same as it does when you're younger.
Aside from the lyrical content this cassette has music which should be studied and if you listen to the flip side you can hear the instrumentals. There are times when you listen to a song and just really listen to those lyrics, those words, and so you might miss what the music itself is doing, which makes these instrumentals feel that much more important. From what I think is a sax and those "Keep Their Heads Ringin" type beats on "Bring It Back" to the record sounds and scratches on "Flow State".
Listening to hip hop on cassette always makes me think back to when I was a kid and had hip hop as my preferred genre at Columbia House and they'd send me the monthly selection. On "Peace with the Pace" I hear these dreamy beats which take me back to the Fresh Prince. There's a little quiet guitar part on "Numbers Next" and then the cymbals really come out with the beats on "Expiry Dates". "Lifers" reminded me of Fu-Schnickens, which is a name I just haven't thought of in such a long time but now I'm about to put that cassette on.
Though this cassette has a realistic way about discussing the passage of time, it can also be a reminder of it not being too late. And I don't care if you're in your 40s, 50s, 60s or older. Do that thing you've always wanted to do but never did. Call up that friend you lost touch with only because of the years and get together with them. Just get out there and live life while you still can because before you know it, you can't.
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