...And Then You Shoot Your Cousin | ||||
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Studio album by The Roots | ||||
Released | May 19, 2014 | |||
Recorded | 2013–2014 | |||
Genre | Alternative hip hop | |||
Length | 33:22 | |||
Label | Def Jam | |||
Producer | Black Thought, D.D. Jackson, Damion Ward, Joseph Simmons, Karl Jenkins, Mike Jerz, Richard Nichols, Ray Angry, Trapzillas, Questlove, The Wurxs | |||
The Roots chronology | ||||
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Singles from ...And Then You Shoot Your Cousin | ||||
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Professional ratings | |
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Aggregate scores | |
Source | Rating |
Metacritic | 70/100 |
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | |
The A.V. Club | B- |
Cuepoint | A– |
Exclaim! | 8/10 |
The Guardian | |
New York Daily News | |
Rolling Stone | |
Slant Magazine | |
Spin | 6/10 |
XXL | (XL) |
...And Then You Shoot Your Cousin is the eleventh studio album by American hip hop band The Roots. The album was released on May 19, 2014, by Def Jam Recordings.
According to Black Thought, the album is conceptual like the previous one, but unlike Undun, …And Then You Shoot Your Cousin features several characters in this story, not just one. Black Thought described the album as a satirical look at violence in hip hop and American society overall.
In July 2012, Questlove said on his Twitter account that the title of The Roots' next album would have the initials &TYSYC and that it was being recorded, with a different sound to expect than from Undun. In the November 12, 2012 issue of The New Yorker, Questlove revealed that the album is tentatively named & Then You Shoot Your Cousin. In a June 2013 interview with Fuse TV, Questlove said he would prefer to release an album in the first quarter of the year, and that he also had other projects he was working on. In February 2014, in an interview with XXL, Black Thought said that the album would be a concept album in the spirit of Undun. He describes the work as a satire of hip-hop stereotypes featuring several different characters. On April 7, 2014, DJ Kast One premiered their first single from the album, "When the People Cheer", on Hot 97.
...And Then You Shoot Your Cousin was met with generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from critics, the album received an average score of 70, based on 26 reviews. Andy Kellman of AllMusic felt that it may be the most challenging album from The Roots because of its experimental elements and variety of guest vocalists. Christopher R. Weingarten of Rolling Stone likened it to a hip hop version of Nine Inch Nail's 1994 album The Downward Spiral because of its downbeat, existential theme. Omar Burgess of HipHopDX said that although the music is occasionally discordant, it is also "depressingly good, which makes it a bit of a confusing product in a Hip Hop landscape bifurcated by Golden Era romanticists and the turnt-up set."Robert Christgau wrote in Cuepoint that it is more consistent musically than undun and is "a touching, upsetting meditation in which a sketchy gangsta wannabe embodies the limits of all striving."