“Wake up everybody/No more sleepin’ in bed” sings John Legend, on his most recent album, a collaboration with Hip-Hop band The Roots. John Legend, born John Stephens on December 28, 1978, is a rhythm and blues artist from Springfield, Ohio (Nero n.d.). “The Roots’ co-founders Black Thought and ?uestlove met at the Philadelphia High School for Creative Performing Arts” (Adaso n.d.). The two Philadelphia natives formed The Roots band in 1987 under the stage name ‘Square Roots’ (Adaso n.d.). Legend expressed that he has wanted to work with The Roots since he watched them preform in Philadelphia (?uestlove 2010). Both Legend and ?uestlove sat down and listed the songs they wished to pay homage to, and after listening to Wake Up!, it is clear that the two powerhouses love what they do.
John Legend and The Roots recorded Wake Up! in 2010, and is a fusion of Rhythm and Blues, Hip-Hop, Funk, and Soul. The CD has an old school feel to it, drawing inspiration from the 60s and 70s (?uestlove 2010) some of which are cover songs, “like Harold Melvin & the Blues Notes’ ‘Wake Up Everybody’ and Donny Hathaway’s ‘Little Ghetto Boy’” (John Bush n.d.), and Nina Simone’s “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free”. Legend said that he wanted to do a CD of cover songs because of his experience with the 2008 Presidential Elections, and wanted to convey a message of political/social awareness to the young people of today (?uestlove 2010). Wake Up! definitely implies that listeners should be more conscious of the world around them, and be active in making positive change. “A lot of issues that we dealt with back then, are still relevant today, and so these lyrics aren’t even dated; they’re like today lyrics” –John Legend (?uestlove 2010):
Wake up everybody/No more sleepin' in bed/No more backward thinkin'/Time for thinkin' ahead/The world has changed/So very much/From what it used to be/There is so much hatred/War and poverty, whoa, oh/Wake up, all the teachers/Time to teach a new...