I posted the “The Roots – The Seed 2.0” track some while ago, after dicsovering it in VV, together with a friend. We loved the track since then, and I still listen to it with great pleasure.

In the same time, quite a lot of people downloaded it and listen to it, but most of them came back with the same reaction – “Man, those lyrics are so obscene!“. So I decided to put some clarity into it :)

At the first listening, yes, they sound quite strange. Lyrics like ” I only wanna fertilize another behind my lover’s back”, ” I push my seed in her push for life” or ” I lick the opposition cuz she don’t take no pill” may seem just out of line. But wait a second ! What if all this song is really about something else and the message is just hidden ?

Actually, the song has nothing to do with sex, but it desguises the message in those strange lyrics for a certain reason. Actually, the story is about this guy – the singer – who is just fed up with the popularity of rap and hip-hop and being pushed to sing that when he is actually a fan of rock-and-roll and this would be his dream – to sing rock-n-roll. Let’s look up closely.

Background: The Roots are quite a rap band, most of the songs would fall into this genre. Still, this song – The Seed 2.0 – is only one of the few that is more rockish. Why the sudden change?

The lyrics: Here is how the lyrics should be interpreted and their actual meaning

“She want neo-soul, this hip-hop is old
She don’t want no rock-n-roll
She want platinum or ice or gold”
“She” is actually the substitute for the audience, the record label or such. These lyrics show that the interest is mostly focused on neo-soul and not on rock-n-roll.
“And we can make money to burn
If you allow me the latest game
I don’t ask for much, but enough room to spread my wings
And the world finna know my name”
Talking about the potential success of this experiment. He just wants some liberty in choosing what to sing and he is sure that fame will follow.
“I don’t ask, for much these days
And I don’t bitch, and whine, if I don’t get my way
I only wanna fertilize another behind my lover’s back”
This is actually about how he will make the experiment of singing rock-and-roll even without the support from the “partner”.
“If Mary drops my baby girl tonight
I would name her Rock-N-Roll”
This is actually revealing that the “baby” of his experiment is going to be a rock-and-roll track.

So, actually The Seed should be regarded more as of a poetical license and not a song about sex and “behind the back” fertilizing :) It is actually a song about following your dreams and creating the music you like, not just the one that sells.