- A release that harnesses the power of iconic moments from 1972 and 2020.
- The sampling across The Struggle / Save The Children, and the two Floorplan tracks in particular, is a masterstroke. It is fitting that original Underground Resistance member Robert Hood should take on such profound sources. Tamika Mallory's words on Hood's "The Struggle" are lifted from her Minneapolis speech in May this year which went viral amidst the Black Lives Matter protests. The vocals deployed by Robert and Lyric Hood as Floorplan on "Save The Children" are cut from Stan Lathan's 1973 documentary of the same name, which features a ready-to-use collage of speakers from a historic concert at Jesse Jackson's PUSH expo. Over five days and nights, the most important voices in Black music, politics and culture at the time brought one million people together in Chicago to celebrate Black art and unity.
It is mostly Mallory's speech that makes "The Struggle" pure goosebumps material. Acid lead lines aren't a staple for Robert Hood and he doesn't pull it off with the same finesse that we are used to. The rest of the track is solid, as you would expect from an artist of his calibre, but it has nothing on his best work. The wailing siren and drum rolls that dominate the track's second half don't live up to the first minutes where Mallory steals the show.
The tension lets up with the bassline groove of Floorplan's infectious "Save The Children," symbolic of Hood's view that spirituality is the answer to our struggles. The voices of Dick Gregory, Dr. Betty Shabazz and other influential figures respond to Mallory, asking who's gonna save the children from the state of emergency she describes. Robert and Lyric Hood continue the potent Floorplan formula of wrecking-ball kick drums and joyous vibes. The Detroit mix cranks up the intensity by zooming in on the chord stabs and sampled speeches.
Tracklist01. Robert Hood – The Struggle
02. Floorplan – Save The Children
03. Floorplan – Save The Children (Detroit Mix)