Roger Troutman (Zapp) The many facets of Roger

180 gram vinyl!

"One of the great names of 1980s electro-funk is
Hamilton, Ohio's own Roger Troutman. In addition to
scoring numerous funk and R&B hits throughout the
decade, Troutman was a pioneer of the use of a talk
box to layer effects over his vocals, and a highly
influential figure to the world of West Coast Gangsta
Rap, famously providing the vocal hook for 2Pac and
Dr. Dre's hit single ""California Love"". He arrived
on the music scene as an auxiliary member of
Parliament-Funkadelic, featuring on the group's final
album for Warner Brothers, before immediately
splintering off to form a new, subsidiary group,
featuring a lineup including his brothers Larry, Lester,
and Terry Troutman, a Bootsy Collins-produced hit,
and the George Clinton-dubbed band name Zapp. The
group's self-titled debut album was released in 1980,
and charted at #20 on the Billboard 200 charts.
Roger would not sit idly by after Zapp's debut. A year
later Troutman would cut his first solo album, titled The
Many Facets Of Roger. (Troutman would credit his
solo works to the mononym of his first name.) The
album rendered Billboard hits out of the single
""So Ruff, So Tuff"", and a synth-funk version of
Marvin Gaye's ""I Heard It Through The Grapevine"",
and featured contributions from various members of
Zapp. Though the album was largely forgotten over
the years, it remains an unheralded gem of the time
period, noteworthy for its quirky and eccentric
arrangements, and its far-reaching influence on
hip-hop producers like Dr. Dre, J Dilla, and DJ Quik.
ARTIST: Roger"