Aug 07 2008
The Roots - Rising Down
Well, since I started off the blog late into 2008, I figured I should try to review some of the key albums that were released in 08 in the months before this blog was in effect. The first of these albums is the latest from the legendary Roots crew, Rising Down, which was released this past April. The album was systematically leaked, starting with the first single, Birthday Girl (which actually didn’t even make the final cut for the album) and on from there. It took every fiber of my will power to restrain from listening to any of those tracks past 75 Bars and Get Busy in order to immerse myself in the full listening experience of the album I finally got it in my mailbx. Was it worth the damn effort? You’ll know soon enough.
Rising Down starts off with The Pow Wow, which is one of the angriest intros in the history of rap angry rap intros. As ?uestlove explains in the online liner notes, it’s basically a taped convo between Black Thought and the record company back in the days. In the middle of the converstaion Black Thought goes fucking buckwild and any preconception of the Roots as the fun loving hip hop band goes right out the window. And people wonder why this is considered the Roots’ angriest effort yet. Next up is Rising Down which features Mos Def and Styles P. Mos Def drops a pretty nice verse and gives me actual hope that his next album won’t suck as much as his last two. Styles P holds his own as well and proves again that he’s the most reliable of the D-Block crew (yeah, that’s right. I think Styles is a better rapper than Jada).
Afterwards is one of the two leaked tracks I’ve heard before, Get Busy. Best track on the whole damn album. Hell, it’s one of the best Roots tracks I’ve ever heard from any of their albums. The beat is simple yet effective, Black Thought does his thing, Dice Raw drops his best verse in a long ass time, Peedi Peedi spits a surprisingly nice verse (fuck the Innanet!), and Jazzy Jeff cuts the hook beautifully. It’s songs like this that make me realize hip hop isn’t damn near as dead as people claim. @15 is next and I guess it’s supposed to be Thought at age 15. The first time around it’s an interesting piece, but I found myself skipping it in later listens. The next track, 75 Bars (Black’s Reconstruction ), is the second of the two leaked songs, and it is an absolute monster of a track. Black Thought goes absolute bananas over the beat for a good 3 minutes and spits some of the greatest lines of his career. This beast is then followed by a completely useless interlude in the form of Becoming Unwritten, and Criminal. A lots of people seem to not like Criminal and for the life of me, I can’t figure out why. It has a chill as fuck beat, the hook is likeable, and Saigon has a pretty damn nice verse on it.
The album then hits I Will Not Apologize and this is where for me at least, the album starts to fall apart. It features a rapper with quite possibly the dumbest name in all of hip hop (PORN. seriously? you couldn’t think of anything else?) who spits an eh verse. The beat is also a bit too boring after a while and the hook provided by Talib Kweli doesn’t do much for me as well. I Can’t Help It isn’t bad but I did expect more from a track that was supposed to feature the Roots emcees Black Thought, Malik B, and Dice Raw (and PORN but who gives a flying fuck). Singing Man, in my honest opinion is borderline crap by Roots standards. The horrible hook cements its place in my heart as one of the worst Roots songs ever created. Unwritten is basically another interlude although it does feature some actual rapping.
Lost Desire then kind of redeems the album as it is an actual good track. It’s also a notable track in that one of my favorite rappers, Talib Kweli, gets sandwiched between two absolute monsters on the mic and gets competely destroyed despite his best efforts. The following track is The Show and is another track that works to put the album back on the right track and is also the first Common appearance on a Roots album since Things Fall Apart. Then last but not least we have Rising Up, which features upcoming rapper Wale and would’ve an absolutely underwhelming way to end the album. Except that it isn’t the end. The official US release ends with Pow Wow 2, which is just as bad as ending it with Rising Up. However, if you can track down the leaked version of the outro, you’ll hear a much better ending to the whole damn thing as it features an old Roots crew freestyle over the Distortion To Static beat. Still, since we’re reviewing the actual official version, the album ends on a pretty mediocer note.
The Good: The Pow Wow, Rising Down, Get Busy, 75 Bars (Black’s Reconstruction), Criminal, Lost Desire, The Show
The Solid: @15, Becoming Unwritten, I Can’t Help It, Unwritten, Rising Up, Pow Wow 2
The Bad: I Will Not Apologize, Singing Man
Final Score: 8.0
As a huge Roots fan, I was disappointed with this release, especially after the greatness that was Game Theory. While it does feature some of the greatest Roots tracks ever recorded, at the same time, it’s just straight boring at some points. Overall it still has enough good tracks to warrant a listen or two, but other than Rising Down, Get Busy, 75 Bars, and Criminal you’re really not missing anything too important.
And now, just because I feel like it, I’ll throw in the two bonus tracks (I hate that American album buyers are always jipped of these), Birthday Girl and The Grand Return. Birthday Girl features the odd collabo of The Roots and Fall Out Boy, and despite all the hate it’s received, I actually think it’s worth checking out. The Grand Return is nothing too special, but it’s decent enough.
Birthday Girl:
http://www.zshare.net/audio/16635805ae36407e/
The Grand Return:
http://www.zshare.net/audio/16635482cce02a42/
