Record Review

THE ROOTS - RISING DOWN

Def Jam Records - 2008

Noel's Rating:

4.5 / 5.0

Review: This is the Philadelphia based hip-hop band's 10th studio album and it's probably their most heavy, dense, and political album. Each track is charged with emotion and most of the songs up until the very last song are extremely dark. The album starts out with a sound bite of an argument the group had with some record label people back in '94. This heated argument makes the listener slightly uncomfortable but it's the perfect intro to the album.

The next two songs are two of my favorites on the disc, the title track featuring Mos Def and Styles P and Get Busy featuring Peedi Peedi and Dice Raw. The title track touches upon almost every social ill that Americans face from global warming to prescription drug abuse. The thing I love about this song though is that none of these things are glorified like you would see on most "rap" songs, but these conscious MC's show what is wrong with our country. Get Busy is a classic Boom Bap track with dope verses by each MC.

Other tracks that stood out to me are the bouncy I Will Not Apologize and the closing song Rising Up. Apologize's infectious beat and hook left me putting that song on repeat. I also liked the Talib Kweli cameo on the hook. Rising Up is a go-go inspired conclusion to the album and keeps the ending of the album lighter in mood than the rest. My favorite part of that song is Wale's guest verse. This up-and-coming DC hip-hopper drops some sick lines including "you other rappers ain't eatin'/ you're Olsen twinin'." You gotta love it!

The only knock I have against Rising Down is that it's too short. I really wish that there had been 2 or 3 more songs. That's a good sign for the Roots though. Although they may never see commercial success, they've perfected the craft of putting together hip-hop albums that have a message.