Product Description

'Rising Down' is the eighth studio album from Philadelphia based hip hop outfit The Roots and once again sees them movefurther away from the generic 'gangsta' sound that dominates American mainstream hip hop. Produced by Questlove, 'Rising Down' has a more synth orientated sound while the additionof a horn section adds to The Roots' already unique form ofhip hop. Usually shying away from collaborations, this album features a whole host of guest vocalists including Common,Talib Kweli, Mos Def and Fall Out Boy's Patrick Stump.

Track Listing

1. The Pow Wow - The Roots
2. Rising Down - The Roots, Mos Def, Styles P
3. Get Busy - The Roots, Dice Raw, Peedi Peedi
4. @ 15 - The Roots
5. 75 Bars (Black's Reconstruction) - The Roots
6. Becoming Unwritten - The Roots
7. Criminal - The Roots, Truck North, Saigon
8. I Will Not Apologize - The Roots, Porn, Dice Raw
9. I Can't Help It - The Roots, Malik B., Porn, Mercedes Martinez, Dice Raw
10. Singing Man - The Roots, Porn, Truck North, Dice Raw
11. Unwritten - The Roots, Mercedes Martinez
12. Lost Desire - The Roots, Malik B., Talib Kweli
13. The Show - The Roots, Common, Dice Raw
14. Rising Up - The Roots, Wale, Chrisette Michele
15. Birthday Girl - The Roots, Patrick Stump
16. The Grand Return - The Roots, Dice Raw, Wadud Ahmad
17. Pow Wow 2 - The Roots

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #18608 in Music
• Released on: 2008-04-28
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Explicit Lyrics
• Running time: 54 minutes

Customer Reviews

Definitly NOT a let down
The roots have never put out a bad album. The 2 singles "Get Busy" and "75 Bars" are 2 of the best tracks of the year. Black Thought is on fire! Good production, top guests and the usual unique Roots sound.
Definitly worth having, along with all their other albums!

Slow started!!!
Hhhhmmmm!!!!!

Truth be told, when I first heard this I was a little disappointed to say the least. I hadn't expected this act of hip hop rebellious anarchism at all, I expected the roots to drop a hip-hop album that sounded, well like pure hip hop - straight forward heavy beats, serious scratches, mellowed out beats etc but as I said before, I hadn't expected this madness. It did take me a while to get with the new style of beats and when I opened up my mind and broadened my horizons a bit, I thought oh ok, this is not bad and slowly, bit by bit, I began to appreciate what the roots had done. I mean the only song I initially liked was `rising down' with mos def and that `birthday girl' song was interesting in that it was different. A few more listens in my car and I was like, hold on this song is not bad, that track with Peedi Peedi and Dise Raw `get busy' is a serious head banger and everyone comes correct on this, I am not a fan of Peedi Peedi but he smacks this track...then I heard `criminal' again and this sounded hot, then I heard the `I will not apologise' and that track with common and I was like damn, this is kind'a heavy.

I mean the album does sound quite rocky and that's what put me off first, I remember listening to Mos Def's New Danger and thinking the same thing so when I first heard this, I was like oh no...but this is actually quite good in that its different and it blends hip-hop and rock in a way only the roots would do it, ?uestlove is serious with his drumming especially on `get busy'...Its one to soak it, let it permeate through and challenge what you think and expect hip-hop to sound like and you will like the album, well at least enjoy half of it. I still skip quite a few tracks on it coz they just too rocky but overall, the album was worth my £9.99 for sure.

As usual the Roots keep doing what they do best and that is bring out music for the time and I big them up for that especially when we are living in a time where everyone expects to have Chris Brown or Neyo or lil Wayne to sing the hook or whatever, with the roots, its pure good music that does not want to blend into the mainstream the way everyone else does. Just listen to `birthday girl', that's a sure fire hit, not considered a proper hip-hop track but how do you define a proper hip-hop track?


I give this album 4 stars simply coz my hip-hop inclined mind cannot really get with all the rocky stuff regardless of how much i like some of the songs on this album.

Great but Dark
I recieved and started listening to this album a while ago, Amazon always deliver within a reasonable time in my experience.

Now to the album, On the first listen I vibed with it, The only other Roots album I'd heard was "Phrenology" and so I was a little surprised as to the nature and tone of the album although the quality is just as good.

The Tone:
Be warned the mood of this album is quite dark and even menacing at times with songs like "Rising Down", "Singing Man" & "Unwritten" as it seems as though the group are addresing Issues in their own way with dark Production from ?uestlove and with help of some great emcees such as Talib Kweli and Mos Def who spit pure Gold.

The Quality:
The Roots have always been very selective and persistant on providing nothing but their best efforts on their albums whether it be choosing the best suited guest vocals or guest emcees and "Rising Down" is no different.
Master strokes such as Christette Michele's Vocals and the new & exciting emcee Wale's verse on "Rising up" will leave you with that certain song in your head not only for days but in my case; weeks lol.

Another work of art was Saigon's verse on "Criminal" which is a different but excellent song with strong and true verses from Sai and Black Thought. And I leave it to you to hear what they spit about.

My Favourate songs:
"Blacks Reconstruction(75 Bars)" (apparently Black Thought spat all that in ONE TAKE!) That has brilliant drums from
?uestlove.

"Get Busy" great high Tempo song, (listen out for Peedi Crack's Verse who astonishingly matches Black Thoughts intensity on the track)

"Rising Up" & "Criminal" (see both above)

If your a Roots fan you need this album, If you regard yourself as a HIP HOP fan as opposed to a RAP fan, you need this album.