The road to success in Hip-Hop is not always as clear cut as people would assume it is. Most people would assume having ten cars and a huge mansion is a requirement to be a successful Hip-Hop main stage. The Roots seem to take a different approach, by bringing back quality music and at the same time, keeping it mostly organic. Rising Down is no different within these qualities, but that is where it stops in similarities though, because Rising Down is a complete removal from all of their other projects, Game Theory being the closest cousin.The album opens up with a peek into the past as we get to see a conversation from a time where The Roots were having problems with their record label, something they would know a lot more about later on in their careers. This conversation also shows us how close they were to not even releasing one of their undisputed classics, Do You Want More?!!!??! God only knows where they would be at right now had they gotten dropped.
The Roots - Rising Up (Ft. Wale & Chrisette Michelle)
Just as The Pow Wow sets the mood, the title track bounces in declaring that this album is going to be quite political. Mos Def gives us one of his best verses in a long time “It don’t matter how your gates latched // you aint safe from the danger jack” as Black Thought talks about global warming, but Styles P doesn’t fit on the track at all as he goes over the deep end ranting about computers. As Get Busy sores into the speakers, you hear drums and synths crashing down all around you. Black Thought is the first voice you hear this time around as he big up’s his crew; this is another classic anthem from the legendary.
The drums and sousaphone featured in 75 Bars accompany BT’s vocals perfectly to make up one of the darkest songs on the album. Criminal came out just around the time Sean Bell’s murderers got acquitted of all charges, one can only think that this is possibly the weirdest of coincidences, ever.
This album also features two of the newer legendary affiliates, Truck North and P.O.R.N. Throughout this album P.O.R.N. seems to be the more interesting of the two though, and I Cant Help It is where he gains most of his interest “My life is on a flight that’s goin down // my mother had an abortion for the wrong child” that right there is one of the most grimiest lines on the entire album. Featuring a take on today’s biggest issues is something that is bold within Hip-Hop, but they do it in the way of a first person perspective on a campus shooter, the story of a child soldier, and the last being the all too common suicide bomber. They accomplish all of this in one song, The Singing Man, without sounding cliché.
As deep as this album is with all of the different sections and messages, Rising Down never loses ground for more than a few hooks that could have been written better or sung by a different vocalist. It is definitely an album that will grow on you more and more, no matter how much you originally liked it. Being that this is The Roots’ tenth album and they have done anything but fall off further proves their success in the grand scheme of Hip-Hop and not to mention, music as a whole.
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