Album Review: Rising Down

Consistency in hip hop these days is a rarity. Everyone has changed their style and while being fresh is all a part of making music; some walk that line to what most call “selling out”. One group that does sell out — just about every live show that they have had — has managed to stay consistent while monitoring their changes to be musical developments and progression. Of course, I’m talking about the one and only Legendary Roots Crew out of Philly. A bad Roots album is a rarity and consistency is all a part of the itinerary for ?uestlove and the gang. Rising Down is no exception and while musically it shows The Roots exploring new dimensions, it is still the same great sound, powerful message, and brand of home cooking from the kitchen of hip hop.

Black, Mos and Styles start the album off with a bang on “Rising Down” touching on a range of topics from surveillance in the country to crooked pharmaceutical companies. The ?uestlove production is fine and allows these 3 artist that you would never expect to be on a track together to cut it loose. “Get Busy” is a highlight track that presents a BANGING beat that’ll rattle the trunk, make you want to beat someone up, and become a rapper all in the 3 minutes and 33 seconds that it is on for. My Peedi Peedi fandom keeps rising and his flow on this joint gives me no reason to stop. Moreover, Dice Raw drops a gem of a verse including the unreal line: “I’m Kinda like W.E.B. Dubois, meets Heavy D and the Boys”. Needless to say, Black is great on every track, but really unloads on “75 Bars (Black’s Reconstruction)”.

Could the fact that “@15″, a track that displays Black Though freestyling at age 15, comes before “Black’s Reconstruction” mean anything? Take it for how you want it, but not only does it show Black ‘reconstructing’, the whole theme of the album is about the world ‘reconstructing’ or at least be in a need of reconstruction. With that aside:

That’s everywhere niggas, Am I the muthafucking legendary?
Yeah niggas, make it very clear niggas
Been looking at y’all in my rearview
Mirror niggas want to be a millionaire, I’m already there niggas
I’m the debonair nigga, a bear taking more than my share
Lookee here, yeah, I know it ain’t fair nigga
Neither is a bald eagle even with a hair trigger
Haystack, try and find a needle up in there nigga
Leave you up in there nigga, show me the puppet
That don’t need a puppeteer nigga, shed another tear nigga
I’m in the field with a shield and a spear nigga
I’m in your girl with her heels in the air nigga

Sure, the ignorant person will say: “look at the use of the N Word” and while it is excessive, in a Post-Imus lens it proves extremely relevant. Take into account the brilliance of this entire song and how Black Thought did it in one take (according to ?uestlove) and how angry he is throughout this entire song. The fact that the entire Don Imus situation was blamed on hip hop one way or another surely pissed Black Thought and the rest of The Roots off, thus, the beautiful backfire of “75 Bars” (check out the video, it adds more ‘umph’ to the song).

“Singing Man” is an extremely dope song in concept as it displays Porn, Black Thought and Truck North telling stories from the different perspectives of s a terrorist, a campus shooter, and a child forced into war. “Criminal” speaks on the justice system and the systemic racism instilled specifically against those of a darker skin, while the perfect and appropriate ending of Rising Up is of the ‘go-go’ variety featuring the self proclaimed go-go hip hop artist Wale.

The overall feel of the album is great conceptually, but it does lack replay value because it is so dark. Even the happiest of tracks (“Birthday Girl”, which is on special editions) are about ridiculously sad and depressing stories. While the extremely enraged and dramatic Black Thought is fantastic, the much more upbeat sound of the band is more enjoyable. Some of the features also seem unneeded including the Common and Kweli features. Its length may also be a flaw and tends to drag on, in particular with the ‘meh’ back to back of “I Will Not Apologize” and “I Can’t Help It”.

The Roots will never change who they are and what they do despite what record label they are on, how many members they may or may not lose, the number of awards they have, or how many fans show up for a concert. They are who they show themselves to be; no games, no gimmicks. “The Show” (featuring a very sub-par verse from Common) is about just that: working, working, and working. The military beat of the song instills that hip hop is unpredictable, and even though a landmine might blow up right before your eyes, you have to keep marching on to the next checkpoint.

Overall Rating: 80/100

Standout Tracks:

“Get Busy ”

“Criminal”

“Rising Up”