My Gut Reaction: The Roots - Rising Down (April 29, 2008)

(Editor's note: I had actually picked this up on its release date, but I didn't have the chance to sit down with Rising Down until now. I did my best to avoid the leaks, save for "75 Bars (Black's Reconstruction)", "Get Busy", and "Birthday Girl", so here goes nothing.)

Surprisingly, this had never popped up in the comments or in my e-mail, but I know for a fact that my two readers were puzzled after having read my write-up on Dice Raw's Reclaiming The Dead. They thought to themselves, "Why hasn't this asshole written about The Roots yet?" At least, I know I was wondering that, and I happen to be that asshole. The easy answer is: because i fucking haven't, that's why. But thank you for your concern and your support. Because of all of that, here's my Gut Reaction to Rising Down, the Roots crew's eighth studio album.

?uestlove, drummer for The Roots and all-around musical genius, has described Rising Down as their most politically-charged album to date, and if the album cover is any indication, he's probably not lying. Early word indicates that Rising Down is an angry, depressing listen, which makes sense, especially when you open your window and take a look at the state of America today. Doesn't that make you angry and depressed? (To my overseas readers, both of you: instead of opening a window, you should sit down and watch any given Joel Schumacher flick that isn't The Lost Boys. That should make you damn near suicidal.)

Anyway, Def Jam is doing their best not to market this disc, lest it take sales away from their other major release , Mariah Carey's E=MC2. Seriously. Every single video from Rising Down so far has made its debut online, and I wouldn't be surprised if ?uestlove and rapper Black Thought paid for them all out of pocket and even fried up some empanadas for the catering table. (The videos, all shot by Rik Cordero, do look visually interesting, though. That guy's pretty damn good at what he does.) My conspiracy theory is that Def Jam pulled all of their support from the album after The Roots caved to blogger pressure and deleted the lone crossover song "Birthday Girl" from the sequencing, an unprecedented move (at least, I think it is). The song remains on international versions of Rising Down, and even appears on iTunes, if you absolutely have to hear it. In a hilarious move, The Roots even commissioned a video, which stars porn star Sasha Grey, if you're into that sort of thing (and who isn't?).

Since I wasn't liking "Birthday Girl" at all, I'm looking forward to hearing how Rising Down sounds.

(A note on the tracklisting: to make things easier on the two readers, I'm listing the songs in the order they appear on Rising Down, not in the order they appear in The Roots's back catalog, as the group themselves are apt to do (track one is actually track 128, for example). When I finally get off of my lazy ass to write about The Roots for real, I'll make the effort to number the tracks as the group has deemed fit.)

1. THE POW WOW
A recorded conversation between The Roots and their then-label, Geffen, in which Black Thought goes completely apeshit (Entertainment Weekly used the term "apoplectic". I like that word). Gee, I wonder why Rising Down is considered their angriest album.

2. RISING DOWN (FEAT MOS DEF & STYLES P)
Thank God Mos Def is the first rapper you hear on Rising Down. After that intro, I was afraid that Black Thought was going to chase me around Camp Crystal Lake with a fucking machete. Styles P (of The Lox) spits a verse that I actually prefer over Thought's, but overall the song itself is pretty good.

3. GET BUSY (FEAT DICE RAW & PEEDI PEEDI)
I had already heard this song prior to the disc's release (and if you frequent the hip hop blogs, you've heard it, too), but I still think this shit rocks. Peedi's "Fuck da innanet!" line is amusing, but Dice Raw's correct pronunciation of W.E.B. Dubois's name has resulted in Max completely forgiving him for the abomination that is Reclaiming The Dead.

4. @15
If this is supposed to be Black Thought at age 15, I have to commend him on consistency: he sounds exactly the same today as he did back then. Somehow, that's a compliment.

5. 75 BARS (BLACK'S RECONSTRUCTION)
I had already heard this one, too. It's good, but both versions of "Thought @ Work" are better songs.

6. BECOMING UNWRITTEN
This track is way too short to be as annoying as it is.

7. CRIMINAL (FEAT TRUCK NORTH & SAIGON)
Since he's only really known for his role on Entourage, it's not surprising that I'm not at all impressed with Saigon. In fairness, though, the song sucks as a whole; Saigon shouldn't shoulder the entire burden.

8. I WILL NOT APOLOGIZE (FEAT PORN, DICE RAW, & TALIB KWELI)
Well, it's official: all of the good rap names are already taken. (Hey, Porn, the Roots fans know that you were on Game Theory under the name 'Porno'. No use trying to hide it.) However, all of the good hooks are not: I know for a fact that they're all kept in an airtight vault in a warehouse in Phoenix. I suppose The Roots weren't up for the trip. (By the way, Kweli only shows up on the terrible hook. Coincidence?)

9. I CAN'T HELP IT (FEAT MALIK B., PORN, MERCEDES MARTINEZ, & DICE RAW)
"I can't help hiding my secrets [that are] so known"? That's probably the best response from Malik B. that we'll get regarding Black Thought's accusations on "Water". This sounds like a Game Theory reject, beat-wise.

10. SINGING MAN (FEAT PORN, TRUCK NORTH, & DICE RAW)
What the fuck is with this chorus?

11. UNWRITTEN (FEAT MERCEDES MARTINEZ)
Sadly, not a cover of the Natasha Bedingfield song.

12. LOST DESIRE (FEAT MALIK B. & TALIB KWELI)
Talib Kweli doesn't really sound like himself, but you can tell it's him since he still sounds awkward over a beat. Nothing really memorable here.

13. THE SHOW (FEAT COMMON & DICE RAW)
I suppose that the Roots Crew's cover of Doug E. Fresh and Slick Rick's "The Show" (from the In The Beginning...There Was Rap compilation) doesn't actually count as part of their catalog, hence another song with the same title. The way that Common ends his verse reminds me of Andre 3000 on Outkast's "Elevators (Me & You)": now those are two artists that will probably never work together, since having the same ex-girlfriend can make for awkward conversation.

14. RISING UP (FEAT CHRISETTE MICHELE & WALE)
This was the single chosen to replace "Birthday Girl"? Note to Black Thought: John Travolta isn't making money like that anymore. This song sucks, but I do appreciate how newcomer Wale sums up the purpose of my blog in his first line: "Hip hop ain't dead because the pulse is in us."

The following is a hidden track:

15. UNTITLED OUTRO
Thank God "Rising Up" wasn't the outro. This continuation of "The Pow Wow" tries to rationalize Thought's anger at the label, and, in turn, at the world at large. It ends abruptly with mention of a car accident. The US version ends right here: I've read elsewhere of an old freestyle featuring Black Thought that may or may not appear on international versions; that is clearly not on my purchased copy.

THE LAST WORD: Not only is Rising Down angry and depressing as fuck, it's also depressing and angry as fuck. While it would be foolish to expect our favorite artists to compartmentalize the bullshit that happens in the world on a daily basis, the fact that the two leaked singles are the best songs on Rising Down speaks volumes. There are a couple more that sparked my interest, but I'd be lying if I said that I would listen to this shit nonstop over the next month or so. I'll probably give it another spin in about seven months, after I find it and its collection of dust in the bottom of my filing cabinet, when I'm looking for some background music to organize my CD books to. Oh, well.

-Max