The Roots - Rising Down Review
Posted by Byron Lee on 05.03.2008
Can The Roots Rise Again?
Their Story
Philadelphia hip-hop band The Roots first made a name for themselves with their live shows in Europe. It was the release of their 1994 album Do You Want More?!!!??! ,which captured the energy and improvisation of these shows, that put their name on the lips of music aficionados stateside. (Their first release was 1993’s Organix) The line up for their sophomore album was rapper Black Thought (accompanied by Malik B.) drummer Ahmir “?uestlove” Thompson, keyboardist Scott Storch, bassist Leonard “Hub” Hubbard and vocal percussionist/world class impersonator Rahzel the Godfather of Noize. (After Want More, Storch departed amicably for a life of riches as a producer for hire. (He was replaced by current keyboardist Kamal Gray.))
1996’s brought Illadelph Halflife. The laidback single (and satirical video) for ‘What They Do” (both featuring Raphael Saadiq) brought the group some mainstream exposure. (While the album has gone on to be revered, some listeners were initially turned off by the group’s abandonment of the looser feel of Want More, a change allegedly brought on by frustration Djs felt in mixing Want More’s songs in and out of their sets.)
The Philly collective found their greatest success to date with 1999’s Things Fall Apart. Thought by some to be their most consistent album, the popularity of the Erybah Badu-assisted love song “You Got Me” pushed the album to gold status and garnered the group a Grammy for Best Performance By A Duo Or Group. (In the midst of the group’s success, Rahzel left for a solo career and was replaced by Scratch. Other news was much darker in nature. It was revealed that rapper Malik B. had taken a leave of absence due to drug abuse.)
Between albums, the group received a greater boost in notoriety, when they backed Jay-Z for his seminal installment on MTV’s Unplugged series. The new renditions of “Izzo (H.O.V.A.)” and “Heart of the City” received heavy rotation on video and radio outlets.
Phrenology, released in 2002, found the group dabbling into more rock-influenced territory (The first (proper) song on the album was entitled “Rock You.”), a change made more pronounced by the addition of a guitarist, Ben Kenney. The collection went gold, also, with "The Seed (2.0)" (featuring Cody ChestnuTT) finding minor success on alternative rock radio. (On this album, the band would address Malik B’s troubles compassionately, but directly, on “Water.”)
After Phrenology, Kenney left to become the bassist for rock band Incubus. (He was replaced by “Captain” Kirk Douglas. ), and Scratch also left the group.
Before the release of the group’s next collection, their recording home, MCA, was swallowed by Geffen. (Pressure to sell more records reportedly ensued.) Whether upset with label politics, or unsure of their place in the rap world, they sounded lethargic on 2004’s The Tipping Point. The single "Don't Say Nuthin," with its infamous, half-mumbled chorus had little impact, while the second single, the Sly Stone-retread “Star,” fared only slightly better.
The group released two compilations to fulfill their obligation to Geffen and signed to Def Jam. The group released the brooding Game Theory. The album was praised as being the group’s most cohesive and satisfying work in some time, but, once again, the critical vindication failed to spawn commercial recognition. To add on to the tumult, the band was dealt a major blow in August of 2007, when bassist Leonard “Hub” Hubbard, who had been with the group since Organix, left the band. (Philadelphia musician, and frequent Roots collaborator, Owen Biddle is the group’s new bassist.)
The Band: 8.5
Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter-rap vocals
Malik “Malik B.” Abdul Basit-Smart-rap vocals
Kamal Gray-Keyboard
Owen Biddle-Bass
Ahmir “?uestlove” Thompson-Drums
“Captain” Kirk Douglas-Guitar
Frankie Knuckles-Percussion
The Album:
On April 29. 2008, Def Jam released Rising Down, the eighth studio album by The Roots.
The Songs: 8.5
1. "The Pow Wow"
2. "Rising Down"
3. "Get Busy"
4. "@15"
5. "75 Bars (Black's Reconstruction)"
6. "Becoming Unwritten"
7. "Criminal"
8. "I Will Not Apologize"
9. "I Can't Help It"
10. "Singing Man"
11. "Unwritten"
12. "Lost Desire"
13. "The Show"
14. "Rising Up"
15. “Pow Wow 2
The buzz surrounding this album has been generated by a song that isn’t on it. A month before Rising Down’s release, the band announced that “Birthday Girl” would be the first single. The song, a creepy/introspective tune concerning a man’s struggle with his yearning for a girl on the occasion of her 18th birthday, had a pop reggae feel and featured a chorus sung by Fall Out Boy’s Patrick Stump.
Some Roots fans, myself included, found the song to be an awkward crossover attempt, and there was a groundswell of disapproval on the internet(s). Gradually, the song’s status changed from “lead single” to “album track.” Eventually, “Birthday Girl” was banished from the album and relegated to itunes. (?uestlove claims that the song was cut because it didn’t fit in with the rest of Rising Down’s content—which is true—but one could be forgiven for drawing other conclusions, regarding the song’s removal.)
The album is much better for the extraction. What’s left is an effective, suffocating work in the dark vein of Game Theory.
The album is bookended with conversations time-stamped 1994. The first is a collage of frequently heated discussions band members had about/with their label representatives over their music and the marketing of it. The members sound frustrated and ready to give up; the ending message finds calmer heads prevailing, with an implied decision to carry on. In light of the drama the band has been through in recent years, one cannot help but find current resonance in these recordings.
The first song, the title track, appropriately sets the tone for the album. Spare guitar tones and what sounds like a raspy "huddle-huddle-huddle-huddle" ending each bar compliment apocalyptic verses by Black Thought, Mos Def, and Styles P.
Effective, yet dour tracks are also found elsewhere. “Singing Man” features stellar verses by P.O.R.N. (yes, that’s his stage name—best of luck marketing yourself, man) and Truck North that provide insight into, but not validation for, school shooters and suicide bombers, respectively, while “Criminal,” (which, with its stoner folk rock chorus, functions as an extended, more uptempo version of Game Theory’s “Living In A New World”) makes it clear that everyday people cannot escape incarceration of some type. The most powerful vocal on the album belong to estranged member Malik B. who gives "I Can't Help It" gravitas by baring his soul:
My life is on a plane that’s going down
My mother had an abortion for the wrong child
Was a time I felt love
That’s gone, now
Been replaced by purple rays and some storm clouds
Misery loves misery
So why make friends
Let’s make some enemies
And now I gotta a habit that wasn’t meant for me
Now I’m in a marriage that wasn’t meant to be
One more reason to change identity
The cause, the crime, cage, penalty
One is floored by both the power of the verse and the recognition of the trials one would have to go through to write it.
The album's standout track, however--in the group sense--is "Get Busy." Given a backdrop of hard drum--boasted by scratching by Jazzy Jeff, on the chorus--Black Thoughts takes center stage.
Sicko show like Mike Moore’s
My city ain’t nothin’ like yours
Slippin’ into darkness like War
Nightcrawl with the lights off
You see a lot of life loss for the White Horse
Also on the track is the always-welcome Dice Raw, who has been associated with the group since his head- turning appearance on Want More’s “The Lesson, Pt. 1.” He has vivid analogies and an emphatic delivery that makes him come across as a high school bully who sticks up for the nerds. After providing one of hip-hop's best contrasts in a while ("I'm half-dead/never felt more alive."), Dice Raw puts other rappers on notice:
When you see me set up shop
Know to pack up
I crack up
When a rapper gets slapped up
Number one reason ya’ll should give rap up
Dice
It’s mine
I got it all wrapped up
I’m kinda like W.E.B. DuBois
Meets Heavy D. & The Boyz
Smooth like a Rolls Royce
Built like a tank
Smokin’ on dank
Walkin’ through the Guggenheim
Raw like Black Ink
The criminally-charismatic Peedi Peedi, who has a nasal voice and a upbeat demeanor that makes you forget about the fact that he’s rapping about slinging drugs and breaking people’s legs, provides the third verse:
I’m used to the 1,2 check
Not the 1,2 step
I’m strapped
I’ll leave every cat among you wet
Now let’s go
You know I’m politically correct
At the show
I started with a “Can I get a ho”
And the h—s go retarded
The Po Po take off the stage precaution
It’s bad means
North Philly get it in
It’s Crakk man
Used to back spin
Now I spin stacks in sets
And Uncle Sam try to test
All my hard-earned reps
Damn
We make a year’s pesos
Your rolls
We representin’
Although there are many guest rappers on the album, the Master of Ceremonies is Black Thought, and the listener is reminded of this fact several times on Rising Down. “@15” is a vintage recording of the rapper reciting a rhyme at the titular age. It is clear from this track that young Tariq idolized Big Daddy Kane. (In this light, The Roots’s fiery and precise rendition of Kane’s “I Get Raw” at the rap legend’s induction into VH1’s Hip-Hop Honors feel that much more poignant.)
The next track, “75 Bars (Black's Reconstruction)” finds the adult Black Thought serving straight heat without a chorus.
My definition I can finally explain
Co-smooth like the dude Sean Connery was playin’
I just gotta be the man
I’m the father figure and
When I spit, it’s somethin’ like a psychology exam
If you stand where I stood, you could probably understand
How the mic feel like a million dollars in my hand.
His finest moment, however, may be on “The Show,” which parallels the plight of struggling artists with the struggle of oppressed people. Even though Common also appears on the track, the spotlight remains on the host MC:
And I’m still the one
Am I poet, or a prophet, or a stone to build upon?
And what’s the reason I still perform, feed my children, or
How I’m on the hustle from dusk ‘till dawn
Where all the love and the trust is gone?
My eyes wider than a baby that’s just been born
Fighting a war that couldn’t pay me enough to join
Behind a phrase they were crazy enough to coin
You kidin’ me?
The pursuit of happiness
Life, liberty, and all type of necessities
They not giving me
I put my body in jeopardy
‘Cause I’m committed
Even though they try to stifle your man’s creativity
They got hopes and plans of getting rid of me
I hit ‘em like Ethiopia hit up Italy
Swift as the bullet that killed King and Kennedy
You know the battle is on for infinity
Ending on a note of resilience, the album, at least the musical portion of it, concludes with "Rising Up."
The go-go beat is so catchy, and the message is so uplifting (Thought raps “We’re not the cats chillin' out on the sofa wit’ it. We 'bout to take over the world like Oprah did it.”) that the song’s faults (Chrisette Michele’s chorus avoids classifications of “cloying” and “unnecessary” by a thin margin, and the bright keyboard chords seem forced.) can be easily forgiven.
The album is not without its drawbacks. I’m baffled by the presence of "Becoming Unwritten” and “Unwritten,” the former being too short to have impact (If anything, it jars the listener.), and the latter, with its breezy chorus (courtesy Mercedes Martinez), will either leave you wanting more, or wishing that it had joined “Birthday Girl” on the cutting room floor. Also problematic are a couple songs of normal length. “I Will Not Apologize” (which Dice Raw’s verse elevates, greatly) and “Lost Desire” fade quickly from memory.
As a whole, however, Rising Down is a potent statement on obstacles personal, political, and artistic, as well as a declaration to transcend them all.
The 411: The Roots are still in Game Theory mode and rap music is better for it. The collective uses haunting backdrops and a variety of voices to deliver a powerful album.
