| | Full Review | Ratings (403) |
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| 4.0 excellent | Rudy K. EMERITUS | October 18th 09 |
The Roots retain the throne of alternative hip-hop with their eighth studio album, a record that continues this collective?s remarkable run of intelligent and socially conscious rap. ?uestlove?s beats and production as polished and stimulating as ever, but Rising Down modifies their traditional jazzy sound with murkier synths and more digital techniques that embrace a fairly dark mood. It?s appropriate for the often-political and critical lyrics of MC Black Thought, and the album as a whole comes off as a logical evolution in the sound of a band that is constantly growing.
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| 3.5 great | AggravatedYeti | February 3rd 09 |
The Roots on autopilot, thankfully autopilot = dark, dense, brooding, amazing hip hop. They don't top 'Game Theory', their 2nd best, but they do push themselves into a new area of sound that is at least as intriguing. 'Rising Down' offers up something somewhat new from the Roots, an ass load of distortion, each of 'Rising Down's songs are washed in it, they sound akin to listening to them as they play underground. It's pretty f'in cool. Thought's lines aren't as tight as before, but thankfully this is no 'The Tipping Point'. Granted, he does rhyme 'nigga' like 50 times on '75 Bars', but at least it's surrounded by a seemingly huge and inexistent, thick bass line. It plays to 'Rising Down', Black Thought may not always be hot, but ?uestlove and the rest of them will be damned if they're not on fire. The instrumentation on 'Rising Down' is enough to make this one of the best hip-hop albums of this year, thankfully Thought is still tight and their guests have honestly just gotten better (Mos Def, Peedi Peedi and Dice Raw slay), but Malik B is seriously missed. If they were smart, they'd just keep him around all the time, because it seems to work out all the time (see: Things Fall Apart & Game Theory).
Bump |
| 4.0 excellent | Iai EMERITUS | May 8th 08 |
When Game Theory came out, I declared that if the band released another album of that quality their status as one of the top ten hip-hop acts of all time would be unquestionable. Here's the album I was asking for. Every bit as forward-thinking as Game Theory, but with a decidedly old-school bent to large chunks of the music, it sees the group aiming to recreate the kind of socio-political posse cuts common throughout hip-hop's golden age. Malik B, Talib Kweli, Mos Def, Dice Raw, Common, Jazzy Jeff, and Styles P appear on a frankly stunning guestlist, while Black Thought's reduced presence means his rhymes are more carefully formed. More crucially, though, this album just outright fucking rocks - even "Rising Down", a song underpinned by the kind of guitar arpeggios you might more expect to find on a Radiohead song, feels as heavy as Sabbath. It's only a couple of slower, less impressive tracks toward the record's conclusion ("The Show", "Rising Up") that stop this from clearly being the band's best album. Now let's consider that statement; how many other rap acts have peaked on their seventh and eight studio outings? The Roots are a special band, and this is a special album.
Bump |
| 3.0 good | T5Cx | July 23rd 25 |
| 3.5 great | Coast | February 27th 25 |
| 4.0 excellent | El Olam | February 21st 24 |
| 3.5 great | doofy | January 7th 24 |
| 4.0 excellent | Zeuzo | September 14th 21 |
| 4.0 excellent | NoSons | January 5th 21 |
| 3.5 great | Sowing STAFF | September 18th 20 |
| 4.0 excellent | random | April 5th 20 |
| 4.5 superb | gilly | July 2nd 19 |
| 4.0 excellent | SinNanna | February 13th 19 |
| 3.5 great | crab | January 28th 19 |
| 3.5 great | YeeHaw | July 11th 17 |
| 3.5 great | elry2k | April 7th 17 |
| 4.0 excellent | Brandon | October 22nd 16 |
| 4.0 excellent | Henry | September 6th 16 |
| 3.5 great | Nights | August 24th 16 |
| 3.5 great | Max215 | June 12th 16 |
| 4.0 excellent | jtswope | March 24th 16 |
| 3.5 great | jsounnd | November 21st 15 |
| 4.0 excellent | peanut | November 4th 15 |
| 3.5 great | qwe3 | October 23rd 15 |
| 4.0 excellent | Arctick | April 7th 15 |
| 4.0 excellent | Sithese | January 1st 15 |
| 3.5 great | mth631 | July 14th 14 |
| 4.0 excellent | Ringo00 | January 8th 14 |
| 4.0 excellent | chaos17 | April 7th 13 |
| 4.0 excellent | Surette | February 14th 13 |
| 3.5 great | Afro09 | February 11th 13 |
| 4.5 superb | Vell | November 25th 12 |
| 4.0 excellent | kamarue | September 18th 12 |
| 4.0 excellent | Filling | July 12th 12 |
| 3.5 great | mvood | May 5th 12 |
| 3.0 good | PeriL | May 4th 12 |
| 2.5 average | sidjmt | February 18th 12 |
| 4.0 excellent | iGuter | February 15th 12 |
| 3.5 great | Riano | December 16th 11 |
| 3.5 great | WooHa | December 14th 11 |
| 3.5 great | Dday | December 3rd 11 |
| 3.5 great | Jekub | October 9th 11 |
| 4.0 excellent | siddha | September 26th 11 |
| 3.5 great | Skipdog | September 20th 11 |
| 3.5 great | BiOZed | June 20th 11 |
| 3.5 great | Apollo | June 19th 11 |
| 4.5 superb | FearUs | May 14th 11 |
| 4.0 excellent | ONI65 | May 12th 11 |
| 4.0 excellent | gwh45 | March 21st 11 |
| 4.0 excellent | hankmac | February 3rd 11 |
| 4.0 excellent | TT | November 7th 10 |
| 3.5 great | o971 | November 6th 10 |
| 4.0 excellent | jmh886 | October 30th 10 |
| 4.0 excellent | Manic_ | September 22nd 10 |
| 2.0 poor | IAJP | August 14th 10 |
| 4.0 excellent | SlyJak | July 1st 10 |
| 3.0 good | MCGF | May 31st 10 |
| 4.0 excellent | Kleur | May 18th 10 |
| 4.0 excellent | sneasy | March 13th 10 |
| 4.0 excellent | egein81 | March 3rd 10 |
| 4.0 excellent | Smevin | February 7th 10 |
| 4.5 superb | Tupik | January 2nd 10 |
| 4.0 excellent | NoiseIP | November 22nd 09 |
| 4.0 excellent | miky182 | November 8th 09 |
| 4.0 excellent | Ricven | October 15th 09 |
| 4.0 excellent | JoRos | October 5th 09 |
| 3.5 great | ebay | July 13th 09 |
| 4.0 excellent | JAV | May 2nd 09 |
| 4.0 excellent | dub sean | December 21st 08 |
| 3.0 good | natey | December 16th 08 |
| 5.0 classic | FCY | December 15th 08 |
| 3.0 good | ratcfc | December 14th 08 |
| 3.5 great | Thor | December 13th 08 |
| 4.5 superb | MiK | November 17th 08 |
| 4.0 excellent | Kiron | October 9th 08 |
| 4.0 excellent | kingsoby1 EMERITUS | September 30th 08 |
| 4.5 superb | Monkbo | September 13th 08 |
| 4.0 excellent | Pointro | September 13th 08 |
| 3.0 good | TYRR | August 7th 08 |
| 4.0 excellent | tn819 | August 6th 08 |
| 3.5 great | Kodan | May 31st 08 |
| 4.0 excellent | Sponer | May 29th 08 |
| 3.5 great | TBart | May 20th 08 |
| 4.0 excellent | AMson | May 17th 08 |
| 4.5 superb | Zoo | May 17th 08 |
| 4.0 excellent | treos | May 16th 08 |
| 4.0 excellent | Tyler EMERITUS | May 9th 08 |
| 3.5 great | JAD | May 6th 08 |
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