This weekend my wife brought home The Roots new LP Rising Down. I can unequivocally say that this an excellent CD. I was glad to see that they felt compelled to do away with the poetry that has been a staple of many of their previous releases.
This CD also sheds light many of the rumors that have hounded the roots (at least those that keep up with the roots) such as their intra group frictions, in the opening and closing interludes on the CD.
The Music on Rising Down is very solid. Dice Raw is featured on about 1/3 of the tracks, which is nice to hear. Although Black Thought is perfectly able to hold down a whole album as the front man, its nice to have some other personalities on the track.
It is said that this is one of their darker CD's to date, and that is just what I needed.
