There are no label-friendly singles on this album, no Do You Want More?-style heady jazz, none of the late 90s neo-soul vibe. The mood of Roots albums had been growing steadily darker over the years, and Rising Down is the apotheosis of grime. That’s a good thing. It’s not easy to grab listeners with an emotion and not let go. It’s even more difficult when the emotion is a complex combination of frustration-on-the-edge-of-explosion, a refusal to surrender, vindication, proud witnessing. That all this is evoked not only or even primarily by the lyrics, but rather by the darkly electric musical arrangements, is remarkable. Clearly nobody told these guys that the album, let alone the concept album, is dead. Still, I wonder about what Rising Down could have been if the hooks were a little tighter—a perpetual Roots weakness—and if more of the record were given over to Black Thought at his peak instead of the Philly guest performer crew, as brilliant as some of their verses are. (Mos Def’s album-opening lines are among the hottest in the annals of hip-hop: “Blindin’ staring at lights till they cryin’/Bone gristle popping from continuous grindin’/Grapes of wrath in a shapely glass/Ingredients influential on your ways and acts”…come on). Ah well. As the 2024 election reminds us, the need for honest grime will be with us for some time yet, maybe centuries. It’s all on wax, MAGA, more and more every day, too much to ban or burn. 7
The Roots. Rising Down. Def Jam, 2008. Reviewed August 28, 2025. Notable tracks: “Rising Down,” “Get Busy,” “75 Bars (Black’s Reconstruction).”