Rising Down
Rising Down is the total eighth studio album by the American alternative hip- hop band The Roots.
Publication
The album was released end of April 2008, in May of the same year a clean version of the album was put on the market. The album was preceded by the single Birthday Girl, which is found in the United States only as an iTunes exclusive track. Rising Down was released in the United States on the occasion of the 16th anniversary of the riots in Los Angeles in 1992, the album on April 29, 2008.
Concept
The album dealt with political issues, according to a member Black Thought this is due to:
The title track deals with the global warming and the use of psychotropic drugs. The name of the song is an allusion to the study Rising Up and Rising Down by the author William T. Vollmann.
While Criminal criticized the U.S. legal system, it comes in Lost Desire to hypocrisy. In the latter song, the former Roots member Malik B. and the MC Talib Kweli give a guest appearance.
The eighth song I Will Not Apologize is described as a tribute to the late 1997 inventor of Afrobeat, Fela Kuti. Also, it goes according to Black Thought to this "racist Southern vaudeville aesthetic, with the media today always portray African American Artists. "
In the other songs, the group discussed in a critical way the violence in Philadelphia, environmental problems and social problems of poor people.