Well, if Game Theory was your best album of 06, then this one is sure to be your best album of the decade.

4/18/2008 10:46:37 PM

http://www.undergroundhiphop.com/store/detail.asp?UPC=ISL011138LCD

preorder with t shirt and pick

4/18/2008 10:55:59 PM

The Roots - Rising Down (2008) (Advance)

1. 75 Bars (Black's Reconstruction) (Feat. Tuba Gooding Jr.)
2. Rising Down (Feat. Mos Def, Styles P & Dice Raw)
3. Rising Down (Hum Drum) [Alternate Mix] (Feat. Mos Def, Styles P & Dice Raw)
4. Get Busy (Feat. Dice Raw, Peedi Crakk & DJ Jazzy Jeff)
5. Rising Up" (Feat. Wale & Chrisette Michelle)

hxxp://www.megaupload.com/?d=RH3NA6MW

not a full leak, but here are 5 of the 11 songs compiled and put on one link

4/19/2008 11:03:53 AM

so, the songs that already leaked for the past two months...

thanks...

4/19/2008 4:19:01 PM

anyone have any more information about the Duke show? i couldn't really find much online

4/19/2008 5:06:08 PM

^ The Roots @ Duke University's Main Quad with Third Eye Blind and Carbon Leaf.
Free!!!!
6 pm-?

4/21/2008 5:49:39 PM

Got my ticket to see them at the HOB. Fucking pumped.

4/21/2008 5:51:07 PM

^^ i've heard it was a student only show.. not sure about that though

4/21/2008 6:24:16 PM

Quote :

"so, the songs that already leaked for the past two months... thanks..."

Hey, I was trying to be nice and put it together in one file for anyone who wanted it.

I'll be sure to skip over it when I see the full thing, lol.

4/21/2008 6:57:40 PM

tschudi, http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=9664141891

they say it is students only, but i went a couple years ago when rahzel was playing and it was totally open. it's in the quad, so i don't really see how they could keep people out unless they rent some fences or something. so i'm planning on going.

4/21/2008 7:54:22 PM

http://www.mininova.org/tor/1351792

Real deal.

[Edited on April 24, 2008 at 9:19 AM. Reason : .]

4/24/2008 8:56:27 AM

http://www.mediafire.com/?dzk92fx9odx

4/24/2008 9:22:45 AM

damn was so caught up in the GTAIV pre I completely forgot about this.

4/24/2008 9:40:59 AM

damn this is great

sounds really good all together

vs

the leak tracks

4/24/2008 8:28:59 PM

Officially the best live show I've ever seen. I would seriously have paid several hundred bucks to see what I saw tonight. Simply amazing. I honestly can't go to bed. Drove three hours home....and I'm still pumped up.

Besides killing every song they played.....and I love Bob Dylan.....but they covered Bob Dylan better...well....it was just amazing. Too many good musicians out there. Because they keep replacing band members with better band members (not too mention ?uestlove and Blackthought were their regular selves).

4/25/2008 4:17:23 AM

Get Busy and 75 Bars still sound as brolic as when I first heard them as leaks.

Thank god I didn't play out the leak tracks

4/25/2008 9:21:33 AM

This album is amazing

4/25/2008 3:30:01 PM

4/26/2008 12:05:52 PM

errr, what?

why is there some third eye blind shit in this thread?

[Edited on April 26, 2008 at 12:25 PM. Reason : .]

4/26/2008 12:17:43 PM

fail

4/26/2008 9:23:30 PM

Good stuff.

Definitely feeling Birthday Girl, Rising up, Criminal, 75 Bars, I Can't Help It, Get Busy, Rising Down, and The Show. So I basically like everything.

4/30/2008 2:38:59 PM

what group put this out at 192k+ ?

5/3/2008 8:26:22 PM

wtf, where is the lossless rip or at least something higher than 128k?

5/5/2008 10:01:56 PM

eh, it's ok. still love the roots, though.

5/6/2008 8:38:24 AM

http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/features/id.1112/title./p.all

Quote :

"The Roots: What Rises Down Must Come Up May 5th, 2008 | Author: Paul W Arnold 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | View All Pages “Dreary,” “dark,” “moody,” these are just some of the adjectives that have been used in recent reviews to describe The Roots 10th offering, Rising Down. But while some have panned the Bush-era inspired apocalypitc-sounding album, there are those that know Roots releases aren’t always best judged upon initial listen and that “Rising Down joins Things Fall Apart nine years ago for its acquired taste and timeless relevance” [click to read]. An album devoted to addressing the ills of contemporary American society will always appeal to some while simultaneously alienating others, but the unofficial leader of The Roots crew, ?uestlove, believes the time is now for Hip Hop’s most acclaimed live band to get their Public Enemy on. Along with sharing his thoughts on issues of the day, including the Sean Bell verdict [click to read], in a recent conversation with HipHopDX, ?uest also offered up his theory on why ‘80s babies seem indifferent to socially conscious content in Hip Hop, and explained why he knocks on doors for Barack Obama. When not discussing the heavier stuff, ?uest took time to praise intelligent porn stars, explain why Wayne just can’t compare to Kane, and reveal that Mariah Carey controls The Roots destiny and may actually decide whether the group will ever rise again on a major-label. HipHopDX: Your good friend Byron Crawford wrote of Rising Down, “A strong contender, along with Game Theory, for worst Roots album to date…They might just consider finally hanging it up.” Would you like to use this interview as an opportunity to formally challenge him to a fair one? ?uestlove: [Laughs]. Oh no dude, like I know Byron. I already pulled his card. The more he insults us, that’s his trick ya know. Actually I’d be disappointed if he liked the record. DX: [Laughs]. Well his chief complaint seems to be that the album is too dark, which is a complaint I’ve heard from others, who also ironically think “Birthday Girl” was an abortion. You can’t fuckin’ win ?uest, you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t. ?uest: It’s like, have they looked outside the window? Hip Hop as an apolitical tool, that just doesn’t make sense to me. DX: You don’t wanna “Get Silly” and just scream “Yahhh!”? ?uest: I’m a grown man. “Yahhh!” is cool for a 19-year-old, but there’s too much going on in the world right now for people not to be informed of [it]. I’m asking [people], “Yo, did you vote today?” [During Pennsylvania’s presidential primary] I’m asking them like, “Did you even bother to vote?” It’s like, “Nah man, ain’t shit gonna happen different than the past. Voting don’t matter.” I understand the indifference [and why] people don’t wanna hear the message. They’re coming from a place where they’re just so bogged down with the seriousness of the world that it gets too depressing to even focus on. And I can understand that! No one wants to look at a pile of shit everyday. But then again, I complain a lot about the state of the world, and the state of Philadelphia, and for us to complain about it and absolutely not do anything about it, then that makes us just as guilty as the government that we say we’re against. DX: Well I think the darker tone of the album is definitely a barrier for some people. Is it selfish of me to just want a whole Roots album of up-tempo "Clones”-esque, “Next Movement”-like tracks that Black Thought just spits shit over? ?uest: But that’s exactly what this record is. [Laughs]. DX: Well, yeah…I guess. ?uest: Assuming you heard the record. DX: That’s not what I took away from it, but… ?uest: You didn’t think “Get Busy” [click to listen] sounds as hard as “Clones?” DX: I mean, it’s just I guess the more melancholy moodiness [of the album that was a turn off]. ?uest: You think “Get Busy” doesn’t sound like “Clones?” DX: Oh yeah, that’s hard, but I’m saying the whole album… ?uest: It can’t be a whole album of nut busts. Like, you gotta work your way up to the climax. That’s like just getting with a girl and being done in like three minutes. To me, Rising Down is full of bangers. “Rising Down” bangs to me. “75 Bars” bangs to me. “Get Busy” bangs to me. I definitely feel as though “Rising Up” bangs as hard [as those tracks]. “Lost Desire” bangs. Like, I could name seven or eight bangers. I don’t think the album should be 100% bangers. It has to have some moments of reflection. I dunno dude, to each his own. I think you gotta live with [the album] a little bit more. DX: No Rhodes this time out, you think that element is kind of [missing]? ‘Cause I noticed that [missing]. That was kind of a shock to the senses a little bit. ?uest: Why was it a shock? DX: I don’t know, I’m just so used to it. ?uest: Well you know, change is good. I think we’re in a damned if you do, damned if you don’t situation. And I think that because there’s absolutely no precedent or standard for a group still being here 10 albums after they first came out… I mean, we could've definitely made the follow-up [to] Things Fall Apart, and then people woulda said these cats are on some derivative shit, trying to re-live their Hip Hop past. I think the whole resistance to [the] political content [on the album] really has a lot to do with the fact that people actually thought that life was better in general in [the ‘90s]. I like where my life personally is right now in 2008, but not too many people are as lucky as to have a career or a job [like] I do that allows me to do the stuff that I do. The years get better [for me]. DX: So you’re saying there wasn’t like a particular catalyst for the more biting subject matter, it just kinda happened organically over time? ?uest: Um, no. Like you have to understand that the standard of Hip Hop that got you those early Roots records was based on a whole battle emcee style of thing. I mean, that’s why we put that “@ 15” skit on right before “75 Bars” [click to listen] to show you how close to Big Daddy Kane Tariq [Black Thought] really was. We’re sort of the last and the only people that sort of hold that flag up in 2008. I don’t hear Lil Wayne sounding like Kane. Or Soulja Boy sounding like Kane, or Lil Webbie…or anybody that’s pretty much in the ringtone game right now. And it’s just like, there’s moments of that type of [raw] rhyming on the record. I mean, that’s what “75 Bars” is about. It’s lyrical murder. But I also think that the thing that sort of justifies the fact that we’re able to still release records is that there’s some sort of evolution. And I think that the truth hurts, and people really need to know what’s going on in the world today. DX: Hip Hoppers today [don’t seem to] feel a need to regain that socially-conscious backbone. You said that they’re just indifferent, [but] do you think though that maybe they just understand the difference between rhetoric and reality? That they understand Chuck was just [saying] “Fight The Power,” that didn’t necessarily in and of itself lead to any change? ?uest: That did lead to change. If it weren’t for Public Enemy I definitely wouldn’t have any type of knowledge of self, or sought to figure out the importance of African-American society. Public Enemy made that exciting and made you wanna search for your history. I think a lot of the [current indifference] has a lot to do with the fact that [if] you [were] born in the ‘80s you [were] really born in the first “legally free decade” in the history of the United States of America. I would say the ‘70s, but that [was] sort of like the ending of…The late 1800s was Reconstruction, the early 1900s [was the] Jim Crow period, the mid-[1900s was the] [Civil Rights Era]… The ‘70s were sort of like the let down of [100] years. And the ‘80s kind of represents the beginning of the next phase of I guess the whole social standing of the United States. If you were born in [the ‘80s] you really aren’t that closely connected to any of those struggles. There’s no sense of struggle or sense of fight [within your generation]. If you were born in the ‘80s you pretty much [just] want 75 cents for a Slurpee and [are asking], “Where’s the remote control at?” I don’t think that you have to go through life feeling like your life’s gonna be threatened if you sit on a certain seat on the bus or if you have a turkey sandwich at Woolworth's. But I also feel as though if you forget [that struggle] you get comfortable. Now, it’d be one thing if you could forget it and you get comfortable and you on the same level playing field, but clearly economically, socially, education-wise, blacks are not on the same level playing field. And so it’s like you can’t forget. There are people I know right now in their twenties [who are] like, “Well man, racism’s over. That shit’s in the past.” And they don’t understand the institutionalized racism. They don’t understand why most of the inner cities’ classrooms look like they’re on the set of The Wire as opposed to the suburban schools or the higher echelon charter schools. There’s a whole double standard difference in entertainment and education, in jobs, social standing, [and] in housing that hasn’t changed. But there’s sort of this false pretense that everything’s better and things are better than they were. But until everyone’s on a level playing field I fail to see that."

5/6/2008 9:59:45 AM

Quote :

"DX: I think that there’s some hope that change will happen [this] November. Kind of a bad segue, but do you care to let us know who The Roots are formally endorsing for president? ?uest: I work for the Obama campaign. I call. I go door-to-door. I do pamphlets. If I’m needed to entertain, I do that. If I’m needed to talk to people, I do that. I pretty much been [actively involved] in his campaign since last December. DX: Why him; why Obama? ?uest: Because I actually feel like he’s talking to me, not at me. As opposed to most politicians that do that sort of obligatory inner-city visit, shake your hand, have some collard greens at the local soul food restaurant and then you don’t hear from them again. There’s actually hard evidence that proves that he walks it like he talks it. It really disturbs me that it took him and his campaign to get 200 plus prisoners out of Chicago jails that were falsely imprisoned because of him forcing the government to instill D.N.A. testing. Not to mention, his constant speaking out against the whole idea of industrializing prison, where private companies are allowed to come in and only pay prisoners 60 cents an hour [to make goods]. He [also] speaks on racial profiling, as far as driving while black, especially on the New Jersey Turnpike, where that happens a lot. He speaks on what we talk about in the song “Criminal,” about the whole idea of the double standard [of the] Rockefeller Laws, where certain people will get caught with crack cocaine and given harsher sentences, like five to 10 years, and certain individuals will do high-end [drugs] and get probation or rehab, a slap on the wrist. There’s a whole slew of [issues that Obama has addressed]. Anything to do with private companies owning prisons, that scares me more than anything because that basically tells me that America plans on having prisons [become] so comfortable [that you don’t want to leave]. Mumia Abu-Jamal [click to read] to this day, refuses to have a television inside of his cell. This is probably the most disturbing thing about being on death row in Pennsylvania, it’s the fact that death row inmates actually have it more comfortable than general population prisoners. You get like a little kitchen area, you get a television, [and] they’re now introducing the idea of having computers inside the cells. [Mumia] says it’s almost like they’re trying to pacify you, sort of complace you, so that you’re comfortable in accepting the fact that they’re definitely gonna kill you. One guy that I actually knew that was in the prison was like, “Yeah man, that new prison was better than this old project I lived in.” And that was just fucking with me. I was like, “The hell?” And even Tariq’s brother, [who’s] been in prison since we’ve been out, since Do You Want More?!!!??!, he’s gotten out and straight up told Tariq like, “Yo, I’m going back in, man. I can’t take this shit. I don’t know what to do with myself.” He won’t go see his P.O. so he can purposefully get arrested so he can get another year-and-a-half. To him, it’s free rent. It’s free utilities. All of his boys are in there. He was about to play on this ball team [before] he got let out. Being outside was like being in prison to him. If [he’s] thinking like that, then you know there’s a gazillion Americans thinking like that. DX: How do I switch gears to this much more important topic, pornography [Laughs]. You have Sasha Grey in the “Birthday Girl” video [click to view], and you even have a rapper named P.O.R.N. featured on the new album, so are there any plans for Okayplayer to launch like a porn sister site? ?uest: You know it’s funny you say that, Sinnamon Love [click to read] is probably the ?uestlove of the porn starlets. Even though she’s a porn actress, she’s really on some geek shit. I had her come on Okayplayer back when the porn industry was rocked by this incident in which one of their new starlets happened to catch the HIV virus from a black actor. For which, there was a total blackout of the industry. It was like a civil war going on [with] all the white actresses saying, “See, that’s why we don’t work with black men.” And the black [porn stars] was like, “Yo, what the fuck? What the hell [were they] doing shooting a scene without testing him first?” So I had her come on the site so she could kinda educate people about the porn industry ‘cause she’s really eloquent in the way that she explains the business. And after about a week or so of doing that I was like, “Whoa, we should really start something.” There are people that have a genuine curiosity of that world, much more than just its inhabitants but sort of like what a day [in their life] is like. I just happen to know probably the [more] intelligent portion of the porn world, to the point where I almost understand it. I’m still head-scratching [at times], especially where Sasha’s concerned ‘cause I swear that girl has like an I.Q. of 160 almost. DX: Now I mentioned P.O.R.N. the rapper, and there’s another new cat on the album named Truck North, there were a lot of guests on this album period, but were there any collabos that you wanted but didn’t happen or happened but didn’t make the final cut? ?uest: Too many. I didn’t have time to get Phonte on the record. Q-Tip had a death in the family when he was supposed to do his verse. Q-Tip was supposed to be on “Criminal,” [click to listen] as was Lupe. Time is our biggest enemy. We started recording the record in August of 2007, and with our touring schedule we only had bits and pieces of time to really get focused and get down to business. [With] our tour schedule, [we don’t] really have time to do a proper album. Not a proper album, but just how we normally did it [in the past]. Most people don’t tour while they’re recording, but we have to survive still. We have to do both. And we had to turn the record in in February. And so I wanted to get Blu on the record, and Jay Electronica as well [but couldn’t]. But there’s always album #11. DX: Speaking of, what’s The Roots future at Def Jam now that the man who brought you guys there is gone? ?uest: I think a better question would be what’s the future of Def Jam? At the rate where they’re expecting to sell one million Mariah units [in the first week] and only got 463,000… Right now our future at Def Jam is in the hands of Mariah Carey. So I hope she goes diamond. Heads are gonna fly if this album flops. So right now I’m praying that Mariah Carey outdoes Thriller. DX: Is there any contemplation at all though that your guys major-label days may be coming to an end, just with the way that the business is going now? ?uest: We’re absolutely prepared for it. If it is gonna come to that, we’re ready. DX: And I guess just [with] the final question I wanna tie everything back together, Byron Crawford thinks you guys should call it a day, so how long before The Roots pull a Toni Braxton and head off to Vegas to play out those remaining years? ?uest: We’ve gotten offers already. Atlantic City’s offered us like eight months residencies. Hard Rock Café was like, “Yeah man, it’d be great [for] the first resident Hip Hop show [to be] you guys.” But you know, that’s like… DX: What’s the barrier to just ya know… ?uest: What’s holding us back from doing that? DX: I mean, just maybe doing a shorter stint, setting that precedent of being the first Hip Hop act to do that. ?uest: Because we enjoy being the first Hip Hop act everywhere else in the world that [no other acts] go to. We’re trying to make Antarctica this year. We hit some spots over in Southeast Asia that Hip Hop’s never gone to before. We’re gonna hit Russia, and a lot of places in the Czech Republic that haven’t been touched before. There’s a whole slew of [places] that haven’t been touched yet. DX: But you don’t have a timetable on when you just wanna slow it down and limit it to just that one gig? ?uest: When the demand for The Roots actually stops, that’s when we’ll stop. But contrary to what [Byron] says, my tax [bracket] goes up every year. Additional Reporting by Aliya Ewing. "

5/6/2008 10:00:10 AM