April 29th is a date that cannot come fast enough for fans of The Roots. And depending on who you ask, some of their fans are very perplexed by their choice of lead single. Their cover art for Rising Down will likely perplex some of their fans even further, as it is unapologetically controversial. The cover depicts a winged devil with stereotypical, Blackfaced features swooping in to grab slaves slave owners from the fields while the plantation house looms in the background. I wonder which of their fan demographic they will irritate next: the backpackers or the recent converts? I don't know what the explanation is for the cover art, but all this Blackface has my side-eye twitching. It probably goes without saying that there will be lots of debate over this one.
The Roots Rising Down tracklist:
The Pow Wow [Intro]
Rising Down [with Mos Def ,Styles P & Dice Raw]
Get Busy [with Dice Raw & Peddi Crack & Jazzy Jeff]
@ 15
75 Bars (Reconstruction) [with Tuba Gooding Jr.]
(Up Theme) Becoming Unwritten (instrumental)
Criminal [with Truck North & Saigon]
I Will Not Apologize [with Porn, Dice Raw & Talib Kweli]
I Can't Help It [with Malik B & Porn]
Singing Man [with Porn, Black Thought & Truck North]
(Up Theme) Unwritten [with Mercedes Martinez]
Lost Desire [with Malik B & Talib Kweli]
The Show [with Common]
Rising Up [with Wale & Chrisette Michelle]
Birthday Girl [with Patrick Stump]
HIDDEN TRACK: Live at WPFW (Howard University 1994)
HIDDEN TRACK: The Pow Wow 2
