"The Pow Wow" Really love the intro, thought it leads into "Rising Down" nicely

"Rising Down" is a dope song. Probably my favorite of the tracks they released prior to the leak. Best I've heard from Mos in a while, Thought brings it, and Styles hold his own.

"Get Busy" we all know about. Love the scratching chorus. When I saw them perform this live I was going wild

"@15" Damn, Thought had mad skills as a young teen. Dope little interlude.

"Becoming Unwritten" Not much to talk about here. Just a quick instrumental.

"75 Bars" wasnt a fan at first, but when you listen to it as part of this album it sounds nice. Its no "Web" but it gets the job done

"Criminal" is crazy. LOVE the hook on this. Saigon sounds solid. I'd say its my favorite track on the album as of right now

"I Will Not Apologize" This may be one I could be skipping in the future. I was kinda hoping Kweli would have dropped a verse. Not feeling Dice too much on this one either.

"I Can't Help It" is one of my favorites on the album. This one stood out the most along with "Criminal" after the first set of listens. Porn drops a great verse (he's great on all his spots on this album) and this is my favorite Malik B verse on the album

"Singing Man" is another one I'm gonna have to give a few more listens before I can get into it. Last verse is sick though, awesome effects

"Unwritten" is cool. The chick singing is great, kind of reminds me of "Living In A New World" for some reason, maybe the length.

"Lost Desire" It's about time you guys got Kweli on a verse again. "Rollin With Heat" is my favorite song on Phrenology and I was feeling his verse on this one too. Malik B's verse is alright and the hook is pretty good too.

"The Show" Hook is kinda dull, but Thought and Common keep the track banging.

"Rising Up" is my favorite right now behind "Criminal." I'm just getting into Wale recently and I gotta say I'm really excited for an album from him. He seems like he's got a lot of crossover appeal between the mainstream and underground.


Overall awesome album. The spots are all great. I think this album follows up Game Theory very well. The past two Roots albums definitely have been quite the 1-2 punch. I gotta say that I was feeling Game Theory more after the first couple of listens a few years back, but this definitely has huge replay value like any Roots album. ?uest said the darks are darker and the lights are lighter, but I don't see much light on this, which is cool by me. Also, good call not throwing "Birthday Call" on here. Not just cause I didn't like it, but it definitely would fit anywhere on this album.

Favorite Tracks: Rising Down, Get Busy, Criminal, I Can't Help It, Rising Up

Can't wait to cop the hard copy on Tuesday. Great job as usual. The Roots and Kanye are the only artists I can always count on to bring a great album.