but I think it's a step backward. There are a couple clunky choruses that sound like they came off The Tipping Point, which take me out of some songs: "I Can't Help It" is dope--should be my favorite track, but the chorus doesn't fit, IMO. Same with "Lost Desire." The sing-songy-ness of these choruses sound out of place in their respective bad-ass tracks. Also, the "north side, south side, world wide" choruses in the first two songs are disappointingly repetitive. We've heard these songs before, we love them, but here, one after the other, it sounds like BT/Dice are running low on creativity, which we know ain't the case.

For me, Game Theory was compelling right away. "False Media" and "Game Theory" were two of the most progressive tracks The Roots had ever done--they moved, they gave the impression that GT was going to be unpredictable, like every single second, every snare hit, every sound effect drop, was all meticulously crafted. Rising Down, as an album, feels a lot less progressive, more cut and pasted. While I loved "Rising Down" when it was first released, I don't think it works as the jump off track--I think it should be somewhere in the middle of the album; that beat doesn't move, it doesn't give the album that unpredictable quality. I think "Get Busy" would have been a more gripping opener. Songs like "Rising Down" and "I Will Not Apologize" sound like cut and pasted, paint by numbers tracks without there being any real difference, musically, from verse to verse or from chorus to chorus. They are not bad songs (I still really like "Rising Down"), but they both get a little redundant. "Apologize" is a particularly slow burn, until Thought comes in and wakes the song up.

I would have liked a few more BT solo tracks. Practically every track is swarming with guest spots, and while BT holds his own, there are points where he sounds like just another featured artist. GT was his album, but RD comes off as The Band's album, with an arsenal of guests ushered in to do the dirty mic work. Thought is consistently one of the strongest emcees on the album, but there are some guests that get a little lost in the shuffle; I agree with those that said Common sounds out of place on "The Show."

All this said, it's unquestionably a solid album and I suspect that I'll be listening non-stop for a while. I like it much more than both The Tipping Point and Phrenology. "Get Busy," and "Singing Man," are the two I'm feeling most right now. "Criminal" is also very interesting, but I'm still trying to decide how I feel about it. Regardless, I'll definitely be copping on Tuesday; I hope The Roots have good luck in the sales department.