What can Rick Rubin really do for the Roots? If the goal is to present a new sound or take the Roots in a different direction, how will Rubin do that? The Roots have been able to produce a very good albums on their own without much outside input and I think that is to their credit. Hip-Hop needs groups that are self-contained and self-sustained because the artists need to be challenged in that way and there needs to be groups that catapult their own legacies, without outside help. Inspire yourselves and WORK at generating new, fresh ideas within your team cause ultimately it's going to be YOUR SOUND. Not to say that you can't look to others for some inspiration or to spark new ideas. I'm not an artist and I don't know first hand how the musical creative process works but I'm sure
?uesto has ideas in abundance but just needs resources, outlets, whatever, to bring them to life.

I'm nostalgia ridden these days cause I miss cohesive albums. I miss the listening experience cause I'm not drawn in and immersed in the sounds anymore. Production is scattered on rap albums today and rap albums have just become a bunch of mix-tapes with scattered, uneven production. We need those albums that read:

A Tribe Called Quest: Produced by The Ummah
De La Soul: Produced by De La Soul (& Prince Paul)
Gangstarr: Produced by DJ Premier
The Wu-Tang Clan: Produced by The RZA
Pete Rock & CL Smooth: Produced by Pete Rock
Public Enemy: Produced by The Bomb Squad
The Roots: Produced by The Grand Negaz
Clipse: Produced by The Neptunes

you get the point...

Let's just make good albums man. Keep it an artform and inject some integrity back into the record making process.

Instead of being such a defeatist and crying that "Hip-Hop is dead", shut the fuck up and start making good Hip-Hop albums. Use that ego on steroids to bring the shit back.