Listened to The Roots' Rising Down tonight. Unbelievably good. The Roots at their darkest and angriest. But something struck me while listening to it, which is this: It takes balls the size of blue whales to let SOMEONE ELSE have the first verse on your album. Listen to the track "Rising Down" (track 2, track 1 on The Roots' albums are always intros), and the first voice you hear is not Black Thought but the mighty mighty Mos Def. Not that Mos Def isn't so unbelievably bad ass that he should have the first word on EVERY ALBUM EVER MADE, but that's a really fucking gutsy move.
Also, they have Talib Kweli on as a hook man. "I Will Not Apologize" clearly features Talib's voice in the chorus, but he is not featured on a verse or even given a guest credit on the song. Talib fucking Kweli, one of the most gifted lyricists in hip-hop, just saying "I will not apologize" on the hook to your song.
We get it, The Roots. We surrender. You win. Take everything you want, just don't hurt us.
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