The legendary, Grammy award-winning band The Roots is back on the scene with their eighth studio album, Rising Down, a much needed contribution to a slow year for hip-hop. A few months ago, a new Roots track leaked onto the internet. “Birthday Girl,” featuring Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy, was initially confirmed as the first single from the album, and was disappointing to many Roots fans because of its strong pop overtones. But when Rising Down hit the shelves last Tuesday, “Birthday Girl” was nowhere to be found, having been demoted to an iTunes-exclusive track. Instead, fans got an album that refuted any and all doubts about the band’s hip-hop legitimacy. The Roots are still on track. Produced primarily by The Roots themselves, Rising Down is everything fans have come to know and love about the band and more. The hard-hitting drum rhythms by drummer ?uestlove and lead emcee Black Thought’s stylistic rhyme flows are accompanied by a newer, more “synthy” sound, as well as adding a horn section. The new album is also much more collaboration heavy. Common, Mos Def, and Talib Kweli all make appearances, as well as some other well-known emcees like Peedi Peedi, Styles P, and former Roots member Malik B. And, as always, the band recruited a number of vocalists, including Chrisette Michele, who was featured on both Nas and Jay-Z’s albums in 2006, and has since released her own solo album. One of the many highlights on this album is the track “@15,” a recording of Black Thought rapping at age 15. Immediately following this track is the album’s first single, “75 Bars,” in which Black Thought spits seventy-five straight bars uninterrupted by a hook. This transition demonstrates his progression as an emcee. In the same way, Rising Down demonstrates The Roots’ progression as a band when compared with some of their older works. The album flows nicely, starting out strong with “Rising Down” and gaining even more strength with the next track, “Get Busy,” in which DJ Jazzy Jeff contributes the cuts and scratches and Peedi Peedi spits a remarkably energetic verse. Although the album slows down near the end with more mellow tracks like “Singing Man” and “Unwritten,” it picks itself right back up with Talib Kweli and Common on the next two tracks. This is an album that can be listened to the whole way through, but there are tracks that shine above others. In any case, this is a strong and successful effort by a band who has already contributed so much to the world of hip-hop. It’s good to know that after all these years they still continue to put out quality music. Rising Down might just be a top contender for hip-hop album of the year, and is a fitting addition to The Roots’ incredible, award-winning collection of music.