The Roots’ Rising Down Picks Us Up

It was a rainy night during the first week of February when ?uestlove from The Roots spoke with Complex about the band’s eigth studio album, Rising Down. That same evening, he granted Complex access to Battery Studios to get the full scope of the dark and stormy album, which finally hit stores today. ?uest had this to say about the crew’s evolution:

Between the last album and this album, I think the one thing I take for granted that I have to keep reminding myself [of] is that not everyone's an engineer. In the beginning, we were on a mission to prove to people we can be boom-bappy. We lost ourselves in terms of us wanting to prove, ‘Ahh, see, you think that's a drum machine right there don't you? Nah, nigga that's me!” So now the pendulum is swinging on the other side and we want people to know that this is us. That was the main mission of the Game Theory album. It just continues with this [album]. You truly know that it's a band.

After the jump, watch all 4 Rik Cordero-directed music videos from Rising Down.

“75 Bars (Black’s Reconstruction) Rising Down (2008)

“Get Busy” Rising Down (2008)

“Birthday Girl” f/ Patrick Stump Rising Down (2008)

“Rising Up” feat. Wale & Chrisette Michelle Rising Down (2008)