Rising Tied, The

Fort Minor – Rising Tied (Warner Hip Hop)
Reviewed by Sadie O., 8/30/06
Thought-provoking and powerful hip hop. Serious beats, serious lyrics, lots of help from Styles of Beyond and others. Up and coming underground artist, worth paying attention to, IMO. But then, I like anything with a great beat!
Has been FCC self-censored (not for “Damn” though!) – there is one bit in track 7 that sounds like “shit” but the printed lyrics say “chitchat”… Just so’s you know…
I like 4, 7 and 10 best (my kid likes 2)
1. 0:43 random noises, volume increases theatrically.
2. 3:50 ***string arpeggios, midtempo beat, forceful and aggressive, nice use of words as part of beat
3. 4:14 ***piano and moody sounds, another midtempo aggressive beat, inner city slice of life lyrics
4. 3:40 ****a few noises, then a REALLY serious beat, cool!
5. 3:53 ***a bit downtempo, funky
6. 3:51 piano and girly pop vocals… there’s the beat, midtempo, depressing song. Talking at end
7. 3:29 ****gnarly, hard, downtempo beat, cool rap – works for me!
8. 3:44 **downtempo, downbeat, pretty depressing, 3 voices. “Damn” several times
9. 3:40 **random noises, slow beat, interesting lyrics about the rap biz
10. 3:42 ****shots and piano intro, midtempo hard beat, serious rap, great hand drum solo
11. 1:56 **interview for several seconds, then midtempo minimal beat, wild story about the record label
12. 3:16 ***piano intro, somewhat uptempo energetic beat, interesting rap and some singing/harmonies.
13. 3:51 **midtempo, downbeat, very depressing rap about Japanese internment during WWII. Made me cry…
14. 3:11 **slightly downtempo bass ‘n’ drums waltz (!) beat – more serious rap. Ends with scratch ‘n’ sniff
15. 0:32 interim with live scratch ‘n’ flow
16. 3:56 **downtempo, very dramatic, very interesting rap. Ends with several seconds of rather depressing piano…