With their 10th album, "Rising Down", bound for release next month, old-skool rap group the Roots are carrying with them a bigger and braver voice for their political statements.

"Hip-hop used to be the black CNN - it really was," says ?uestlove.

It's pronounced "Questlove", and the band's founder and drummer, complete with massive afro, is giving Sunday Xpress an exclusive interview at the fourth Mosaic Music Festival in Singapore.

"But around 1992 American entertainment started losing the political edge. America got obsessed with celebrities, the reality shows, scandals. Hip-hop suddenly became cartoonish. The political voice we had was silenced."

With their debut album "Organix" in 1993, the group grabbed a reputation as rebels, with sharp and straightforward criticism of America's social shortcomings.

Among the current ranks of hyperbolic, made-for-kids hip-hop acts today, ?uestlove has found it hard to make himself heard, even as the group shifted from hip-hop jazz into neo soul and emo.

"We're the first three-dimensional rap group and the last of a dying breed," he says. "We're the only black group with a major record deal right now. I have nothing against other kinds of hip-hop, but people deserve to know about the slum business, the little brother.

"We're trying desperately to get a new president who has more compassion," he says of the election coming in November. "Between eight years of George Bush, Bush Junior, Clinton and Reagan, that's enough for America. They tried to relate so much to black people, like they're one of us, but they're not. That's why we're so rebellious and angry.

"It's the conditions that our government has placed on the people. Like this war [in Iraq] - I think we should just give up. We Americans don't want war. The world doesn't know that the action of one man doesn't represent the whole country. This is the first time I've travelled the world and seen people look at you with disgust because you're American."

Fans can expect more of the intense views on the new disc, although ?uestlove is ambiguous about it.

"Well, we're not that political," he says, shrugging. "We're not overly violent about it. We're just educated and outspoken."

The reporter's trip to Singapore was sponsored by the Esplanade.

By Manta Klangboonkrong

Sunday Xpress

what's the question?

>> ?uestlove (real name Ahmir Khalib Thompson) is also producer, score composer, remixer, DJ and actor with an extensive list of credits to his name. He contributed as producer and drummer to luminaries like Erykah Badu, Dilated People, Blackalicious, Fiona Apple and Zack De La Rocha on his new solo album. He also appears in the upcoming film by Jennifer Elster, "ItW", which is due for release later this year. "Rising Down", the Roots' new studio album, is out on April 29 on Def Jam Records.

xtra