‘ border=’0′ />The Roots’ new album Rising Down, to be released Apr 29th on Def Jam, was originally set to end with “Birthday Girl”—a much-hyped single featuring Fall Out Boy’s Patrick Stump. However, Billboard has just announced that this track will NOT appear on the album at all, but will apparently be released as an iTunes exclusive buy later this month.

In an interview with URB before this announcement, The Roots told us that the idea for the song “Birthday Girl” was tossed around in sessions for 2004’s The Tipping Point. ?uestlove explained that the appeal of the track for this album was due to the shift in hip-hop toward the more mainstream; as he told URB, “If you look at the hip-hop marketplace, shit is totally pop!… I don’t want to catch you singing ‘Good Life’ and then turn around and say ‘I hate pop hip-hop.’”

?uestlove told Billboard that this track was dropped because it did not “fit the tone of what he calls ‘the most incendiary, political album of our career to date…it was just sticking out like a sore thumb.’” He explains that they tried every possible placement on the album to make it flow, but nothing was working. It seems that The Roots frequently flirt with the mainstream scene only to drop it, and for me this was good news because I (like many others) appreciate The Roots for their ability to retain their own non-poppy hip-hop sound. However, Rising Down will feature many many other apt collaborations, including Mos Def, Common, Styles P, Dice Raw, Malik B, Saigon, and Truck North—so don’t cry if you loved the idea of a Roots-Fall Out Boy combo on the album, becase these other guests will satisfy you.

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