The Roots Pull Fall Out Boy Collaboration From Rising Down Album

The Roots have pulled their collaboration with Fall Out Boy's Patrick Stump, named Birthday Girl, from their new album Rising Down and also axed it as a lead single.

Speaking to Billboard, Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson says of the song: "It was just sticking out like a sore thumb. Initially it was going to kick-start the record... but then that didn't work. Then we were going to have a 'halftime' thing where it was gonna come in the middle of the record as a break from the political thing, but that didn't work, either."

"Then we tried to make it the last song on the record, and that wasn't working," he continued. "Then we tried to make it the hidden track, and that wasn't effective. Basically the album was complete; it starts with 'Rising Down' and it ends with 'Rising Up,' so that makes more sense to me."

Fans eager to hear Birthday Girl will still have the opportunity, as the song will be sold digitally via iTunes. Rising Down will be released on April 29th in the US (28th in the UK) via Def Jam.