Customer Reviews

Undun / [Explicit]

5 star:		(36)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Dear Music Appreciators,

I come to this album as one who knows nothing of The Roots beyond the few dozen times I've been flipping channels and decided to watch a bit of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. Based on their work on that show I knew they were an incredibly talented and versatile band, and this, their latest studio album, is simply further evidence of that fact.

Unlike many of their more popular peers, this is not simply a vehicle for a few hot singles with some filler in between. This is a real "record" in that old school sense of the word - a collection of carefully crafted songs that go well together and are meant to be experienced in order, one after another. This is the kind of record that would sound best on a record player, or at least on a Discman with some big ol' headphones while you're pounding the city pavement or shooting down a subway line.

On their late night television gig The Roots are a band that flies high above the anchors of musical genre and this album is no exception. This is not really just a rap album or a hip-hop album or a soul album or a funk album or a pop album or a rock album, it's...well, it's a ROOTS album. And it's something of a concept album, centered around one Redford Stephens, who happened into a life of crime in inner-city New York and died at twenty-five.

The album opens with Redford dead, moves backwards to explore his story, and ends with four short, hopped-up. classical sounding instrumental tracks - a sort of "Redford Stephens Suite" to memorialize the fallen character.

While there are rhymes and beats to please even the most primitive music fans, this is essentially rap-infused, art-flavored hip-hop for smart people, and as such it succeeds beautifully, so why not buy this now and plant The Roots latest album in your mind to see if it will grow a little?

Sincerely,

Constant Listener

The Roots tenure in the music business spans much of hip hop history from the late 80s, through the 'golden age' of hip hop, to its current state of affairs. Each of their albums has a different tone, and this is by far the darkest and most poetic. A 'concept album,' undun tells the story of a poor kid who thinks he's making the right decisions, but gets drawn deeper into the drug game until he's killed. Yet the story is told in reverse, kind of like Pulp Fiction.

As a Roots fan since Do You Want More, this album inspires me. Their musicianship is perhaps better than it has ever been. Quest and Co. are experimenting with lush classical tones amid the boom-bap-blip, especially on the album's closing suite of four instrumental songs. The MCing is inspired. Black Thought is ill, and more precise than ever. Great guest spots from the likes of Greg Porn, as usual, and haunting hooks and verses by Dice Raw.

As much as it inspires me, it also depresses me. That's the point. The Roots are making real art here, a work with a poignant message that can be interpreted on many different levels. For me, they are telling a dark story that contains a message about life's value and how humans cannot survive faced with only bad and worse choices.

The stand out track for me is Sleep, which marks death. The music is so weird and hard hitting. Almost like something from Portishead circa the mid-90s. The lyrics and the imagery of falling leaves create a mood of bittersweet release.

I'd recommend this album to anyone who likes hip hop but yearns for something beyond the sophomoric slogans that dominate the genre these days. It might be dispiriting thematically, but simple pop doesn't wake people up.

The Roots continue to prove that they are the most consistent music group out there. Even some of their older albums that were perhaps not as good as we might have liked, were still leaps and bounds better than seemingly 80% of the other music out there.

In my time of doing reviews on my blog I've only given four albums a perfect five rating. The Roots' album from last year, How I Got Over, their collaboration with John Legend "Wake Up", Hidden Beach Unwrapped Volume 1 and "The Carnivale" by Wyclef Jean, which remains today one of my top 10 albums that I've ever heard in my life.

Today The Roots get the fifth 5 Rating (and third album to get that that they are involved with). I've been a fan of the Roots for a long time, having come to them via D'Angelo who is my favorite artist. I heard some collaborations that he had done with them in some live recordings that I have and was just hooked.

Here you have a rap group that's an actual BAND. They play their instruments, and they play them well. It's not often you come across a hip hop band, but the Roots have been putting it down for hip hop in a serious way for years now and show no signs of creative drop off.

Never more clear than on their newest album "UnDun" which in a first for the legendary Roots Crew, is a concept album. Undun chronicles the life and death of Redford Stephens who embraces some bad choices in his life and ends up paying the ultimate price for it, and tells said story in reverse.

The album begins with his dying and works it's way back to the beginning of the story -- the end of the album. Clocking in at just a shade under 40 minutes it's a fairly short album, however it's an amazing piece of work that seems to alternate between being staggeringly beautiful and hauntingly depressing at various points throughout.

One thing that I loved about How I Got Over was their utilizing feature appearances by artists that many perhaps would not have heard, who listen to the Roots regularly. Artists like The Dirty Projectors, Monsters of Folk, Joanna Newsome and STS.

This album also features some of these indie rock artists and once again I'm kind of blown away by the incredible sound that has been made with the Roots collaborating with these artists.

In fact one of my favorite tracks on here is "Sleep" which features a singer named Aaron Livingston. I have never heard him before, but he has a line in there that when I heard it I just sat back in awe, dumbstruck by the implications of it and the very idea of it.

Something so seemingly simple, and yet complex and deep at the same time. One of those things you'll end up thinking about later after you've put the album away to go to sleep yourself.

I love the idea behind this concept album. The idea of chronicling a man who for lack of a bad choices might have ended up with a whole different (and perhaps much longer) life, and made it out of the environment that he found himself trapped in.

I've thought back before to mistakes I've made, decisions I've made and how it influenced my life and how it impacted my ending up in the very room I sit right now writing this review.

If I had done things differently, would I be here right now? Would I have ended up in another state? Perhaps gone to college, got a helluva job? Met someone, settled down, had kids, and the stereotypical American Dream?

Or was I always destined to end up where I'm at now? I thought about that as I listened to Undun, because it made me wonder whether Redford was doomed from the beginning. Whether his ending was predetermined from jump street and that he realized that and simply embraced what he felt was his destiny.

It's definitely an interesting conversation piece, I think. And that, ultimately, is what separates The Roots from your average hip hop artists out there. The Roots stay coming correct with their intelligent and introspective works, while many others tend to focus on more materialistic gains.

Unfortunately too many people would rather Watch The Throne, rather than get their heads into some real solid intelligent hip hop music. And that's sad, but unfortunately a part of life.

As the album ends, it has it's final piece, a cover of singer Sufjan Stevens' song Redford, split into four "movements", and tell the "beginning" of Stephen's life.

The first part is Sufjan himself on the piano, followed by a string quartet interpreting the song. After that you have Roots' drummer Questlove and pianist D.D. Jackson going to work, and then the final movement, which actually represents the beginning of Redford Stephen's life.

As I'm listening right now to the final four tracks that form this sort of orchestral movement it's absolutely stunningly beautiful! I mean I've read online where there were some who heard the album and didn't like the final four tracks and felt that it would have been better ending on the 10th track.

I think those who feel this way are missing the whole idea of a concept album, and how every piece fits. Every piece tells a part of the story. Every piece serves a purpose. And personally, I actually thought I'd be moved to tears by the 12th track "Possibility". It was amazing in a way that words can't express.

To sum up, this is yet again, another potentially classic album by a group that we've come to expect excellence from. However just because we have grown to expect this type of brilliance, doesn't negate or diminish the quality of this album.

Some of the usual suspects show up for appearances including Dice Raw, Phonte, P.O.R.N. and Truck North, as well as Big K.R.I.T. who has a great future ahead of him in hip hop.

I also liked some of the vocalists on here including Bilal, Livingston and even Mercedes Martinez & Tracy Moore, of Jazzyfatnastees fame, who contributed the vocals to "I Remember" which is outstanding!

All in all, if you like good hip hop music, if you like good MUSIC period, you need to do yourself a favor and pick this up!

Once and awhile the hip-hop genre will take a break from it's occasional obsession with posturing and actually deliver on ideas that actually live up to it's cultural roots. And it's no secret that many of the genres greatest moments have been those instances where it looks inside itself. And this is one of those occasions. Hip-hop has tended with several major exceptions tended to be what they called a singles medium. Meaning that individual songs,or often one long song extended over an album length with variations,take presidents. Many from Public Enemy,Tribe Called Quest,Jay Z and OutKast have looked to change this. The Roots have been looking towards a concept like this for some time. And inspiration seems to have come way of Sufjan Stevens,by grafting a character of his onto a fictional and/or semi fictional character called Redford Stevens. The Redford character emerges here as something a "Tommy" for the contemporary hip-hop world. And the fact that this does come off very much as a "hip-hop opera" does tend to extend on that.

As with much of what The Roots tend to do,this album examines the Redford character both lyrically and tonally through his own generation cycle. So the music and words both are used to tell the story. Using the powerfully voiced singer Dice Raw and Bilal along with the rapping this album comes out with some wonderfully soulful funk on "Kool On","Tip The Scale" and "Lighthouse". These are some of the most wonderfully constructed,soulful and heavy grooving songs I've ever heard come from The Roots. And the exciting part is they do a lot to extend the narrative too. You learn of Redford trying continually trying to justify his life of crime,to the point of a possible murder/suicide dealt with on the string filled orchestral suite that concludes the album. By the time you get the part called "Finality" the strings have gone from violent and discordant to sounding almost pastoral-somewhat like a soul music version of the conclusion of Sgt. Pepper's-that big emotional crescendo and release. There is indeed some profanity here. But for a change it's 100% useful in illustrating the inner frustrations and thought process of the character.

One of the most illuminating hip-hop ALBUMS I've ever heard,this release blends creative ambition with the "keeping it real" attitude of the genre in such a wonderful way you might listen to this and wonder why hip-hop seems to have been musically and lyrically uneven for the past decade or so. Perhaps you might blame commerce,the need by so many to make money in sacrificing their soul. Same old story right? Well this is a concept The Roots have been expressing in all the music they've done so far. Usually it's accomplished by celebrating the musicality of hip-hop itself with their instrumental ability. And it would be unwise to let anyone fool you into thinking hip-hop isn't musical. In this case it's a story that rather takes a concept expressed on "The Return Of Innocence Lost" from their Things Fall Apart album-the question of a gang banger type character pontificating on whether he's a victim of society or his own fragile ego. To these ears which often find more emotion out of soul,funk and different jazz fusion sub-genres this album might very well be representative of the moment when contemporary hip-hop finally blossoms into a coherent and singular art.

The Roots have long been building up to the glowing crossover reaction they've received in favor of their tenth proper studio album, a just-released concept record called undun. In black and white, it seems so obvious now, looking back. Simply put, The Roots have always wanted to be more than a hip-hop group. They've always wanted to make more than average albums (remember Phrenology?) and, well, they've always wanted to be big beyond what the confines of The Source readership could offer. With their unlikely gig as Jimmy Fallon's house band now firmly celebrated by the average alternative music writer and the late night viewer alike, they've now become the household name that making boom bap hip-hop records never allowed them. They've become, one could argue, the most constant and positive symbol for hip-hop music in popular world culture. And the timing is perfect. After years of making bloated, spotty record that seriously lacked diversity, they've now made two classic records in a row (the other being last year's excellent How I Got Over), thanks in part, we can only assume, to the diversity their Fallon gig has demanded of them.

For example: at the end of undun there's a four-part suite that opens with a Sufjan Stevens piano loop. Big deal, right? Well, it is. It's further proof that The Roots have opened up to music of all sorts, these last two records even suggesting that they're fans of the current indie rock scene (How I Got Over feature prominent Joanna Newsom and Monsters of Folk samples). But, I wonder, are The Roots genuine? I'm suspicious, mostly of drummer ?uestlove, a guy who has very obviously always been interested in celebrity. For example: is there a better way to get the attention of the reviewers with the loudest voices than to sample their favorite artists on their records? (Will Bradford Cox be on the next Roots record? The National?) But, all the fame-as-business-strategy stuff aside, undun is one of the best hip-hop records of the year and most definitely one of the best Roots albums yet.

More mellow and musical than their early work, the band continues to tighten things up with their tenth record, offering up a modest nine full songs, an intro, an interlude and the above-mentioned four-part suite. All together, the record passes quickly and smoothly, still indebted to jazz, soul and classic era boom bap music more than any other genre. One again, the band incorporates quite a few R&B hooks, none of which work nearly as well as Erykah Badu's now-classic contribution to "You Got Me." One longstanding problem the band recently fixed relates to their powerful frontman, Black Thought. One of the great emcees of all-time, BT has never been a diverse emcee, nor one who could carry the vocal weight of a full album. And so now we have many, many vocal guests. Mostly, we get the great Dice Raw, Phonte and Greg Porn. But others, too, including Bilal, Big K.R.I.T. and someone named Truck North. Porn and Raw work the best, their styles fitting in nicely with the crew's vibe and Black Thought's vocal leadership.

By the time the album ends we've worked our way through the loosely illustrated life story of a fictional character named Redford Stephens. But, really, what we get is something of a New York City chronicle that works as a more literate - if less passionate - continuation of the New York City Nas painted on Illmatic. It's a gritty, musical and tight record full of great compositions, classic beats and great verses. But, all that said, The Roots latest album, no matter what you heard from all your favorite indie rock writers, is not a perfect album.

My biggest issue with undun is the same thing I felt kept How I Got Over from being one of the great hip-hop records of all time. And that problem is one that could so easily be fixed - these Roots guys just flat out have bad taste in hooks. They pick cheesy R&B singers and they write cheesy hooks. Get Q-Tip to do your hooks. Get D'Angelo. Get Charles Bradley or even Robert Bradley. Sample old soul records. Hearing these timeless, organic compositions - and Black Thought's gritty verses - juxtaposed against soft, overly-poppy and characterless R&B vocals is a major turn off. Well, for me that is. But yes, I do still like undun despite this one major fault. It's a great hip-hop record that stands as the band's tightest and most realized to date. Probably not better than How I Got Over, but easily their second best top-to-bottom listen.

Check out more of my music- and film-related writing at ZeCatalist.com.

Wow! My anticipation for this album was extremely high and I can't say I was disappointed. This album is proof as to just how influential & innovative The Roots can be. They continue to push the boundaries of Hip Hop into something indescribable unless you listen to their music.

It starts off with a pitch, just a pitch, which leads to a bit of instrumentation which leads to a heartbeat. And this sets the tone for the entire album. From that moment you know that what you are going to experience is going to be phenomenal.

For me this album was amazing after the first listen. Which I can't say the same for "How I Got Over", which dropped last year. For some reason it didn't click with me right away, but I love it now. Weird. *shrugs* Anyway you'll hear a lot of talk about this being a concept album, and unless you read that it's about a fictional character "Redford Stephens" then you really would be oblivious as to how. But after I read that I kind of understood it. The themes could be placed into the life of a single person, any person really, so I get it.

From start to finish you have these beautiful compositions from The Roots crew. Each song is beautiful and unique in it's own way. And while I'm on this topic I want to touch base on something. I absolutely love that with each album The Roots manage to keep their own diverse sound, but at the same time they are able to make each album sound so unique and different their previous work.

Lyrically Black Thought is amazing. He continues to show why he deserves that place in my top ten list. Sad to say many people sleep on him. You always get the same generic top ten list wit 2Pac & The Notorious B.I.G. at the top. And then they throw in some other MC's to please the majority. I've never seen Black Thought in any famous MC's top ten. But I won't get into that right now.

Honestly the only fault I have with this album is it's length. It runs at just under 39 min (approximately 38 min 50 seconds). And the last four songs are one minute instrumental pieces. Which all flow together so well that on my first listen I really thought it was all one track until it ended. So I really don't know why they didn't piece it all into one track.

Standout Songs: "Lighthouse (Feat. Dice Raw)" & "I Remember"

Honestly though there's only 9 songs that have lyrics accompanying them so it's kind of hard to chose. But "Lighthouse" is definitely my favorite off the album. Dice Raw does his thing on that song.

Overall Score: 9.5/10 - This album is a beautiful masterpiece from start to finish. I just feel like the length of the album kind of brings it down. And splitting the last four songs up was really unnecessary. Looking at the track list and seeing 14 tracks only to be caught off guard that four of those are barely over a minute, and one doesn't even reach that. But despite that I still highly recommend you check this out.

All I can add is, I'm glad The Roots continue to keep their quality very high. Our family has listened to this entire album three times so far (once before purchase, twice after), and we agree it's a beautiful, heartfelt, and refreshingly unique listening experience as a whole. The vocalists show a lot of soul and no laziness in their lyrical flow and contributions to the story. What I'm especially happy about is that this album is quite clean lyrically. This is an example how hip-hop can be "sick" and "really cool" without a bunch of useless foul language thrown in.

The copy I purchased here includes the 11-page digital booklet that includes all band and song credits, and some pictures reminiscent of Physical Graffiti.

First and foremost, let me say that this album is NOT something that everyone will enjoy. This is NOT made for the one dimentional radio head or the casual Hip Hop listener, and very likely go over some heads. This is not a feel good album full of club hits, love ballads, and chain music. Its a dark tale of a lost soul named Redford Stevens, who recounts the journey leading to his downfall. In short, The Roots, Undun, is art personified.

Undun chronicles the life of Redford Stevens, a drug dealer from Philidelphia, and kicks off the album with the representation of his death with an instrumental cut, "Dun" which flows seamlessly into the first words of narration by Black Thought on "Sleep" preparing us for a journey back in time to how things got to this point.

By the time you get to the third or fourth cut, this album starts to feel less like a Hip Hop album and more like a soundtrack to the non-existant biopic of Redford Stevens. The tracks all flow together seamlessly, with no fillers, no misplaced songs, and really no mistakes. This is probably the best example of meticulousness on a Hip Hop album I have every witnessed. It is truely a solid, unblemished classic. Everything from the dark representation of Redford's downfall through the instrumentation, the epicly super lyrical narration from Black Thought, and the guest verses from long time Roots affiliates like P.O.R.N. and Dice Raw, with some newer blood like Phonte and Big K.R.I.T.

Its very hard to pick out any specific song as a highlight of the album. As hard as I've tried, I cant really seperate one song from the whole list, since the way I feel about each track is subsequently affected by the songs that come before it and after. The only tracks people may not take a liking to would be 12-14, which could be called a Suite, if nothing else, which paints through instrumentals the closing of the story being told. I'll spare you the blow by blow and simply encourage you to see for yourself. Depending on your tastes, these may be skip worthy, but rest assured they definitely take nothing away from the album.

It truely is a cohesive, well thought out piece of work. If you are a fan of The Roots, there should be no hesitation whatsoever about getting this album. Even if by some supernatural anomaly you were not a fan of the album prior to this one, How I Got Over, this here should get your attention in the best way. Even if you arnt a fan of The Roots, check this out. This is what good music is. This is what real Hip Hop sounds like. The Roots have done amazing work over the years, but with album number 14, they have not only solidified their place in the hearts of fans and critics across the board, but raised the bar for anyone who dares to call themselves a Hip Hop artist.

Personal favorites that I managed to find are "Sleep" "Make My" feat. Big K.R.I.T., "One Time" feat. Phonte & Dice Raw, and "I Remember". I really did try to avoid listing the entire CD.

To put it simeply, Undun is a CLASSIC!

I reviewed this in a lot more detail on the Funkatopia site[...] but this is my Amazon shortened review that will help you make a buying decision on this album.

If you dug How I Got Over, then this album is a perfect compliment to that. They use the same formula as that album where you have intense lyrical content with very hooky sung choruses. Sonically it's amazing. The production quality is impeccable. just buy it. It's a great album. if you're debating on buying, the physical copy, don't sweat it. The physical copy doesn't offer much outside of some liner notes. No lyrics or crazy photos. So the accompanying digital booklet is all you'll need. If anything, download the undun app for your phone which will give you lyrics, videos, back story, photos and much more. It's way better than what actually comes with the physical copy and it's free on both iphone and android phone app stores.

My only gripe about this album is the length at just under 40 minutes which is typical for albums nowadays, but when you're used to albums that are twice as long like Illadelph Halflife, it's hard to expect less. This album is very good with about 4 tracks that are instrumental with orchestral accompaniment (1st track and the last 3 - one of which is performed solely by Sulfjan Stephens). The album is a story told in reverse from death to life of a fictional Redford Stephens (no relation to Sulfjan) and this is Black Thought at some of his lyrical best. As are the appearances from Dice Raw, Bilal and others.

This is a good solid album that has been very positively reviewed from everywhere. You won't be sorry. It's a great album.

Veteran hip-hop group The Roots are one of few hip-hop groups that use a live band setting. Their fusion of the sensibilities of hip-hop and the live aspect of soul make the Roots one of the `gems' and rarities in the hip-hop circle. 2011 Concept album Undun [Explicit] [+Digital Booklet] is one of the Roots most intriguing releases as of late, delivering an amalgam of style-infused rap varying from the introspective to gospel-infused cuts. A suite, entitled "Redford Suite" closes out the album in four distinct movements sans rap in alternative, classical, and jazz styles. Only a group with the musical intellect and savvy of the Roots could pull of one of the years most interesting and best albums. Undun ranks right up there at the top.

The album opens with "Dun," which possesses a mysterious timbre, given way to the experimental vibe of Undun. The lush synthetic pads are a solid instrumental way to start off this conceptual masterpiece. "Sleep" continues the momentum with uniqueness comparable to the opener. The production is minimalist, yet captivating with the drums/drum programming being a highlight. Aaron Earl Livingston provides a solid set of vocals, as conceptual as the production work itself. Black Thought caps off the cut with a solid set of rhymes, establishing the mood for the album as a whole. The exceptional first single "Make My," featuring Big K.R.I.T. & Dice Raw is valedictory in all senses of the word. A nice choppy synthetic pad is featured in the beginning, eventually evolving into a lush sounding Electric Piano-like patch. The drum groove is incredibly soulful once it enters in. Big K.R.I.T. delivers a fiery first verse: "Addicted to the green, if I don't ball I'll get the shakes/I'd give it all for peace of mind, for heaven's sake..." Black Thought delivers a cerebral intense verse as well: "Tryin' to control the fits of panic/unwritten and unraveled, it's the dead man's pedantic..." The hook caps off the sensation cut: "They told me that the ends/won't justify the means/they told me at the end/don't justify the dreams..." Undun gets off to a very fast start.

"One Time," featuring Dice Raw & Phonte keeps the pace going strong, accentuated by its big drums and overall gargantuan sound about the production work. Mercedes Martinez & Tracey Moore provide sound harmonized background vocals, which is an additional highlight. The hook is as solid as any, packing a heavy punch: "I was always late for the bus/just once can I be on time/then I start to think what's the rush/who wants to be on time..." "Kool On" samples the DJ Rogers cut "Where There's a Will (There's A Way)," delivering yet another sensational listen. Black Thought (Verse 2) is joined by Greg Porn (Verse 1) and Truck North (Verse 3), who provide solid rhymes. "The OtherSide" features Bilal Oliver on vocals and Greg Porn on yet another verse. As dramatic and emotional as any other cut, the Roots continue to deliver strongly. Bilal's verse is certainly affecting: "We're all on a journey/down the hall of memories/don't worry bout what you ain't got/leave with a bit of dignity...but when I make it to the other side, make it to the other side..."

"Stomp" adds Greg Porn once more, who delivers a fiery, pointed verse: "...immaculate conceptions/now what's beef ain't even a question/calico kisses, cold blood and crime tape/flirt with death, every night it's a blind date..." Black Thought continues to compel. The production work is perhaps the biggest highlight, notable for its guitar work and ostinato acoustic piano patch. Just Blaze handles all `interlude' parts, which is a nice touch. "Lifehouse," featuring Dice Raw keeps things rolling in high fashion, as does "I Remember," which once more features Mercedes Martinez & Tracey Moore providing solid background vocals. "Tip The Scale," once again featuring Dice Raw, is nothing short of superb. The harmonic progression by the band is smart and the huge drums are breathtaking (live drums). The musicianship of the band would be enough to drive "Tip the Scale," but also Black Thought and Dice Raw do nothing short of slaughter their rhymes. Black Thought dominates with great lines the caliber of "...Rob Peter to pay Paul/now I realize it's the winner that takes all..." while Dice Raw is on autopilot with such lines as "I got a brother on the run and one in/wrote me a letter he said when you coming..."

The album ends with the odd, though stunning instrument Redford Suite, which closes album in four short movements. Sufjan Steven handles the first movement, "Redford" (for Yia Yia & Pappou). Stevens incorporates the minimalistic ideals he's came to be known for. "Possibility (2nd Movement)" uses acoustic piano in tandem with live strings to give off a very introspective sound. The most captivating movement is "Will to Power," which features virtuoso jazz pianist D.D. Jackson creating chaotic cacophony with ?uestlove on drums - it is musicianship at its highest level. "Finality" closes the moving suite with strings and a tone clusters in the lower register after the strings finish their tender chorale.

Overall, Undun [Explicit] [+Digital Booklet] is easily one the very best albums of 2011. The Roots have more of a cult following than anything at this point in their careers, but no one should miss out on the strength and incredible musicianship hosted by Undun. Highly recommended.