The Roots - Undun

Philadelphia's finest hip-hop group, The Roots are back with their first concept album titled Undun. The follow up to last year's How I Got Over finds the group trying a musical endeavour that they have never before accomplished and hope to add some notoriety that will bolster their resume as one of the most creative hip-hop groups in music today.

The album starts off strong with "Sleep", a low-key, fluid hip-hop track that features the melodic vocals of lead vocalist Black Thought whose voice adds a certain distinct element that can be heard in all of the songs that they've created up until this point. "Make My" features a guest appearance by Big K.R.I.T. and Dice Raw that picks up the overall aura just a little bit, but still retains a distinct sense of melancholy that first penetrated the album upon first listen. My personal favorite song off this album is "Kool On", which features some throwback, old-school rhythms that hearken back to the early days of hip-hop when people would carry boomboxes over their shoulders and parade it throughout the neighborhood so that people could hear all the glaring beats and groove along to them in the process. "The OtherSide" features the masterful drumwork of Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson and Black Thought's raw and gritty vocal abilities bring the overall emotional impact of the album to the forefront and right in front of the listeners eyes and ears.

We head into the disc's second half with "Lighthouse", which sees Big K.R.I.T. and Dice Raw returning once again to add their distinct talents to a raw and gritty track that captures the overall emotional intensity of the album perfectly. "I Remember" is an extremely downtempo number that we don't encounter with such intensity on this album, but it provides for a more than adequate tune to lay it all out for the listener to make its own dissertation of what the song means to them. "Redford (For Yia-Yia & Pippou)" features a guest appearance from Sufjan Stevens, who adds a distinct musical presence to this instrumental track that enables the song to be kept short and sweet in order to get its point across quickly to the listener. The disc's final three songs are also instrumental tracks that close out the album much like the same way it came in, downtempo and melancholy which also best encapsulates the emotional impact of the album to the listener. The Roots have always been one of my favorite hip-hop groups because they're not afraid to cross boundaries and be able to do something that they otherwise wouldn't have done earlier on in their careers. Their music has also inspired their listeners to take charge of their own lives and to have a course of action in their everyday lives to make an impact on the world and inspire others out of darkness.

Overall, a surprising and well thought concept album from The Roots, who have dared to dream once again to create an off course album that has shown off their versatility as musicians and their willingness to try something new to better increase their visibility as one of the most creative and inspiring hip-hop groups in music today.

                                                                                                                         Album Score: 3.5/5

Track Listing:

1. Dun
2. Sleep
3. Make My (f/ Big K.R.I.T. & Dice Raw)
4. One Time (f/ Phonte & Dice Raw)
5. Kool On (f/ Greg Porn & Truck North)
6. The OtherSide (f/ Bilal & Greg Porn)
7. Stomp (f/ Greg Porn & Just Blaze)
8. Lighthouse (f/ Dice Raw)
9. I Remember
10. Tip the Scale (f/ Dice Raw)
11. Redford (For Yia-Yia & Pappou)
12. Possbility (2nd Movement)
13. Will to Power (3rd Movement)
14. Finality (4th Movement)