Okay so I finished school a few weeks ago and lately have found myself completely lost with what to do with my time. Then amongst my daily routine of wasting hours on the computer I rediscovered this blog, my blog, that I haven't used in a solid year or so. Seeing as it should be a good way to kill some time I'm going to try and start blogging again, hopefully someone somewhere will read it.
Okay so, the first thing on my mind is the new The Roots album 'Undun'. For those who don't know The Roots, it is a rap group made up of about 8 members, but only two that are worth mentioning. There is Black Thought, who is the main rapper, and ?uestlove, which is for some reason pronounced Questlove, who plays the drums. The Roots have been making music since the 90s and still maintain an extremely high quality of music enjoyed by rap fanatics and haters alike. I thoroughly enjoyed their 2010 album 'How I Got Over' and was excited when I heard of their new album. 'Undun' is a concept album, it follows the life of a semi-fictional character who goes by the name of Redford Stephens. In his story he is forced to decide between making something of himself or living a fast and dangerous life. All of this is in an urban or hood environment.
Track #1: Dun
The album begins with a track simply titled Dun. The song is only a little over a minute long and has no lyrics. It begins with a high pitch noise, which is followed by some ambient sounds and a soft building keyboard line.
Track #2: Sleep
This is the first real song of the album, and although it is only 2 minutes long, it is still a great way to begin the album. The song begins with the well sung chorus that captures the eerie individual mood that only The Roots can create. Black Thought only raps one verse, but he doesn't disappoint and gives some good lyricism mixed with some good flow. The lyrics of the chorus give the perfect impression of this song, with the lyrics being "I've lost a lot of sleep to dreams"
Track #3: Make My
Make My was the first leak off this album, and was the first reason why I was so excited for this album. It's a lot less eerie than the first two tracks and it really has a more feel-good mood to it. This song also features Big K.R.I.T and Dice Raw. I had never heard of Dice Raw before this song, and I can only assume that he sings the chorus as there are only two verses, one done by Big K.R.I.T and the other done by Black Thought. Big K.R.I.T does an exceedingly impressive task of maintaining with the high standard set by Black Thought, and Black Thought per usual delivers an excellent verse.
Track #4: One Time
This would definitely have to be one of my favourite songs off the album. It has a simple but efficient piano riff that is accompanied by a basic drum. The chorus is distorted and makes it a relaxing song and makes the song less serious and more happy. Black Thought again dominates his two verses, with the topic of the song being about how he is never lucky, and if he was lucky it was only one time. This song features Dice Raw again, who I really enjoy on the chorus, and also features a rapper named Phonte, who isn't bad, but compared to Black Thoughts two great verses just doesn't cut it for me.
Track #5: Kool On
This would be the first song on the album that doesn't have the relaxed mood adapted by its predecessors, and perhaps that is the reason why I find it one of the weaker tracks on the album. I do enjoy the song, but I just enjoy some of the other songs far more, even so to the extent that I am willing to skip this track from time to time to reach the other tracks quicker. It features another few rappers who don't stand out as good or bad and just carry the song along smoothly enough. Black Thought does well again, but he has an extremely short verse. Overall is still a fairly nice song.
Track #6: The OtherSide
Another amazing track. It has a really cool piano riff and some suitable drums that seem to work perfectly with the song. Black Thought really comes hard on this track with a lot of emotion in his voice when he raps about the darker sides of the hood. Regardless of the black content of the lyrics this song somehow has a really uplifting and inspirational feel to it, especially so with an organ accompanying the powerful chorus. The lyrics of the chorus also explain the mood of the song extremely well "We're all on a journey, down the hall of memories, don't worry bout what you ain't got, leave with a little bit of dignity"
Track #7: Stomp
I really enjoy this song as it is produced by Just Blaze and has more of a hard feel to it. It has another nice piano riff, but unlike all the other songs on this album it has a guitar riff, and a very hard drum riff. On this song it seems as if Black Thought couldn't fully get into the groove and because of this his verse sounds slightly awkward. He only does one verse and the second verse is done by a decent rapper named Greg Porn, who matches the beat better but doesn't have the same powerful lyrical content and Black Thought. This is another short song, clocking the total time at just under 2 and a half minutes.
Track #8: Lighthouse
Lighthouse has Greg Porn on the chorus again, which I believe works extremely well. The song is about living the dangerous life, using the ocean and a lighthouse in the metaphor. The ocean is meant to be life, in which you can dive in the deep end and live a dangerous life or lead an ordinary safer life. The chorus goes on to say that there's no one in the lighthouse, and that no one cares if you drown face down in the ocean. This is saying that in life it may feel like there's people looking out for you, but really you need to look out for yourself and no one cares if you live or die. I thoroughly enjoy this song as it doesn't really have a sad or happy mood to it and doesn't go too long but still doesn't feel you left underwhelmed.
Track #9: I Remember
For me this song has a sad mood to it. It begins with some relaxing music, and continues to be relaxing when the piano stops and the slow drums kick in. The song is about remembering times, good and bad, from the past, and how the past has such a strong effect on the present. The song more focuses on the bad times, and how we remember those the strongest. But still there are little things that never leave us, in this song he raps about how vividly he remembers the track that his train took and the music he used to listen to while riding it. The only problem with this song is that it feels a bit short even though it's a good 3 minutes long. Also a very strong track and one of my favourites off the album.
Track #10: Tip the Scale
This was another leak from the album, and I enjoyed this more than Make My as it has more of a eerie feeling to it. This song is about suicide and saying that he is contemplating suicide on the flip of a coin. The song also says how some people live well, some people live in hell, but at the end of the day we're all just trying to get by on a personal level. The chorus says this with the lyrics "I live life tryin' ta' tip the scales, my way". It has a sad sort of feel to it as it has fairly dark lyrics. The chorus is fairly repetitive and catchy and although it is long for a chorus and plays several times it doesn't feel overused. Another great song and the last song with lyrics on the album.
Track #11: Redford
The rest of the tracks from here to the end of the album are instrumental tracks. This song is only piano, it's fairly simple but soothing and calm. It goes for almost 2 minutes and feels like it goes for the perfect amount of time.
Track #12: Possibility
Possibility is another piano track, more upbeat with a more uplifting feel to it. It also incorporates some soothing violin to make the song both relaxing and uplifting. This song matches the mood of the album perfectly and is an enjoyable way to follow on from the previous song. It is a bit short and I feel as if it could've been extended longer as it is under a minute long. But still a nice addition to the album.
Track #13: Will to Power
This song is extremely intense and insane full of mad drumming and fast piano. It goes for just over a minute and is just an explosion of music. It's a nice change from the mellow pace of the previous songs, but also seems fairly out of place on a rap album.
Track #14: Finality
Finality is the final track of the album. Majority of the song consists of light powerful violin, but the final note is that of a dark heavy piano chord. The song is about a minute and a half long and is a fine way to end the album. I still think that the album would've benefited from another couple of songs, but even at the tender 40 minutes that the album is it is extremely enjoyable and easily lives up to my high expectations of The Roots.
Overall this album is both excellent to relax to and excellent to listen to with great intensity, as it combines a strong story laced with metaphors and symbolism over relaxing beats with calm soothing choruses. I'd give this album a 8.5/10. It would've scored higher if it had a few more songs with lyrics and were a bit longer, also sometimes i felt like Black Thought didn't do enough verses on a couple of songs, but all in all, a great quality album that I would recommend to anyone and everyone.
