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+--- Thread: The Roots - Undun (/showthread.php?tid=6342)
The Roots - Undun - Music Head - 04-12-2011
online listen
other than backing Betty Wright on her new album, haven't been able to get into these guys
have tried numerous times, as I like then as the house band on Fallon
no different here
a few tracks are border line likes but nothing makes the mark
1.2
from the album - Sleep
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkaV2lkLIeE
released Dec 6th, 2011
![[Image: q97043r4nv7.jpg]](http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drq900/q970/q97043r4nv7.jpg)
from all music
Bio
Though popular success has largely eluded the Roots, the Philadelphia group showed the way for live rap, building
on Stetsasonic's "hip-hop band" philosophy of the mid-'80s by focusing on live instrumentation at their concerts
and in the studio. Though their album works have been inconsistent affairs, more intent on building grooves than
pushing songs, the Roots' live shows are among the best in the business.
The Roots' focus on live music began back in 1987 when rapper Black Thought (Tariq Trotter) and drummer ?uestlove
(Ahmir Khalib Thompson) became friends at the Philadelphia High School for Creative Performing Arts. Playing around
school, on the sidewalk, and later at talent shows (with ?uestlove's drum kit backing Black Thought's rhymes), the
pair began to earn money and hooked up with bassist Hub (Leon Hubbard) and rapper Malik B. Moving from the street
to local clubs, the Roots became a highly tipped underground act around Philadelphia and New York. When they were
invited to represent stateside hip-hop at a concert in Germany, the Roots recorded an album to sell at shows; the
result, Organix, was released in 1993 on Remedy Records. With a music industry buzz surrounding their activities,
the Roots entertained offers from several labels before signing with DGC that same year.
The Roots' first major-label album, Do You Want More?!!!??!, was released in January 1995; forsaking usual hip-hop
protocol, the album was produced without any samples or previously recorded material. It peaked just outside the
Top 100, but was mostly ignored by fans of hip-hop. Instead, Do You Want More?!!!??! made more tracks in
alternative circles, partly due to the Roots playing the second stage at Lollapalooza that summer. The band also
journeyed to the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. Two of the guests on the album who had toured around with
the band, human beatbox Rahzel the Godfather of Noyze -- previously a performer with Grandmaster Flash and LL Cool
J -- and Scott Storch (later Kamal), became permanent members of the group.
Early in 1996, the Roots released Clones, the trailer single for their second album. It hit the rap Top Five, and
created a good buzz for the album. The following September, Illadelph Halflife appeared and made number 21 on the
album charts. Much like its predecessor, though, the Roots' second LP was a difficult listen. It made several very
small concessions to mainstream rap -- the bandmembers sampled material that they had recorded earlier at jam
sessions -- but failed to make a hit of their unique sound. The Roots' third album, 1999's Things Fall Apart, was
easily their biggest critical and commercial success; The Roots Come Alive followed later that year.
The long-awaited Phrenology was released in late November 2002 amid rumors of the Roots losing interest in their
label arrangements with MCA. In 2004, the band remedied the situation by creating the Okayplayer company. Named
after their website, Okayplayer included a record label and a production/promotion company. The same year, the band
held a series of jam sessions to give their next album a looser feel. The results were edited down to ten tracks
and released as The Tipping Point in July of 2004. A 2004 concert from Manhattan's Webster Hall with special guests
like Mobb Deep, Young Gunz, and Jean Grae was released in early 2005 as The Roots Present in both CD and DVD
formats. Two volumes of the rarities-collecting Home Grown! The Beginner's Guide to Understanding the Roots
appeared at the end of the year.
A subsequent deal with Def Jam fostered a series of riveting, often grim sets, beginning with Game Theory (August
2006) and Rising Down (April 2008). In 2009, the group expanded its reach as the exceptionally versatile house band
on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. The new gig didn't slow their recording schedule; in 2010 alone, they released the
sharp How I Got Over (June), as well as Wake Up! (September), where they backed John Legend on covers of socially
relevant soul classics like Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes' "Wake Up Everybody" and Donny Hathaway's "Little Ghetto
Boy." The next year, as they remained with Fallon, the Roots worked with Miami soul legend Betty Wright on
November's Betty Wright: The Movie, and followed it weeks later with their 13th studio album, Undun.
Album Review
The Roots' umpteenth album is titled after a Guess Who song mutilated by countless lounge bands since 1969. It
incorporates a Sufjan Stevens recording, mixtape-style, for the purpose of starting a four-part instrumental suite
that closes a program lasting only 40 minutes. Based on those details, it would not be irrational to think that the
band’s well of inspiration might be dry or tainted. While the well might be slightly tainted, it is full. Undun is
based on the life of Redford Stephens, a fictional product of inner-city New York who was born in the mid-‘70s and
tragically passed in 1999, the point at which the album begins -- with a quiet EKG flatline. Appearances from MCs
Big K.R.I.T., Dice Raw, Phonte, Greg Porn, and Truck North, as well as contributions by singers Aaron Earl
Livingston and Bilal, flank principal voice Black Thought, yet this is no hip-hop opera or anything close to a
typical concept album. The existential rhymes, seemingly created with a shared vision, avoid outlining specific
events and focus on ruminations that are grave and penetrating, as if each vocalist saw elements of himself and
those he has known in Redford. What’s more, Undun probably shatters the record for fewest proper nouns on a rap
album, with the likes of Hammurabi, Santa Muerte, and Walter Cronkite mentioned rather than the names of those who
are physically involved in Stephens’ life. (The album’s app, filled with video clips and interviews with Stephens’
aunt, teachers, and peers, provides much more typical biographical information.) Musically, Undun flows easier and
slower than any other Roots album. The backdrops ramp up with slight gradations, from soft collisions of percussion
and keys (“Sleep”
, to balmy gospel-soul (“Make My”, to Sunday boom-bap (“One Time”. There's a slight drop into sinewy funk (“Kool On”
that leads into a sustained stretch of stern, hunched-shoulder productions, highlighted by the crisply roiling “Lighthouse,” that match the cold realism of the lyrics. The strings in the slightly wistful “I
Remember” and completely grim “Tip the Scale” are a setup for the Redford suite, which is nothing like padding. It
glides through the movements, involving mournful strings, a violent duel between drummer ?uestlove and guest
pianist D.D. Jackson, and a lone death note that fades 37 seconds prior to silence.
Track Listing
1 Dun
2 Sleep
3 Make My
4 One Time
5 Kool On
6 The Other Side
7 Stomp
8 Lighthouse
9 I Remember
10 Tip the Scale
11 Redford Suite: Redford (For Yia-Yia & Pappou)
12 Redford Suite: Possibility (2nd Movement)
13 Redford Suite: Will To Power(3rd Movement)
14 Redford Suite: Finality (4thMovement)
The Roots - Undun - CRAZY-HORSE - 04-12-2011
1.2 eh??!!!...thats a big difference to allmusic's 4.5/5 (2.7) rating???...i know who i would believe and it aint allmusic!
The Roots - Undun - Music Head - 04-12-2011
CRAZY-HORSE Wrote:1.2 eh??!!!...thats a big difference to allmusic's 4.5/5 (2.7) rating???...i know who i would believe and it aint allmusic!Didn't even see what allmusic gave it.
Maybe I should start including that in my reviews of the online listens.
What's your formula to convert theirs to ours?
I do recognize that in most cases mine will be nowhere close to theirs.
I guess any of these sites have a reviewer for different genres that is partial to that genre.
Although rap is certainly not my most favorite, it is not my least either.
I rarely come out greater than a 2.0 on a one time listen.
Especially on one that is not alt or country.
All I'm trying to say is yes my 1.2 is very low, but I'm sure one who is a fan of either rap or The Roots, will like this much better than me.
My apologies rap or Roots lovers.
Peace!
The Roots - Undun - CRAZY-HORSE - 04-12-2011
Music Head Wrote:Didn't even see what allmusic gave it.
Maybe I should start including that in my reviews of the online listens.
What's your formula to convert theirs to ours?
to adjust their scores to ours/yours you need to double their score to make it a score out of 10, then divide that number by 3.33
3/5 = 6/10 divided by 3.33 = 1.8
3.5/5= 7/10 div by 3.33 = 2.1
it seems to work out that each half star allmusic give equates to 0.3 here, so i guess an easier way is just to double the stars to score out of 10, then times that number by 3 and add decimal point??!!
The Roots - Undun - Music Head - 05-12-2011
I'll get right on it
![[Image: cartoon+math.jpg]](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Q4VFpCCBXYY/S9YhppYiZzI/AAAAAAAAAEw/O5uTycpOt0E/s1600/cartoon+math.jpg)