On Tuesday, The Roots released undun, their 13th studio album. The next day, my girlfriend purchased it for me as an early Christmas present. After some disappointment with their last two albums, I was a little nervous going into this one (especially since I wasn’t too big on the lead single). The following is my take on their latest effort after numerous play-through’s.
I’ll start by saying the core of the album is really good, I’d go as far as to say it’s the best thing they’ve done since Game Theory (if Rising Down didn’t have “75 Bars”). That being said, there are way too many sub-par features from sub-par rappers that The Roots continue to turn to time and time again (Dice Raw, Truck North and Porn).
Remember when Dice Raw was still cool back in the day? Do you know why he was cool back then? They used him sparingly… VERY sparingly. In fact, until Rising Down, he was featured on 6 songs in as many albums. Since then, he’s been on 12 songs in 3 albums and more often than not, he’s fucking singing, which brings me to my next big irk with modern day Roots.
Why the fuck is there so much singing?! The Roots have always used vocalists here and there, but again they used them sparingly. Songs like “What They Do” and “You Got” me were great because it was a break from the norm of The Roots, which, for all intents and purposes, was hip-hop. That little R&B element was always welcomed with open arms by fans of The Roots because it was always surrounded by top notch rapping that accompanied impeccable production and musicianship. However, on The Roots’ last 2 efforts (Rising Down and How I Got Over) I felt like I was listening to watered down, commercially pandering, boring R&B with a little bit of rap thrown in. [That’s not to say there weren’t high moments on both of those records, because there was, I’m talking about the records as a whole.] This record suffers the same disease, just to a much lesser extent. This may be because undun is a much shorter record than most fans of The Roots are used to.
If you cut the last 4 minutes of the record (which is 4 separate string arrangements with no vocal accompaniment) and the intro instrumental, undun clocks in at just over 30 minutes. That wouldn’t bother me so much if Black Thought had more mic time, but with all of the guests features that The Roots insist on using, his voice gets very little time to shine. Guest features themselves don’t even bother me, it’s more the guests they choose to use. The Roots are in possession of the one of the greatest MC’s of all time so why do they keep stifling his abilities to incorporate guys like Greg Porn and Truck North? In their hay-day, The Roots would call upon the greats of alternative hip-hop to make guests spots: Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Common, Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, Q-Tip, Raphael Saadiq, D’Angelo, Musiq Soulchild, etc. Even when the regular guests weren’t marquee, they had character and were equally lovable and enjoyable (Malik B, Kid Crumbs, etc.). These clowns they use now literally hurt the integrity of the group and it’s body of work.
All of that being said, undun is a solid album in comparison to the rest of The Roots’ more recent work. It seems more focused, which may be because this is The Roots’ first true concept album, so the songs flow into one another very well. The musicianship is tight for the most part and the production is very good and not nearly as boring as (lead single) “Make My” led me to think it would be. The album is very crisp, but also very smooth. Black Thought’s rapping is, as always, the true saving grace to what could’ve been a disaster. As he gets older, his voice has grown gravely but don’t let that mislead you into thinking he still isn’t one of (if not the) best voice in hip-hop.
For all of the dark holes that the guest features put in undun, there are two in particular that were exceptional. First is Phonte (Little Brother, Foreign Exchange) who has become better known for his singing as of late, but on the album’s 4th track “One Time” he opens with a verse that will remind you of why he is so beloved among underground hip-hop enthusiasts. The other spotlight stealing feature is Bilal on “The OtherSide”. This song is probably the best track on the album, sans Porn’s exceptionally annoying closing verse. The beat bites while Black Thought’s weathered growl crawls through it with precision and Bilal’s voice sores over the hook angelically.
Another stand-out track for me is “Stomp”, which gives guitarist ‘Captain’ Kirk Douglas some much need spotlight. But, once again, Porn squanders what could’ve been an incredible song by being annoying and obnoxious. “Lighthouse” seems like it could have some lasting appeal both on my iPod and commercially without seeming like it’s trying too hard (and by some miracle, Dice Raw is actually appealing on this song).
Some low points on the album come from “Make My”, “I Remember” and “Tip The Scale”, which are all plagued with boring production, sub-par rapping and too much singing.
My last critique, as I mentioned earlier, are the final 4 tracks on the album. We get a 4 minute orchestral arrangement split up among 4 seperate tracks (which will wreak havoc on my iTunes shuffle). This, to me, is pointless. I’m not against instrumentals (half of my music listening is jazz), and away from this album it might have actually been really great, but it’s not what I want to hear at the tail end of a Roots album, especially when there doesn’t seem to be any reason for it to be there in the first place.
The Roots, all highs and lows accounted for, will always be my favorite hip-hop act. They were my introduction and first love in hip-hop which has since become one of my biggest musical obsessions. There are very few artists whom I’ve listened to as consistently and for as long as I’ve listened to The Roots. Their deep catalog will always be in rotation on my iPod and I’ll never forsake them, which is why, even after the disappointment of their last 2 efforts, I have not been deterred from buying their latest record. That being said, loving an act this much and putting as much time and money into them as I have are two important factors as to why I scrutinize over the little things as much as I do.
Despite my sometimes harsh criticisms, though, I did thoroughly enjoy undun as a whole. Even the weaker tracks fit well within the context of the entire album. I hated How I Got Over and Rising Down lost it’s appeal for me within a year’s time. It’s hard to say how I’ll feel about this one in a few months, but as for right now I’d give it a solid thumbs up.
Nick.
