The Roots || Undun

The Roots
Undun
Label: Def Jam Records
Released on: December 6th, 2011
Grade: 4 out of 5 Meatballs
Reviewed by: Rebecca “Bonks” Rothschild

For a group with a timeline of brilliant work filled with soul and meaning, I made sure to create an atmosphere for myself before listening to this album. For me that meant no excess noises and very dim lighting; luckily my Christmas tree provides the perfect amount of light. So, now that I had set up my middle school make-out party scene I was ready for The Roots' latest album Undun. 

At first listen, I had a serious “blech” moment. There was an opening track of just sounds. I had no reaction to these noises, no color or character came out of them, so I was more so just bored. Then we moved into “Sleep” which managed to severely underwhelm me. By now I’m nervous, I’m praying I didn’t just set this lighting concept up for an epic, sad face half hour. 

I welcomed “Make My” with open arms. I was home, I knew them again. And from this track onward, we were in business. Greg Porn and Dice Raw turned out to be excellent compliments to some of my favorite tracks including “One Time” and “Stomp.” The tracks are strung together with one beat bleeding into another like butter. Roots lyrics always have a certain level of shock value, and Undun is no exception. I don’t wanna spoil for the UR readers, you’ll know when you hear it. There was a lot of exquisite sampling and instrument expansion done here towards the end; some may not be so excited, but I found it refreshing and a very healthy means to put a twist on a hip hop album. 

This has got to be my favorite album release of the winter. This is definitely a meatball-worthy album, four to be exact. Five for being a solid showcase of work, minus one for scaring the hell out of me with those two opening tracks. Don’t let those little buggers scare you off, proportionally speaking Undun has some serious weight to it.