Undun

The Roots – melodious hip-hop

The band The Roots was formed in late eighties of the previous century and its musicians have been pleasing their fans with new hits ever since. The Roots have a well-deserve right to be considered as pioneers of hip-hop, however at the same time they had never limited themselves by boarders of that genre. That is why there is such a big number of people among the band’s fan base, whose musical preferences may be barely alike. The main point is that The Roots are well known for their excellent experiments with shades of sound and with the conception of the creativity in general. Actually, their initial hip-hop was blended with elements of all kinds of musical directions, and later these bright integrations proved to be The Roots’ signature style. Moreover, the band is not used to wasting time: the performers from Philadelphia release the fresh records regularly, which means that the group’s discography includes a decent number of albums. Thereby, the American artists’ newest creation entitled Undun became the eleventh in their record of musical service. Well, Undun is especially interesting due to the fact that it is The Roots’ very first concept long play. Listeners will get the fascinating story of a person named Redford Stephens, and there is no a single doubt that The Roots will narrate it in a truly interesting way.

The new story: Undun

Back in 2006 the musicians released a very thoughtful long play called Game Theory, where they discussed some serious themes and problems. Some kind of continuation to that album was issued two years later and it was titled Rising Down. That one proved to be gloomy as well. So, what shall we expect from Undun? In general that studio attempt perfectly fits its black and white cover, because minor tunes totally dominate on this album. The opening act of that long play is a track Dun, which actually plays its role of an atmospheric introduction just fine. Dun is followed by a slow and quite obscure composition Sleep. Delicate arrangements and powerful, juicy bass – hip-hop, as usually, prevails in The Roots’ creativity. Meanwhile, the track Make My got absolutely different mood and attitude, so that positive act will please listeners with its melodiousness and instrumental parts. However, The Roots have always paid a special attention not only to the lyrics, which definitely plays extra important role in any hip-hop number, but also to the musical component. One Time became another example of amazing harmony of accurate and delicate melodies with tough beat and serious texts. Opposites attract, indeed. There was enough space on Undun for beautiful female vocals - I Remember is one of the elements of black and white puzzle from The Roots. All in all, the musicians created an incredibly atmospheric and solid album. They succeeded, as they always do.

Alternative hip-hop from The Roots

In spite of the fact that this band from Philadelphia is considered to be one of the first ones to discover and develop hip-hop, The Roots is much more than that. These are amazing musicians, whose curiosity and intuition could not let them just being static, while mastering skills in some certain sphere. Thereby The Roots got off to endless lanes and alleys of musical genres, and luckily that road never led them to dead ends. With time the band’s compositions were changing, some new features kept on appearing, and step by step the performers managed to find something that later became their signature style. This is hip-hop, but quite a distinctive one. There is a tough beat, but it comes along with beautiful melodies. In case of Undun, listeners got not just interesting texts, but texts, which are united by a general idea, and that is certainly fascinating: concept albums are rare to be released, while for The Roots this is a debut long play, created in that key. Well, the musicians have enough experience, so they completely satisfied their listeners’ expectations. Undun became another hit work from masters of alternative hip-hop.