1. "Dun" gets added up with every other Roots opener that is an unnecessary short intro track. Other examples include Phrenology's "Phrentow," and Game Theory's Dilltastic Vol Won(derful)."
2. While things aren't off to a great start already, "Sleep" doesn't help undun much. Its only purpose is to set the mood of the album, a concept album at that, with the more thoughtful lyrics, "There I go from a man to a memory / Damn, I wonder if my fam will remember me." The track itself feels as short as "Dun" did, bookended by singing.
3. First single, "Make My" is a definite standout on the album, both the first "actual" song on the album, with a good chorus (which "Sleep" lacked), but unfortunately, it also reveals the problem with undun: it sounds like every other 00's Roots album (barring alternative hip-hop Phrenology). Looking at the tracklists, the Roots enlist Dice Raw to do chorus work too much. While "Walk Alone" from How I Got Over was refreshing, Dice Raw seems to be quite limited in singing vocabulary, and thus, the choruses where he is featured sound by and large the same. Compare, for example, "Lighthouse"'s chorus to "Walk Alone."
4. Meanwhile, the album has a couple of weaker numbers. I'm not a huge fan of "One Time," because it hinders the momentum that "Dun," "Sleep" and "Make My" have been building to, and "Stomp," with its stomping beat, does nothing for me.
5. Going back to point 3, I'm not exactly with how undun sounds like a continuation of a developed sound, a How I Got Over part 2, if you will. What I mean is that the Roots seem to content with being the Roots, and it's understandable: a tour de force of hip-hop since the 90's, but with the same guest spots, ie. Porn and Dice Raw. Thus, I'm not surprised that my favorite part of the album comes with the final four tracks, where hip-hop is pushed aside for modern classical movements, aided by Sufjan Stevens, whose own concept albums helped influenced the Roots here.
Lowlights: Dun, Stomp
Highlights: Make My, Lighthouse, Redford Suite (1st Movement)
TypeAlbum
Genres
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