The Roots: Are Undun

The Philly based hip-hop band The Roots have long been a favorite of true hip hop heads who desire substance, integrity and art in their music. The organic musicology of The Roots band is legendary - starting with front man and MC Black Thought, who doesn't rhyme for the sake of riddlin; and with the peerless hip hop drummer ?uestlove,  The Roots have a devoted and eclectic following that is rarely disappointed.

Thirteen albums deep into the game, The Roots, on the track Undun have taken their art form to a new genre and level - visual artistry (not to say their video archive is not artistic). Just check out the raw force, stark truth and power of this video/short film.  

I must add, The Roots being called a Hip Hop band is both a honor and misnomer. The doorway is hip hop (and they represent like no other), but the house is full of jazz, rock, R&B, funk, blues and spoken word.

And as as ?uestlove says: 

“Undun is the story of this kid who becomes criminal, but he wasn’t born criminal. He’s not the nouveau exotic primitive bug-eyed gunrunner like Tupac’s character Bishop in Juice… he’s actually thoughtful and is neither victim nor hero. Just some kid who begins to order his world in a way that makes the most sense to him at a given moment… At the end of the day… isn’t that what we all do?”