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The Roots: Music Analysis Of Undun

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This album Undun is the tenth studio album band The Roots. This is their first concept album. Each track on this album is about life problems and tells the story of a man with struggles. The Jazzy production, mixed with the lyricism are good examples of the hip-hop group’s ability to innovate and have an unique sound in hip-hop/rap. The album is under 40 minutes long, and it can pass by fast. But not a song or verse wasted as the lyrics and production were superb. The quality of the production was amazing. Questlove is the man behind the production and drumming of the songs. The man rapping in this group is named Black Thought. The band is backed up with keyboardists, brass instruments, and bass. The work and creativity put into this album …show more content…

As the song progresses, more instruments join in, rather than the couple of instruments that started at the beginning. Being one minute and 17 seconds long, it seems that they purposely ended the song abruptly, leaving no sound of cadence. Giving that this is the introduction of the album, which about the struggles in life of a man, I realized that the constant eerie instrument that was playing was supposed to be the sound of the heart monitor at the hospital. The abrupt ending after going into a crescendo symbolized his sudden …show more content…

Ironically, the lyrics actually portray the character of the album contemplating suicide, which stumbled me to make me rethink of the vibe the song is trying to let out. This song is played at a steady tempo, then a little over half way through the song, the tempo switches up slightly into a faster pace into all instrumental with the accompaniment of a bass guitar and synthesizer, helping to create a wonderful sounding melody. In the instrumental interlude, the drumming helps create reflection through its constant tempo. In most of the songs, the bawling sound of the vocalist in the sample helps create a painting through the changing of his vocals. The songs start off with a low sound and gets very loud, doing a crescendo and then dying down at the end. The last three songs of the album are all instrumental, each song being around a minute long. The last song “Finality” reminds us that the character of this album is dead. The notable sounds of song were the piano and the string quartet playing. The sounds of nostalgia were present in this homophonic

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