The Witzard

Let's face it, "orchestral" and "concept album" are basically taboo words in The World of Hip-Hop ; Terms which are not generally met with the most positive fanfare. Though, there are of course exceptions for every rule: Kendrick Lamar 's incredible 2011 mixtape street album, #Section80 - A fictionalized account of this generation's all too real prescription drug dependency and alarmingly high tolerance... and The Roots' just-released [Dec. 6] landmark 13th commercial effort, undun . Over the course of it's 14 tracks, ?uestlove & The Roots Crew effectively flesh out the life story of one Redford Stephens , undun 's titular character. Stephens' primary traits were grafted from a number of real life inspirational sources including The Guess Who , Sufjan Stevens' "Redford" character (Michigan) , Black Thought 's own friends-family, and a few small-time Philly drug dealers. Frequent Roots collaborators Dice Raw,...

While the majority of their peers are busy rapping about bitches, drugs, and money ... The Roots spend the bulk of their time producing Conscious Hip-Hop , concerning the trials and tribulations of life. I've personally been an avid Roots aficionado since first hearing "Don't Say Nuthin'" and it's accompanying album, The Tipping Point (2004). But many fans may be most familiar with the Philly 8-piece because of their 2003 commercial break-out single, "The Seed (2.0);" De facto re-envisioning of Cody ChesnuTT 's own Funky original composition. The band really is so much more than "Hip-Hop," a group made up of true musicians, actively led by drummer ?uestlove since 1987. Between albums #9-10 [counting "The Roots Come Alive" ] The Roots Crew became the official in-house band for Late Night with Jimmy Fallon , fully on board for it's 2009 debut. For what it's worth, How I Got Over was hands down my favourite alb...