As most of you know, on December 6, 2011, The Roots released their eleventh studio album entitled undun. It’s the group’s first concept album, centered around the fictional character Redford, which comes from the Sufjan Stevens song of the same name. The eleventh track and source of inspiration for the protagonist is entitled “Redford,” a re-recorded track by Stevens, which starts the ending of the album off right as the first of four instrumental movements in the closing sequence.

A short film was released simultaneously with the album, but as I caught it a little late I’m asking everyone to give it a second look to see if it really captures the essence of the album. According to an interview with Questlove their goal in presenting Redford Stephens was “To tell the story in a reverse-linear mode, so the album pretty much starts with [his] death…We thought it was important to show that when you choose this path, it’s a dead end.” Thus I have become faced with a paradox. When listening to the album all the way through, the way in which they tell the story of Redford musically and figuratively impresses the hell out of me. Yet, after seeing the short film, which is both visually stunning and emotionally moving, I feel like the two don’t match up. The film is shot in a linear fashion and to me it seems to follow the path of someone who has already acknowledged and even accepted the violent lot in life that he’s been dealt, whether or not you believe he had a choice in the matter. In addition to the fact that the temporal directions of the film and the album contradict one another, the years given in the film only span from ’90-’99, which is very limiting to the story they are trying to tell. I find this problematic because if you guess that this guy’s story follows him from his late teens into his twenties, you’re not really seeing the ‘root’ (pun intended) of the problem or given any sort of idea that this lifestyle is extremely common and cyclical in nature. However, I credit their manipulation of the camera so that we don’t see the face of the protagonist in the video because I think that lends itself to the idea that this guy could be anybody, or even that he is representative of all of the people who have fallen victim to that lifestyle. I love that The Roots wanted to showcase how an everyday guy tries to survive in the societal conditions of poverty, drugs and violence.

At the end of the day you can take whatever you want away from the film’s moving imagery, powerful quotes, or the obviously amazing soundtrack. And if for some reason you have yet to check out Undun, make sure that you do. Aside from everything else I’ve mentioned, it reveals their ability to collaborate with other artists through the inclusion of songs featuring the likes of Big K.R.I.T., Phonte, Bilal (of the Soulquarians), and former Roots member, Dice Raw. An album like this is why The Roots are one of the major game changers who are constantly redefining the hip-hop and neo-soul genres.