Inspiration : How Bad Do You Want It? (Success)

Album Review: Undun by The Roots (December 2011 release)

After receiving mass appeal throughout 2011 as the house band of the Jimmy Fallon Show, the Roots released the Grammy nominated LP, How I Got Over; a Hip-Hop musical masterpiece. After producing a body of work at the finest level of the art, the group seemed poised to deliver another album that had the potential to push the Roots among the names of Outkast and A Tribe Called Quest.

The Philadelphia-based Hip-Hop Jazz group has made a name for themselves by being one of the few “bands” in Hip-Hop history and easily the only Hip-Hop band obtaining any worldwide success and distribution. The sounds of true instruments and real vocalist on original choruses (instead of sampled records) have become the hallmark of the group’s success and uniqueness. The lead emcee, Black Thought, seems to improve with age, becoming easily one of the most underrated emcees of all-time. With so many positive features, it’s difficult for the album titled, Undun to miss the mark for musical ingenuity.

The intro begins and ends without a clear motive, but slides into the first song rather smoothly. The album begins with the song Sleepwhere just the mere sound of Black Thought over a ?uestlove produced track picks up your day. However, the drums don’t come in until the song titled Make Mywhere Black Thought Explains:

Whatever, see it’s really just a matter of semantics

When everybody’s fresh out of collateral to damage

And, my plan got me praying like a mantis

I begin to vanish, feel the pull of a blank canvas

I’m contemplating that a special dedication

To whomever it concerns, my letter of resignation

Fadin’ back the black, my dark coronation

The heat of the day, the long robe in word take

That soul in the atmosphere like air play

If there is heaven I can’t find the stair way

After a very slow start, the album picks up with some soulful, jazzy tunes in Kool On, The Other Side, and Lighthouse where Black Thought draws the disappear comparison of having loss in your life to being out in the ocean:

After the love is lost, friendship dissolve

And even blood is lost

Way that it began, the way we did each other wrong

Troubled water neither one of us could swim across

I stopped holding my breath, now am I better off?

Yeah, without a trace and you in my head in all

The hunted motion of a rebel without a pause

What in do is done, to you in dead in gone

The Grim Reaper telling me to swim deeper

Where the people go to low and behold, the soul keeper

I’m not even breaking out in a sweat, a cold fever

But I’m never paying up on my debt or tolls either

I leave the memories here, I won’t need ‘em

If I stop thinking the lie, now that’s freedom

None of the album’s features were really commendable; not even the fallen Phonte of The Foreign Exchange (and now defunct Little Brother) made a noteworthy appearance. The album ends with a fury of hardcore Hip-Hop jazzy instrumentals that probably weren’t appeasing to none one but the most abstract jazz fans.

You never really capture the “Undun” theme throughout the entire album unless the Roots were telling us they are “dun” themselves. If that’s the case, you would have hoped to have been left with something a lot better.

Album Ratings -

Lyrics: 15 of 20

Production: 17 of 20

Creativity: 14 of 20

Theme: 8 of 20

Consistency: 10 of 20

Rating Scale -

Trash:

Weak: 50-59

***Average: 60-69

Solid: 70-79

Premium: 80-89

Elite: 90-97

Masterpiece: 90-100 (and at least three 20 of 20 rating)

Only the most avid fans of the Roots would enjoy this album fully. Although it had some high points, this is only average work from an above average group.

--Deandre P

Be Legendary

“I sit (back) everyday and ask what can I do to make a difference…”- Kanye West via Twitter

Sadly (or maybe not so sadly), all of our days are numbered…the majority of us have no idea how long we’ll be here, and that’s a lot to take in. The fact that something is out of our hands, that something so big is largely decided by factors out of our control, is a scary prospect.

We have to control the things we can control in life. Our existence is finite, fine; what are we going to do with the time we have? Are we merely going to exist, simply going through the motions of life until our time comes? That’s the prospect that really makes me fearful.

You can’t convince me that people are here to just exist; we are here to make sure we leave this world in a better state than we got here. Everyone’s contributions won’t be the same, granted, but nobody’s contributions can be discounted. It’s not a competition; it’s working to find out how we can fight through the comfort of complacency to be individuals that all make a difference.

We can all be legendary. True legends make the world better. They are remembered for their contributions because they outlive them. Since our days are numbered, let’s make sure our good works are not.

Cheers,

JIP

The Lost Art of Individuality

First off, let me start by saying happy 2012 to everyone. It’s truly a blessing to be here, because Lord knows we could easily not have been granted this opportunity to keep on living and getting better.

That being said, I want to focus on something that I feel is lacking in this world, but hopefully we can start a turnaround this year: individuality. Too often we do things because we’re told that we should be, rather than going with our instincts or what we believe in. Whether it’s tv, blogs, magazines, it seems to me that a lot of our actions are indirectly being dictated by someone or something other than ourselves.

And it completely makes sense. According to the A.C. Nielsen Co., the average American watches more than 4 hours of TV each day. On top of that, as of 2009, the average American spent 13 hours a week on the internet. While there’s nothing wrong with tv or internet (especially during football /basketball seasons) does it not make sense that by spending that kind of time watching and reading about the lives of others that we fail to fully develop ourselves?

But what is it that REALLY keeps us from reaching our full potential? Is it fear? Fear of being individuals? Fear of failure? It’s easy for me to hop on ESPN and read who the top draft picks are, but is that really benefitting me at all? Or am I just putting off doing something on that never-ending checklist that we all have? I can talk about sports all day, but what about the things that have been on my agenda for a year now?

I’ll tell you this: if we always take the safest route, we’re likely to end up regretting our decisions, or lack thereof, along the way. And granted, we might not do too bad, but there’s always that feeling that we could have done more. On the other hand, if we take more chances, I believe we can live with the results, however varied they may be.

As individuals, we all will experience some degree of failure; that’s a given. But if we’re trying, if we’re really trying to do something that’s more than what we are currently doing, we should applaud each other for our efforts.

I don’t necessarily believe in resolutions, but I ask that we all focus on finding our individuality. If we really work on that this year, I don’t think there’s any way we can look back on 2012 with any regrets.

Cheers to you,

JIP

God Bless the Dreamers

Incomplete dreams lie waiting for an ending; waiting for someone to believe in their truth, because the realities of life don't favor the dreamers.

Dreams become fairytales and fade into obscurity, leaving their former residents lost in the sea of a monotony,

Happy thoughts now restricted to the late Sunday nights for the man who dreads what Monday morning will bring. Please, anything but Monday morning...

In actuality, the realities that once existed provided the dreams that are now desired,

No matter how light-hearted they were, they were nonetheless fulfilling; if only we could rewind life to return to the times we enjoyed the most.

Instead, we place our faith in the belief that life runs full circle and not only will our dreams of old return, but they will be accompanied by new ones.

Until this time, we dream...and God blesses the dreamers.