Undun

At the time of recording, the Roots comprised lead rapper Black Thought, drummer and producer Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson, keyboardists Kamal Gray and James Poyser, percussionist F. Knuckles, guitarist Captain Kirk Douglas, sousaphonist Damon Bryson (Tuba Gooding Jr.), and bassist Mark Kelley.{{cite press release|url=http://highlineballroom.com/bio.php?id=2192 |title=The Roots Present: an undun performance... |publisher=Jill Newman Productions |date=November 2011 |access-date=2011-12-03 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20111203080150/http://highlineballroom.com/bio.php?id=2192 |archive-date=2011-12-03 |url-status=dead }} The band also worked with other rappers for the album, including Big K.R.I.T., Dice Raw, Phonte, and Truck North, as well as vocalists such as Aaron Livingston and Bilal.{{cite web|last=Kellman|first=Andy|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/undun-mw0002244075|title=Undun – The Roots|publisher=AllMusic. Rovi Corporation|access-date=December 3, 2011}}

Questlove said that the band benefited from the security and practice time provided by their job as the house band on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. Working for NBC, the band is expected to write "short, concise songs, even if they don't get used on air. We have to create three to seven songs every day." Many of these short pieces were used for Undun. Questlove said the new practice space refocused the band's songwriting style, which was previously dependent on jamming during soundchecks on tour. Questlove said the financial stability of the new job also allowed the Roots to be more musically adventurous: "we could finally follow all those crazy ideas that we've had without fear of being dropped by our label... Now we have a safety net. Our Def Jam life is now an evening job. We now have the comfort and confidence to start making the albums we want to make. That's why undun feels like our second album. There's no pressure."{{cite web|last=Goodman|first=William|url=https://www.spin.com/2011/11/uestlove-explains-how-spin-and-sufjan-inspired-roots-undun/|title=?uestlove Explains How SPIN and Sufjan Inspired the Roots' 'undun'|magazine=Spin|date=November 1, 2011|access-date=2013-04-28}}

The album was recorded and mixed primarily at Downtown Music Studios in New York City and the Philadelphia recording locations A House Called Quest, daCrib, and The Boom Room.{{cite AV media notes|title=Undun|others=The Roots|year=2011|type=CD liner|publisher=Def Jam Recordings|id=B0016282-02|location=New York City}} The track "Will to Power (3rd Movement)" was recorded and mixed at MSR Studios in New York City. Undun was mastered at The Mastering Palace in New York City.

Undun is an existential concept album about the fictional character Redford Stevens,{{cite web|last=Fox|first=Killian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/dec/04/the-roots-undun-album-review|title=The Roots: Undun – review|work=The Observer|publisher=Guardian News and Media Limited|date=December 6, 2011|access-date=2011-12-04}} who is named after a Sufjan Stevens song.{{cite web|last=Boles|first=Benjamin|url=http://www.nowtoronto.com/music/discs.cfm?content=184134|title=The Roots - Undun|work=NOW|publisher=NOW Communications|date=December 1, 2011|access-date=2011-12-03}} Its reverse-chronological narrative discusses his short, tragic life set in urban poverty.{{cite web|last=Moore|first=Marcus J.|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/5n9p|title=Review of The Roots - undun|publisher=BBC Music. BBC|date=December 1, 2011|access-date=2011-12-03}} Expanding on the indie influence of the band's How I Got Over (2010),{{cite web|last=Karlsson|first=Jens|url=http://www.sonicmagazine.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&Itemid=85&id=4097|title=The Roots: Undun|work=Sonic|publisher=Sampler Media|language=sv|date=November 29, 2011|access-date=2011-12-03}} the album's music is characterized by snare-driven beats, neo soul elements,{{cite web|author=Deviant|url=https://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/46950/The-Roots-undun/|title=The Roots - undun (staff review)|publisher=Sputnikmusic|date=December 9, 2011|access-date=2011-12-13}} keyboard soundscapes, strings, choral arrangements, and tight dynamics.{{cite web|last=Capobianco|first=Ken|url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/2011/12/06/the-roots-undun/QrvTTW8QQY6UxLrimVnR6I/story.html|title=The Roots, 'Undun' - Arts|work=The Boston Globe|publisher=The New York Times Company|date=December 6, 2011|access-date=2011-12-06}}

{{Quote box

| quote ="Illegal activity controls my black symphony

Orchestrated like it happened incidentally

Oh, there I go, from a man to a memory

Damn, I wonder if my fam will remember me"

| source = — Black Thought on "Sleep"

| width = 25%

| align = right

| style = padding:10px;

}}

The plot of the album takes place in reverse over the course of a day in Redford's life, with the multiple featured rappers all speaking from Redford's first-person perspective.{{cite news|last=Richards|first=Chris|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/the-roots-undun-is-filled-with-evocative-hip-hop/2011/12/05/gIQAjsNlXO_story.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130630142301/http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2011-12-05/lifestyle/35286180_1_undun-redford-stephens-questlove |url-status=live |archive-date=June 30, 2013 |title=The Roots' 'undun' is filled with evocative hip-hop|newspaper=Washington Post|date=December 5, 2011|access-date=April 28, 2013}} The album opens with the sound of a flatlined EKG on the instrumental track "Dun", signifying Redford's death.{{cite magazine|last=Madden|first=Mike|url=https://entertainment.time.com/2011/12/06/the-roots-have-made-a-concept-album-and-its-good/|title=The Roots Have Made A Concept Album. And It's Good! |magazine=Time.com|publisher=Time Inc.|date=December 6, 2011|access-date=April 27, 2013}} This leads into the second track, "Sleep", where Black Thought's verse portrays Redford's dying thoughts on his life, fate and whether he will be remembered.{{cite web|author=Touré|author-link=Touré (journalist)|url=http://www.complex.com/music/2011/11/who-killed-it-dont-sleep-on-black-thought|title=Who Killed It: Don't "Sleep" On Black Thought |work=Complex|date=November 30, 2011|access-date=April 27, 2013}} "Make My" depicts the killing of Redford,{{cite web|last=Houghton |first=Edwin |url=http://www.okayplayer.com/news/okp-exclusive-uestlove-breaks-down-the-roots-undun.html|title=?uestlove Breaks Down The Roots undun |work=Okayplayer|date=December 6, 2011|access-date=April 27, 2013}} with an extended outro modeled on Mobb Deep's "Shook Ones (Part II)" that conveys Redford's spirit beginning to leave his body.{{cite web|last=Murphy |first=Keith |url=http://www.theboombox.com/2011/11/25/the-roots-undun-album/|title=The Roots Say 'Undun' Taught 'Patience,' TV 'Made Us Better' |work=The Boombox |publisher=AOL |date=November 25, 2011|access-date=April 27, 2013}}

"One Time" finds Redford feeling remorse and contemplating the course of his life; he reflects on the time that he stopped caring about school.{{cite web|last=Moon |first=Tom |url=https://www.npr.org/2011/12/06/143203876/the-roots-a-song-cycle-for-a-life-cycle|title=The Roots: A Song Cycle For a Life Cycle |work=NPR Music |publisher=NPR |date=December 6, 2011|access-date=April 27, 2013}} "Kool On" and "The OtherSide" depict Redford living successfully as a drug dealer.{{cite web|last=Boshomane |first=Pearl |url=http://www.timeslive.co.za/entertainment/music/2011/12/07/album-review-the-roots---undun |title=Album review: The Roots - Undun |work=The Sunday Times |publisher=Times Media Group |date=December 7, 2011|access-date=April 27, 2013}} "Kool On" hints that Redford is deluding himself, and the song's lyrics are about "how successful street hustlers might fool themselves in believing they are living the 'good life' but, in reality, 'living on borrowed time.'"{{cite web|last=Semon |first=Craig |url=http://www.telegram.com/article/20120119/COLUMN17/101199937/-1/weekend_columnists|title=Roots come 'undun' in spectacular fashion |work=Telegram & Gazette |date=January 19, 2012|access-date=April 27, 2013}} "Stomp" is meant to be the song on which "he's either gonna live or he’s gonna die with whatever path he has chosen to go down." While Redford feels that he has been forced into crime, he is also decisively choosing his path. On "Lighthouse", Redford contemplates suicide, and the song's hook "there’s no one in the lighthouse/Face down in the ocean" is a metaphor for Redford being caught up in crime and questioning the direction of his life. Redford recalls his life before crime on "I Remember". "Tip the Scale" explores "how the odds are already stacked against a black man growing up in the ghetto even before he is born".

The album is concluded with a four-part instrumental movement. Part one is Sufjan Stevens performing his "Redford (For Yia-Yia & Pappou)", originally from the album Michigan; part two has a string quartet reinterpret the song. Part three is a free jazz performance by Questlove and pianist D. D. Jackson. The album concludes with the fourth part, another string quartet piece that ends abruptly with an unresolved piano chord. Roots manager Richard Nichols described the final four tracks as a "birth-cycle" and said "It’s almost like he was undone upon birth ... your outcome of your life is definitely gonna be affected by your surroundings, statistically."{{cite web |last=Kenner |first=Rob |url=http://www.complex.com/music/2011/11/album-preview-the-roots-undun|title=Album Preview: The Roots "Undun"|website=Complex Networks |date=November 25, 2011|access-date=April 27, 2013}}

The concept of following the story of a central character, Redford Stevens, on the album was the idea of band manager Richard Nichols.{{cite web|last=Stairiker |first=Kevin |url=http://jumpphilly.com/2012/05/29/even-after-25-years-the-roots-are-still-pushing-boundaries/ |title=Even After 25 Years, The Roots Are Still Pushing Boundaries |work=Jumpphilly.com| date=May 29, 2012 |access-date=April 29, 2013}} According to Questlove, the album's protagonist Redford is "the prototypical urban kid — young, gifted, black, and unraveling before our eyes,"{{cite web|author=Questlove|author-link=Questlove|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/questlove/undun-the-roots-album_b_1105719.html |title='undun': The Story Of A Gifted Black Youth Unravels |work=Huffington Post| date=November 21, 2011 |access-date=April 29, 2013}} and is based on "a combination of maybe four to five people that we know in Philadelphia." Regarding the character, Black Thought said, "Redford's story isn't uncommon in Philadelphia ... I remember not being able to imagine being alive as a 30-year-old. I didn't know many people who had lived to 30."{{cite magazine|last=Vozick-Levinson|first=Simon |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/the-roots-create-their-most-realized-album-yet-20111115|title=The Roots Set to Deliver Their 'Most Realized' Album Yet |magazine=Rolling Stone| date=November 15, 2011 |access-date=April 28, 2013}} Inspiration for Redford was also culled from the Sufjan Stevens song "Redford (For Yia-Yia & Pappou)" from his album Michigan and the character Avon Barksdale from TV series The Wire. Some sources have interpreted Redford as an African-American everyman, though others have cautioned against this view, emphasizing his individual characteristics. For instance, Hilary Brown of Down Beat called Redford "a romantic, not a thug; a philosopher, not an everyman,"{{cite web |last=Brown |first=Hilary |url=http://www.downbeat.com/defaultl.asp?sect=editorspicks201201 |title=The Roots, Undun (Def Jam) |work=Down Beat |date=January 2012 |access-date=April 28, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130411015029/http://www.downbeat.com/defaultl.asp?sect=editorspicks201201 |archive-date=April 11, 2013 |url-status=dead }} and Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah wrote "The mistake is to read Redford as being like anyone who has their back to the wall, or to see the album’s narrative as a universal story."{{cite web|last=Ghansah|first=Rachel Kaadzi |url=http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/culture/2011/12/4608911/dont-let-green-grass-fool-you-roots-are-one-most-respected-hip-hop-a?page=all |title=Don't let the green grass fool you: The Roots are one of the most respected hip-hop acts in the world; why can't they leave the sad stuff alone? |work=Capital| date=December 14, 2011 |access-date=April 28, 2013}}

By focusing the narrative on an ordinary middleman in the drug trade, Questlove said the band attempted to subvert rap music genre conventions, which often glamorize a life of crime with a powerful "Don Corleone" figure.{{cite web|last=Cheers|first=Imani M.|url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/art/blog/2011/11/the-roots-get-conceptual-on-undun.html|title=The Roots Get Conceptual on 'undun' |work=PBS NewsHour|publisher=PBS|date=November 30, 2011|access-date=April 27, 2013}} Pitchfork{{'}}s Nate Patrin said the album "isn't a sprawling, rise-and-fall crime story, not a condemnation or a veneration of a man living outside the law, not a bullet-riddled grand guignol heavy on explicit details of soldiers getting cut down. It's a character study of a man whose existential crisis ends only with his death—a death gone largely unspecified, the glamor and tragedy washed over with a doomed resignation." Asad Khawaja wrote that the willingness to stray from genre norms enhanced the album's dramatic realism: "Rather than fall prey to the hip-hop illusions of high life grandeur, the Roots weaves a tale of spiralling downward, made all the more poignant by a character wholly self-aware of his Faustian bargain."{{cite web|last=Khawaja |first=Asad|url=http://dawn.com/2012/02/05/reviews-previews-undun-by-the-roots/|title=Reviews previews: Undun by The Roots |newspaper=Dawn|publisher=Dawn Group of Newspapers|date=February 5, 2012|access-date=April 27, 2013}}

The cover art is a black-and-white rendering of the photo "Flying High" by documentary photographer Jamel Shabazz,{{cite web|first=Jacob | last=Moore| url=http://www.complex.com/music/2011/11/album-cover-the-roots-undun| title=Album Cover: The Roots "Undun"|magazine=Complex |date=2011-11-01 |access-date=2013-04-26}} which depicts a child flipping on a mattress outdoors.{{cite web|first=Dan | last=DeLuca| url=http://articles.philly.com/2011-12-04/news/30474610_1_tariq-black-thought-trotter-uestlove-ahmir | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120106210456/http://articles.philly.com/2011-12-04/news/30474610_1_tariq-black-thought-trotter-uestlove-ahmir | url-status=dead | archive-date=January 6, 2012 | title=Roots reach a creative height in 'undun' |newspaper=Philly.com |publisher=Philadelphia Media Network|date=2011-12-04 |access-date=2013-04-26}} The cover art has been compared to the 1978 Charles Burnett film Killer of Sheep.{{cite web |first=Alif Omar |last=Mahfix |title=The Roots: Undun |url=http://msn.juiceonline.com/the-roots-undun/ |magazine=Juice Online |publisher=MSN |date=2012-01-11 |access-date=2013-04-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130721002155/http://msn.juiceonline.com/the-roots-undun/ |archive-date=2013-07-21 |url-status=dead }}

Undun was released by Def Jam Recordings, first on December 2, 2011, in continental Europe,{{cite web|url=http://lescharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=The+Roots&titel=Undun&cat=a|title=The Roots - Undun|publisher=lescharts.com. Hung Medien|access-date=2011-12-04}} then on December 5 in the United Kingdom, and on December 6 in the United States.{{cite web|url=https://www.amazon.com/Undun-Explicit-Roots/dp/B005VR9328|title=Undun / [Explicit]: The Roots: Music|website=Amazon|access-date=2011-12-03}} The album's lead single, "Make My" featuring Big K.R.I.T., was first released on November 1 to iTunes. When undun was released in the US, it debuted at number 17 on the Billboard 200 and sold 48,200 copies in its first week.{{cite web|last=Montana|first=Gina|url=http://www.xxlmag.com/news/2011/12/drakes-take-care-drops-to-no-7-on-200-chart-roots-undun-debuts-at-no-17/|title=Drake's Take Care Drops to No. 7 on 200 Chart, Roots Undun Debuts at No. 17|work=XXL|publisher=Harris Publications|date=December 14, 2011|access-date=2011-12-21}} By January 2012, it had sold 112,000 copies there.{{cite web|last=Jacobs|first=Allen|url=http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/news/id.18503/title.hip-hop-album-sales-the-week-ending-1-29-2012|title=Hip Hop Album Sales: The Week Ending 1/29/2011|publisher=HipHopDX|date=February 1, 2012|access-date=February 1, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120615120830/http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/news/id.18503/title.hip-hop-album-sales-the-week-ending-1-29-2012|archive-date=June 15, 2012|url-status=dead}}

{{Music ratings

| ADM = 7.9/10{{cite web|url=http://www.anydecentmusic.com/review/3970/The-Roots-undun.aspx|title=undun by The Roots reviews|publisher=AnyDecentMusic?|access-date=January 26, 2017}}

| MC = 88/100

| rev1 = AllMusic

| rev1Score = {{Rating|4.5|5}}

| rev2 = The A.V. Club

| rev2Score = A{{cite web|last=Rabin|first=Nathan|author-link=Nathan Rabin|url=https://www.avclub.com/the-roots-undun-1798170754|title=The Roots: Undun|work=The A.V. Club|publisher=Onion, Inc|date=December 6, 2011|access-date=December 6, 2011}}

| rev3 = Chicago Tribune

| rev3Score = {{Rating|4|4}}

| rev4 = The Daily Telegraph

| rev4Score = {{Rating|4|5}}

| rev5 = Entertainment Weekly

| rev5Score = A−{{cite magazine|last=Anderson|first=Kyle|url=http://www.ew.com/article/2011/12/02/undun-review-roots|title=undun|magazine=Entertainment Weekly|date=December 2, 2011|access-date=September 26, 2016}}

| rev6 = The Independent

| rev6Score = {{Rating|5|5}}{{cite web|last=Gill |first=Andy |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/reviews/album-the-roots-undun-mercury-6270396.html |title=Album: The Roots, Undun (Mercury) |work=The Independent |publisher=Independent Print Limited |date=December 1, 2011 |access-date=December 3, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111205025602/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/reviews/album-the-roots-undun-mercury-6270396.html |archive-date=December 5, 2011 |url-status=dead }}

| rev7 = MSN Music (Expert Witness)

| rev7Score = B+{{cite web|last=Christgau|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Christgau|url=https://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/cg/ew2011-12.php|title=The Roots/Action Bronson|work=MSN Music|publisher=Microsoft|date=December 6, 2011|access-date=December 7, 2011}}

| rev8 = Pitchfork

| rev8Score = 7.3/10

| rev9 = Rolling Stone

| rev9Score = {{Rating|3.5|5}}

| rev10 = Spin

| rev10Score = 7/10{{cite web|last=Cohen |first=Ian |url=http://www.spin.com/reviews/roots-undun-def-jam |title=The Roots, 'undun' (Def Jam) |work=Spin |publisher=SPIN Media |date=December 6, 2011 |access-date=December 6, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111208025540/http://www.spin.com/reviews/roots-undun-def-jam |archive-date=December 8, 2011 |url-status=dead }}

}}

Undun was met with widespread critical acclaim. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 88, based on 32 reviews.{{cite web|url=http://www.metacritic.com/music/undun/the-roots|title=Reviews for Undun by The Roots|publisher=Metacritic. CBS Interactive|access-date=December 3, 2011}}

Reviewing the album for AllMusic, Andy Kellman praised its "existential rhymes" and found its ideas "grave and penetrating". James Lachno from The Daily Telegraph was highly impressed by its music and how The Roots avoid "over-moralising or glorification".{{cite web|last=Lachno|first=James|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/cdreviews/8928591/The-Roots-Undun-CD-review.html|title=The Roots: Undun, CD review|work=The Daily Telegraph|date=December 2, 2011|access-date=December 3, 2011}} Los Angeles Times writer Ernest Hardy said the record offers "a psychological depth and complexity rarely afforded black folks in modern pop culture, including (or especially) the borough of contemporary hip-hop."{{cite web|last=Hardy|first=Ernest|url=http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/music_blog/2011/12/album-review-the-roots-undun.html|title=Album review: The Roots' 'undun'|work=Los Angeles Times|date=December 5, 2011|access-date=2011-12-06}} Jon Pareles, writing in The New York Times, said it is "complete in itself ... made brief to be listened to as a whole."{{cite web|last=Pareles|first=Jon|author-link=Jon Pareles|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/07/arts/music/the-roots-2-albums-one-quest.html?_r=2&ref=music|title=The Roots - 2 Albums, One Quest|work=The New York Times|date=December 7, 2011|access-date=2011-12-21}} Andy Gill of The Independent said the record is possibly the group's best, offering "opportunities for more considered reflection on the values we choose in life" instead of "the sense of inevitability and the tragic bravado found in comparable hip-hop tragedies". In the Chicago Tribune, Greg Kot cited Undun as The Roots' best work and called it "both chilling and beautiful at once".{{cite web|last=Kot|first=Greg|author-link=Greg Kot|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/chi-roots-album-review-undun-reviewed-20111202-column.html|title=Album review: The Roots, 'Undun'|work=Chicago Tribune|publisher=Tribune Company|date=December 2, 2011|access-date=December 29, 2019}} At the end of 2011, Kot named it the year's second best album,{{cite web|last=Kot|first=Greg|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2011/12/02/top-albums-of-2011/|title=Top albums of 2011; Wild Flag top album of 2011|work=Chicago Tribune|publisher=Tribune Company|date=December 2, 2011|access-date=2011-12-02}} while Ann Powers from NPR Music ranked it tenth on her year-end list.{{cite web|last=Powers|first=Ann|author-link=Ann Powers|url=https://www.npr.org/blogs/allsongs/2011/12/06/143214558/ann-powers-10-favorite-albums-of-2011|title=Ann Powers' 10 Favorite Albums of 2011 : All Songs Considered Blog|publisher=NPR Music. NPR|date=December 7, 2011|access-date=2011-12-10}}

Some reviewers expressed reservations. In Rolling Stone, Jody Rosen said Black Thought's "skilled but stolid rapping adds nothing new to the idiom" of the "morally ambiguous gangster tale", even though undun succeeds musically.{{cite magazine|last=Rosen|first=Jody|author-link=Jody Rosen|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/undun-20111206|title=undun|magazine=Rolling Stone|publisher=Wenner Media|date=December 6, 2011|access-date=December 6, 2011}} Patrin found the storyline's "inevitable familiarity" to be "almost an end in itself" and that it "feels almost relentless in its singleminded dejection".{{cite web|last=Patrin|first=Nate|url=http://www.pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/16102-the-roots-undun/|title=The Roots: Undun|work=Pitchfork|date=December 6, 2011|access-date=December 6, 2011}} Ian Cohen of Spin said Black Thought's reading of Redford Stephens sounded "business-like" and "consummately bland". Robert Christgau was also critical of the concept in his review for MSN Music, feeling that the song cycle lacks a feel for its fictional character, although he added that the album showcases a sound from The Roots "that shows no sign of standing pat". Of Black Thought's performance, he said the rapper offered "flashes of insight and articulated feeling" rather than wisdom.

Track numbers continued from How I Got Over.

{{Track listing

| extra_column = Producer(s)

| title157 = Dun

| note157 =

| writer157 = {{hlist|Ray Angry|Ahmir Thompson}}

| extra157 = {{hlist|Questlove|Ray Angry}}

| length157 = 1:16

| title158 = Sleep

| note158 =

| writer158 = {{hlist|Nicolas Koenig-Dzialowski|Thompson|Tariq Trotter|Aaron Livingston}}

| extra158 = {{hlist|Questlove|Hot Sugar}}

| length158 = 2:15

| title159 = Make My

| note159 = featuring Big K.R.I.T. & Dice Raw

| writer159 = {{hlist|Khari Mateen|Trotter|Thompson|Angry|Justin Scott|Karl Jenkins}}

| extra159 = {{hlist|Questlove|Khari Mateen|Ray Angry}}

| length159 = 4:27

| title160 = One Time

| note160 = featuring Phonte & Dice Raw

| writer160 = {{hlist|Brent Reynolds|Jenkins|Trotter|Thompson|Phonte Coleman}}

| extra160 = {{hlist|Questlove|Brent "Ritz" Reynolds}}

| length160 = 3:55

| title161 = Kool On

| note161 = featuring Greg Porn & Truck North

| writer161 = {{hlist|Gregory Spearman|Jamal Miller|Trotter|Dewayne Julius Rogers Sr.}}

| extra161 = Questlove

| length161 = 3:48

| title162 = The OtherSide

| note162 = featuring Bilal & Greg Porn

| writer162 = {{hlist|Thompson|Betty Wright|Jenkins|Trotter|Spearman|James Poyser|Angelo Morris|Sean McMillion|Ralph Jeanty}}

| extra162 = {{hlist|Questlove|James Poyser|Richard Nichols}}

| length162 = 4:03

| title163 = Stomp

| note163 = featuring Greg Porn

| writer163 = {{hlist|Trotter|Spearman|Deleno Matthews|Levar Coppin}}

| extra163 = Sean C & LV

| length163 = 2:23

| title164 = Lighthouse

| note164 = featuring Dice Raw

| writer164 = {{hlist|Richard Friedrich|Thompson|Jenkins|Trotter}}

| extra164 = {{hlist|Questlove|Rick Friedrich}}

| length164 = 3:43

| title165 = I Remember

| note165 =

| writer165 = {{hlist|Mateen|Trotter|Thompson}}

| extra165 = {{hlist|Questlove|Khari Mateen}}

| length165 = 3:15

| title166 = Tip the Scale

| note166 = featuring Dice Raw

| writer166 = {{hlist|Thompson|Angry|Wright|Jenkins|Trotter|Morris}}

| extra166 = {{hlist|Questlove|Ray Angry|Richard Nichols|Khari Mateen}}

| length166 = 4:17

}}

{{Track listing

| headline = Redford Suite

| extra_column = Producer(s)

| title167 = Redford

| note167 = For Yia-Yia & Pappou

| writer167 = Sufjan Stevens

| extra167 = Sufjan Stevens

| length167 = 1:52

| title168 = Possibility

| note168 = 2nd Movement

| writer168 = {{hlist|Angry|Thompson|Nichols}}

| extra168 = {{hlist|Questlove|Ray Angry|Richard Nichols}}

| length168 = 0:55

| title169 = Will to Power

| note169 = 3rd Movement

| writer169 = {{hlist|D.D. Jackson|Thompson}}

| extra169 = {{hlist|Questlove|D.D. Jackson}}

| length169 = 1:03

| title170 = Finality

| note170 = 4th Movement

| writer170 = {{hlist|Angry|Thompson|Nichols}}

| extra170 = {{hlist|Questlove|Ray Angry|Richard Nichols}}

| length170 = 1:31

}}

Credits for Undun adapted from liner notes.

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• Ray Angry – producer
• Clifton Bell – inlay photography
• Mark Bengston – assistant engineer
• Leesa D. Brunson – A&R
• Dame "Tuba Gooding Jr." Bryson – group member, sousaphone
• Roberto Caiaffa – marketing
• Phonte Coleman – composer
• Levar Coppin – composer
• Robert "LB" Dorsey – engineer
• Kirk "Captain Kirk" Douglas – group member, guitar
• Daniel Felsenfeld – string arrangements
• Rick Friedrich – engineer, producer
• Larry Gold – arranger, cello
• Jason Goldstein – engineer, mixing
• Kenny J. Gravillis – art direction
• Kamal Gray – group member, keyboards
• D.D. Jackson – composer, producer
• Karl Jenkins – composer
• Karl B. Jenkins – A&R
• Doug Joswick – package production
• Mark Kelley – bass, group member
• Nick Koenig – engineer
• Phil Kramp – viola
• Dave Kutch – mastering
• Kristin Lee – violin
• Sean Lee – violin

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• Tai Linzie – art coordinator, photo coordination
• Aaron Earl Livingston – vocals
• Steve Mandel – engineer, mixing
• Deborah Mannis-Gardner – sample clearance
• Mercedes Martinez – background vocals
• Khari Mateen – engineer, producer
• Hiro Matsuo – cello
• Deleno Matthews – composer
• Tracey Moore – background vocals
• John Morgan – assistant engineer
• Richard Nichols – A&R, art direction, executive producer, producer
• James Poyser – group member, keyboards, producer
• Brent "Ritz" Reynolds – engineer, producer
• Todd Russell – art coordinator, photo coordination
• Lenny S. – A&R
• Chris Sclafani – mixing assistant
• Sean C & LV – producer
• Jamel Shabazz – cover photo
• Jon Smeltz – engineer, mixing
• Sufjan Stevens – composer, engineer, mixing, producer
• Mark Tavern – A&R
• Anna Tes – design
• Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson – composer, drums, group member, producer
• Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter – composer, group member, vocals
• Frank "Knuckles" Walker – group member, percussion
• Kristen Yiengst – art coordinator, photo coordination

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• A Prince Among Thieves

{{Reflist|2}}

• {{Official website}}
• [http://www.discogs.com/Roots-Undun/master/389758 Undun] at Discogs
• [http://www.metacritic.com/music/undun Undun] at Metacritic

{{The Roots}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:2011 albums

Category:Albums produced by James Poyser

Category:2010s concept albums

Category:Def Jam Recordings albums

Category:The Roots albums