The concept behind Undun by @theroots Explained

Undun is a concept album by The Roots that follows the crime filled life story and tragic death of a fictional character named Redford Stevens using reverse narrative.

The album starts off with Dun which is an instrumental track that features a flatline symbolizing the death of Redford. This ultimately serves as the end to the story chronologically, but the beginning of the story to the listener.

Sleep takes it back a step. The hook says “I’ve lost a lot of sleep to dreams” which can be taken that he’s lost actual sleep because of the guilt and fear he’s facing from his path down a life of criminal activity in efforts to achieve the American Dream.

“Let them Burn, Go from here, Like when autumn leaves” Means that after autumn, comes winter which is the end of the year. That symbolizes the end of Redford’s life. The second meaning is the falling leaves during the autumn represent him falling which means dying in his case.

Make My is written from the perspective of Redford and describes how he feels that all of his riches are useless and don’t mean anything to him because of how he gained them. He’s at the lowest point in his life and feels like leaving his life on Earth is the only exit for him.

The guilt Redford carries around with him is too much and he admits that going to Heaven isn’t within his reach after death. He’s essentially talking to God and asking him to make his departure from the world.

One Time is the realization in Redford’s life that there’s really no point to all of what he’s doing. He’s working hard doing all types of criminal activity but is slowly realizing he’s not actually getting anywhere.

There’s a lot of stresses from the street life and at this point in his life he’s reflecting and showing that he’s experiencing remorse. He’s only felt that thrill of what he’s doing one time and that thrill he felt came from the search for meaning.

Kool On entails the celebration of the success Redford has achieved with his hustling. The inevitable fall is on it’s way so during this part of his life, he’s spending money almost carelessly because he realizes there’s no point in making a lot if you don’t spend it.

There is also evidence of the reoccurring theme that as much as the American Dream promises to be for everybody in America, the cards your dealt at birth (or the place you were born and under certain conditions) have an effect on the success of that dream.

The OtherSide covers the part of Redford’s life where he has the desire to get more than what he has. He wants to be able to live comfortably, and he has seen that people he’s been around work hard and hustle to get what they want and what they need.

He feels that the “hood invention” is what’s giving his life purpose and that’s what he wants to do with his life to acquire wealth. Redford sets out to kill a man in efforts to get revenge for someone he once knew hence the opening lines from the second verse.

The other side is referring to life after death. As the hook sings, you shouldn’t worry about what you don’t have and do crazy things to get them because after death your fate is ultimately decided by your life actions and those determine whether you go to heaven or go to hell.

Stomp follows the character’s journey on a drive by shooting. The song finds Redford Stevens falling deeper and deeper into his life of crime. We get glimpses into his mind where he thinks that if he doesn’t kill his enemy, it’s a possibility the enemy could kill him.

There’s a turning point in the second verse where it goes from talking about committing crimes, to how Redford knows he’s so far in that he’s probably going to hell and even feels like it would have been better if he wasn’t born.

Lighthouse shows Redford is feeling lonely. He’s drowning at sea but no one around him seems to be looking out for him. He’s considering suicide because he feels lost at this point but he also has determination to live. It’s implied he kills his friend but doesn’t break a sweat.

I Remember is about how he feels that the cards he was dealt pushed him to the life he is living, but that life is making him look back and remember all of the bad choices he’s made. Those choices have bad memories associated with them.

Even though his story is sad there’s also a lot of stories like his and feels as if he won’t be remembered after he’s gone.

Tip The Scale expresses Redford’s will to power. He has the task of killing a friend and decides it’s either killing the friend or killing himself. At the beginning of verse one, it is stated that Redford is always early.

He has hope for his life contrary to One Time when he asks “Then I start to think, what’s the rush?, Who wants to be on time?”Redford sees what he’s doing as wrong but also thinks about how much worse his life would be if he wasn’t hustling and decides his current life is better.

He wants fate to tip in his direction even with the bad cards he’s been dealt so he resorts to what he observed as the way out for people like him: a life of street crime.

The final tracks are instrumental. They represent the character of Redford as a child. He’s a child and he can not yet speak so there are no lyrics. The tranquility of these instrumentals represents that children are born pure, and as life goes on some start doing bad things

The story told is detailed + begs an essential question to listeners; is life pre determined or are we born pure? Throughout Undun there are not only answers to the question but there’s a story so captivating that the replay value is limitless.

I hope this thread is able to help some of you understand the album and follow the story a little better than before. @theroots really came through with a masterpiece and one of my personal favorite albums ever made.