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Video: Sleep (feat. Aaron Livingston) by The Roots


"undun is an existential re-telling of the short life of one Redford Stephens (1974-1999). Through the use of emotives and Redford's internal dialogues the album seeks to illustrate the intersection of free will and prescribed destiny as it plays out 'on the corner'. Utilizing a reverse narrative arc, the album begins as the listener finds Redford disoriented--postmortem--and attempting to make sense of his former life. As he moves through its pivotal moments he begins to deconstruct all that has led to his (and our own) coming undun."

Here is the much awaited conclusion to the undun video series which is ironically the first tune off the upcoming album. "Sleep" is of course a follow-up to the The Roots' gritty conceptual of its preceding counterparts. It features Aaron Livingston is produced by Hot Sugar.

If you haven’t been up to speed with the fictional on Redford Stephens upon whom undun is based, the basic concept is that the his story will be told in reverse, meaning that this first track is in fact the end of Redford’s story (via Pigeons and Planes). Purposely, the story was made unclear whether he is the killer or the person killed but either way, putting together all the clues, it all suggests that life ends with murder.


“Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live” – Norman Cousins