Have you ever felt that the hip-hop genre now is merely a shadow of it's former self? Do you feel that the current big names in rap are hardly musicians at all?

I do. I plead for good hip-hop with goose bump inducing beats and thoughtful lyrics. Few exceptions to bathroom-stall lyrics and soulless bass ever escape the underground unless it comes from a well-known, former rap group.

Thankfully, The Roots came back in time and brought its unique jazz, hip-hop sound in Undun, its thirteenth album released December 2011.

The second the beats began in Undun was the second I fell back in love with hip-hop. The keyboard compositions made me want to shut down all my senses and just listen to Tariq Trotter's poetry. The dynamic contrast gives every song a climax. Together, the live bass, drums and guitar make everything sound so real -- anyone who tells you that live instrumentation doesn't matter is not a real music fan.

Every lyric line is a story and each song a memoir in the life of fictional character Redford Stevens, a man who lives a tragic life in an urban poverty setting. Trotter expresses this story brilliantly by showing and not telling -- a trap many lyricists fall into.

Above all, Undun should introduce hip-hop to kids as something worthy of being called music. The Roots are one of the most important names in hip-hop's long history, and they cannot be overshadowed by what rap as a genre has become.

Ben Montoya is a sophomore at Santa Fe High School and can be reached at booga274@gmail.com