i see your point about the album not making the critical rounds like some of their earlier albums have, but i think the only way The Roots would get attention is if they 'went against the grain' (c) Black Thought and pulled out some more accessible music.

unfortunately, an album as high in quality as Undun coming from The Roots isn't attention getting because they have like 10 other albums that are just as quality works of art. so people just hear the album and think 'The Roots made a good album.' and then go look for some reason to hype Kanye or something. Good albums, for The Roots, just aren't noteworthy enough to follow for mass publications and the band aren't trendy enough to really get blog or radio love on the indie front so i think the album was a success in that they'll probably get nominated for a Grammy, ?uest gets to keep his 80 Metacritic rating, and they're still on the label.

at this point in their career, it's as much about playing the game to keep making music and keep the lights on as anything. which is kinda sad because there are few parallels for them in modern-day music and they aren't followed for their longevity and craft over the derivative and flimsy stuff that does get attention.