Roots Tipping Point CD

Explicit. W/ Jean Grae,Devin The Dude,Dave Chappelle,M.Luth

The Roots: Black Thought (vocals); Kamal (keyboards); Hub (bass guitar); ?uestlove (drums).
Additional personnel: Captain Kirk Douglas (guitar); Devin, Jean Grae, Martin Luther.
The delivery of any new Roots album is rarely talked or written about without the words "highly" and "anticipated," and The Tipping Point is no exception. Besides the usual expectation for the band's superior lyrical skills and attention to detail, there's the previously announced concept that The Tipping Point would be recorded through free-spirited jams that would later be edited down. Sounds like a don't-care-about-the-final-package, music-for-music's-sake release, but the album is a well-constructed ride from start to finish that's perfect for a headphones-on, lights-out evening and a gift to fans who found 2002's Phrenology a bit mannered and forced. To paraphrase the album's "Pointro," the tracks here are mostly warm and organic "life music" that "thrusts its branches from the muck of wackness" without any overly calculated "hypnotic donkey rhythms." The ghost of Sly & the Family Stone is summoned for the opening "Star," an exuberant soul rocker that creeps along with a Timbaland-style beat, only it's live. On the other hand, there's the perfect for popping, locking, and robot-dancing "Don't Say Nuthin'" with its solid electro and Black Thought's quirky mumbled verse. The shifting from the sticky, stately reggae of "Guns Are Drawn" to the Cohiba-puffing swagger of "Stay Cool" is just one example of how the album overcomes its noncommitment to any particular groove by giving the listener nothing but fully formed, inspired tracks. The band's renewed love of head-bobbing jams also helps keep it together although the album's long stretches of rap-less jamming might alienate those just here for the message. For them there's the lyric-filled "Boom!," which may not be enough. Take off your academic backpack for a change and bask in an album that's comfortably loose and ends with an over-the-top, celebratory cover of George Kranz's "Din Daa Daa" that's unnecessary but extra fun. The Tipping Point is too modest to be the "idea that spreads like a virus" that's explored in the Malcolm Gladwell book the collection cops it title from. What the album lacks in ambition and social commentary, it makes up for with deep soul. That should be enough to make whatever this group does next "highly anticipated." ~ David Jeffries
Since their inception, Philadelphia's Roots could always be counted on to expand the edges of hip-hop. PHRENOLOGY marked the height of the troupe's experimentation with punk breaks, long jazz loops, and raps ranging from the hardcore to the whimsical. For that album's follow-up, THE TIPPING POINT, the outfit smoothes off some of the edges for a more conventional rap release, but as it's a Roots record, the result is still resoundingly innovative.
When the theme from the TV show KNIGHT RIDER is inserted into "Don't Say Nuthin'," what ensues is a sinister sonic landscape. When the Roots throw in a previously mined sample, as with Al Hirt's "Harlem Hendo" on "Stay Cool," they twist it around and break it down in a manner no other artist would even imagine. Meanwhile, Black Thought, that MC of immeasurable coolness, flies fancifully over the beats and grooves with the greatest of ease, flexing his muscle on "Web" and laying back on "I Don't Care." THE TIPPING POINT is a simple outing by Roots standards, but still a refreshing and remarkable album.

Rolling Stone (p.108) - 3 stars out of 5 - "[With] buttery pop choruses, hard-as-hell hookless spitting, jittery programmed beats...and it's got a bunch of impressive ideas."
Spin (pp.101-2) - "THE TIPPING POINT is a different kind of change-up: a straight-ahead rap album with tracks culled from a variety of mostly unknown producers....The last tracks is a testament to the group's golden A&R touch." - Grade: B
Entertainment Weekly (p.76) - "[A]n eclectic and often breezy reimagining of hip-hop's energetic essence." - Grade: B+
Q (p.113) - 3 stars out of 5 - "[With] structure, innocence and a polished pop sensibility, albeit of a subtle, measured kind....It feels like a whole lot of fun."
Vibe (p.140) - 4 out of 5 - "[O]pting for politically charged rhymes and melodic, accessible beats, Black Thought, ?uestlove, and company overflow with potential singles."
Mojo (Publisher) (p.92) - 3 stars out of 5 - "[I]t's on the swarming, free-form 'Outro' that The Roots sound most alive....[The] tension makes THE TIPPING POINT's finest moments so electrifying."