“The Tipping Point” came out in 2004, and was the sixth album to be released from the Philadelphia Hip Hop band, The Roots. Led by ?uestlove on the drums and Black Thought as the MC, this sees further developments as Ben Kenney and Scratch had left the group. However they were still capable of bring the same high-energy Hip Hop that they had been known for since their debut 1990 album, “Organix”.
1. “Star/Pointro”
2. “I Don’t Care”
The funky grooves which begin this song shows a side of The Roots which they don’t ten to get into as much as you find them doing more of a commercial song with Dom singing on the hook, and giving the rest of the performers a chance to do something which deal with issues which are a lot more broadly understood, however Thought keeps it how it should be – raw.
**Five Stars**
3. “Don’t Say Nuthin’”
This is just an incredible track, which deals with just how far Black Thought’s rhymes has developed, as in this one
he gets to the stage where he can just say gibberish to get his point across, and does so in this one for the hook alone after running out of steam with his rapid and filled-out rhymes which just don’t seem to have a specific direction, but still mange to give you same idea of what he means (be it ambiguous).
**Five Stars**
4. “Guns Are Drawn”
Aaron Livingston comes to work with them on this Caribbean-influenced song. The drumming from ?uest is powerful for this song, and it allows the artists to work a lot better to the themes of the thing as they speak with political messages used as undercurrents to the recording. It, as the title suggests is the point where they move from less focused work, to more inspirational tunes with clear subjects to work from.
**Four Stars**
5. “Stay Cool”
This was a single from the album, and as you hear it, you can’t help but get taken in by the killer flows from Thought. There is even a reference to Bapes, a couple of years before it become a the popular Japanese clothing brand. The rhymes are better than almost any other point in this thing, and the shift in style definitely influences these thought towards it.
**Five Stars**
6. “Web”
This no hooks or breaks, the focus of this one is clearly Black Thought as he goes hard on this song, and just doesn’t let up at all with his rapid flows which just takes his flows to a place where they haven’t really been in the past, and it sets it up nicely for what is about to follow it. It is a cold rhyme from him, and it really stands out for the ruthlessness of his lyrics and delivery of them. .
**Five Stars**
7. “Boom!”
It is important to point out exactly what goes on for this one, as personally I thought that it was ludicrous not to mention this on the CD as at first it sounds like a collaboration between Thought and late eighties/early nineties Hip Hop legends, Big Daddy Kane and Kool G. Rap on the type of breakbeats which made them famous, but it is in fact Black Thought imitating the two, in a very convincing way.
**Five Stars**
8. “Somebody’s Gotta Do It”
You have the Alternative Hip Hopper from Houston, Devin The Dude, coming to sing for the hook of this track, and his part in it is definitely valued, and as you look at it in hindsight, the fact that he went on to do the track “What A Job” in 2007,, you can draw similarities from this and that later one, which was probably influenced by it as this one has them rap about MCs are the spokesmen of the streets.
**Four Stars**
9. “Duck Down”
This track is a hard one, and the banging opening to it, which features lots of bas and synth, as well as a little authentic horns, and from this point you find that Thought is in a rage, and it comes through in the flows which he comes out with, and how easily it comes to him, based on the heavy backing which it has to work from.
**Five Stars**
10. “Why”
Ending the thing off, you find them going towards bigger problems in the world, and this seems to have directed the way that the following album went. It is a soulful song, and the lyrics of it really engage you in a way that other conscious MCs don’t, and despite the fact the Rock-styled production isn’t something I would typically enjoy, I felt that it work well with this one.
**Five Stars**
This is one of my favourite albums from The Roots, and I’m sure that many other will feel the same way towards it as although it is a short one, you have them pack in lots of quality tunes, not sparing a second to put in anything which lacked even a little energy, (in relation to the others).
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On The Tipping Point, their sixth album, the Roots backslide a bit on the creative promise ... more
they showed with 2002's Phrenology. Instead of expanding into more ambitious and experimental areas--the way Outkast has, for example, the Roots tend to fall bac...
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