The Tipping Point

iTunes Review

The Roots found themselves at something of a creative impasse after the underdeveloped psychedelic experimentations of 2002’s Phrenology. Though that album received a warm critical reception, many fans felt that the group’s self-conscious efforts at experimentation were beginning to wear thin. 2004’s The Tipping Point was something of a return to form that found The Roots back in the seemingly casual, but impeccably constructed jams of classics like Illadelph Halflife and Things Fall Apart. If The Tipping Point lacks the incisive urgency and stunning sense of purpose that propelled those classic albums it still finds ?uestlove and company returning with grace and assurance to familiar musical territory. The punishing old school breakbeats of “Boom”, the staccato sample based urgency of “Guns Are Drawn” and the druggy Sly invoking brilliance of “Star” are the album’s obvious high points. Were it not for a handful of relative missteps (like the awkward electro experiments of “Don’t Say Nuthin’”) the album would be an unqualified triumph. Even so The Tipping Point is another excellent outing from one of Hip-Hop’s most consistent groups.