The Tipping Point

The Roots are on a roll. That's a good thing for the fans. Like Amnesiac after Kid A for Radiohead, I find it hard not to make comparisons between The Tipping Point and 2003's brilliant Phrenology, quite simply because the two LP's came out within such a short distance of each other. The Tipping Point, well... quite simply, it's better. It's better because it's more to the point (don't excuse the pun) and that's funny, because phrenology didn't strike me as an album that went on too long or even had any bad tracks, and it was just as cohesive... But The Tipping Point is more cohesive. Phrenology had good lyrics, but the lyrics here are better. It had dope beats, but the beats on this LP just feel like a more advanced version of those on its predecessor.

Throughout the album, you just have to give it up in every way, these guys know what they are doing, and its evident in everything from the bass to the drums (of course!) to the overall sounds and fairly lo-fi production. What stands out most however is front-man Black Thought. To me he was always one of those Masta Killa/Guru type MCs- meaning, even though unlike many of his peers, he could do the full-range (love songs like 'Silent Treatment' back in the day proved that) he still never seemed to imprint his personality as much as he's been doing with the last two roots LP's where his confidence just seems sky-high. As I've said, The Tipping Point is ten times more impressive lyrically than Phrenology and the only reason for that is the energy that Thought brings. That energy and spontanaiety is refreshing, considering Thought always struck me as an MC with a very organised, tidy, under-control style. Indeed, at times on such high tempo tracks as 'The Web' or 'Boom' he even seems to be repeating lines he used on Phrenology ("I'm a son of a gun" spat in that same high-tempo style we heard on Phrenology's 'Thought at Work') however the energy is better than before, he's better, and he just seems to have more ammunition all around. Those two tracks probably best define the albums feel.

High-tempo is a good word for the LP as a whole too, there isn't much chill-out time, apart from the beautiful first track 'Star' and the penultimate gem 'Why'. It's a shame because even though both tracks have a very similar live vibe with some sweet guitars (as opposed to the rest of the album which is an interesting hybrid of live, yet still very heavily produced music) they both see Black Thought at his most interesting. True, he doesn't manage to be as deep on those tracks as he is energetic on others, but these tracks still work because of the balance of the LP which is heavily biased in favour of high-octane fire. The bottom line however, is that he sounds sincere, the rhymes sound like something he's just sat down and written to the beat (sometimes with a little help from his notepad maybe, because the amount of dope metaphors on this album is just ridiculous).

With this release, The Roots seem to be telling the world "this is us in the prime of our careers when we're old and maybe not all making music anymore, or even if we are, this will be looked on as our golden-era, this will be like Prince in the 80's, and these are the records that will imprint ourselves on the music scene and hip-hop history for life". I may be overplaying it in the heat of my enthusiasm for this record, but as objectively as possible, I'd just describe this as a short, sweet, musically rich and enjoyably intense ride.

I'll leave you with a few of the dope metaphors that help make this LP a contemporary classic, and whilst you read them in confusion because they don't sound right, remember that what always made Black Thought dope was how he pronounced certain words in order to make them rhyme:

"Tell me what you would do with no phones or pagers...no fed-ex, and no ATMS /
What you gonna do when police state begins? Well it already began..."

"Military target practicin' / They fin' to write another Patriot Act again"

"I got rhymes runnin' off the pages / tighter than the Bush's with the Saudi Arabians..."

"We all stars, and we highly evolved / hip-hop, it's not pop like Kylie Minogue"