Could the Roots have picked a more appropriate title for their latest album? For the iconic band of underground hip-hop, The Tipping Point is simply that: an attempt at growing future popularity while maintaining the strength of the past. The trademark of this Philadelphia-born group is undoubtedly the ability to keep listeners anticipating their next move while providing a comfort that the lines, rhymes and rhythms will be something most artists can only dream of putting down.
In the case of their newest album, the Roots made possibly their most controversial move ever: attempting to win over the target audience. Through the liner notes alone — which specifically address ‘newbies’ on more than one occasion — the band makes it obvious this is the album intended to reach the unenlightened. Unfortunately, it seems they want to make their name known more than to intellectually affect the listeners with their social commentary. While all fans would like to see ?uestlove, Black Thought, Kamal and Hub receive the recognition they justly deserve — the acknowledgement their blood, sweat and tears have earned them — it wasn’t supposed to be this way.
The band puts down some strong songs. Anyone who doesn’t want to sit still will be induced by the beat to bounce his head and tempted by the sounds to shift her hips. With songs such as “I Don’t Care” and “Duck Down!” the Roots show a more mainstream attitude. The heavy production may be radio-friendly, but it refuses to display the Roots as a band, complete with Hub’s guitar, ?uestlove’s drums and Kamal’s keyboards.
The wide range of genres presented will not bother newcomers, but anyone who has touched a previous Roots album will almost feel betrayed by the extreme sampling involved. From the reggae sounds influencing “Guns are Drawn” to the fast pace of “Boom!” which is reminiscent of the Beastie Boys, the sounds are those of established genres rather than a realm known singularly to the Roots themselves.
Although saved by songs dealing with subjects above and beyond the over-represented rap and hip-hop life of sexual conquests and the pursuit of wealth, there is a lacking correlation between the sounds played and the sights lyrically represented. One can’t help but notice the irony built into “Guns are Drawn,” as listeners will remember the bouncing bass rather than Black Thought’s adage that “every record ain’t a record just to shake behinds.” While true, it would be more profound if his own record seemed to represent more than just physical movement.
Those who crave the intellectual challenge Black Thought characteristically presents should take Phrenology for another spin in the record player. Hailed as their best work, the 2002 release places social issues right in your lap and uses the band to highlight the allusions used to approach those issues of drugs and poverty.
A lot of work needs to be put in while listening to The Tipping Point in order to rediscover the Roots’ genius. Such ability is obvious in “Pointro,” holding lines like “The smell of history’s future and/It sounds like a chorus of we/Who were almost stoned to death for/Telling those who would listen/We have made it through the mazes of mediocrity.” However, the powerful language once craftily showcased by the band is often lost. On “Don’t Say Nuthin’,” the lyrics, “It’s nothing like the rust I get in front of the band/On stage with the planet in the palm of my hand/When a brother transforms from anonymous man/To the force that’ll crush whoever thought I was playing,” escape detection under a prominent bass line.
Regardless of the criticism this album has created, it is a product of the Roots. That alone makes it worthy of consideration. Not every band can greatly succeed with every endeavor and this certainly is not a failure. Fans, even the veterans who may need a while to warm up to the new styles thrown, must give support and validation if there is any hope for a return to the promise previously shown. The reason the Roots have succeeded so long is because fans accept their need to evolve, allowing the band to approach each song as an exploration of time, space, language and sound.
Grade: B
