Shall it be said again? Their own instruments. Now that that's out of the way, The Roots have arguably outdone themselves with The Tipping Point, released late last year. Consider the opening segue into "Star/Pointro", from a beautifully reverberated sample from Sly & the Family Stone's "Everybody Is A Star." The Roots fuse their own nostalgia with retrofitted slices and understated beats to deliver allusive messages overflowing with metaphor. Questlove's drums are a high point as usual -- see the stop-time post-production that drives "Web" -- and Black Thought is at the top of his game, "It's Philly world-wide phenomenom/ And reinforcin' that shit is my 9-to-5." There's plenty to sit with, including "Guns Are Drawn," perhaps a necessary counterpart to Phrenology's "Sacrifice", albiet without the luscious vocals of guest Nelly Furtado. Nonetheless, the guest spots on "The Tipping Point" are wonderfully spaced, never stealing from the main act, and always on point as elements -- rather than cosmetics -- to the music. The album's a solid bet for middle-of-the-roaders looking for a safe snapshot of current American hip-hop. For the initiated, you already know the potency of the record.
Namor gettin' his winged feet wet... booyah, baby!
Posted by: derek at April 24, 2005 1:48 PMHate to come in dumping on ya with your first review back, but I totally disagree about "The Tipping Point." For two main reasons.
First, if you have cats who play their own instruments (and do it well), why produce them in such a way so as to make it sound like you don't? What I mean by that is there's none of the instrumental fire here that made past Roots' albums such classics, to my ears. ?uest's drumming is on fire, agreed (like on the back to back "Web" and "Boom"), but there are too many tracks that sound phoned in from some 90's school of mediocre beatmaking.
Second, and I love Black Thought as much as the next guy, but they desperately need Malik B back on the mic. For a group that thrives so much on "the group sound," being down to one solitary MC is a serious drag for me - somewhere about halfway through I simply stop paying attention to what he's saying. His flow isn't varied enough to carry a whole album that - to me - centers so much on his rhymes.
I guess overall, if I'd heard of, but never heard the Roots, and I started here... I would seriously wonder what all the hype was about. That was the first time I'd ever thought that after hearing a Roots album too.
Posted by: chuckyd4 at April 25, 2005 3:36 AMHi Chuck. I saw that you have an AIM account on IHM. Are you ever on?
That The Roots play their own instruments (somewhat -- given the polish and/or rework that goes into their music) was definitely a selling point when I first heard them. What you're saying is that you miss the balance of rhyme to jam, and I'd agree with you were it not for this band's ability to deliver a message. This album is full of subtle-enough hooks, but maybe this is a good place to add that the record has its own philosophy, which makes it a candidate for study and for casual listening.
Having Black Thought at the fore does add a new dimension to the music, and one that I'm not always crazy about, but I like his rough-around-the-edges form. I agree with you that there are Roots albums with more immediate appeal, but I'd as easily recommend this one to anybody.
Posted by: al at April 25, 2005 5:12 AMYeah, I see what you mean. Didn't really mean to imply it's not a good album, just that to me it's not really up to their usual (incredibly) high standards.
And yes, I'm on AIM (actually iChat, for all you Mac folks) under chuckyd1980. You or anybody else should feel free to drop me a line.
Posted by: chuckyd4 at April 25, 2005 11:51 AMI love The Roots and have great respect for what they do but starting with Illadelph Halflife the records sounded more slick and produced (not that they arent great in their own way). Perhaps this helped them reach a much wider audience but its not the sound and vibe that originally attracted me to them. Tipping Point for me marks a return to the original live sound and thats a very, very good thing.
Posted by: Scrapwell at April 26, 2005 5:57 AMtoo bad the only hot single they've had since Do You Want More??? (ie: "Don't Say Nuthin'") doesn't sound like there are any live instruments played on it. It's just a Scott Storch beat.
Posted by: William Hutson at April 27, 2005 9:48 PM.................................................. © 2003 - 2006 bagatellen ..................................................