The Tipping Point is the best album of the year.  There, I said it.  You need read no further until you have bought your very own copy of the album and are jamming "Star" as you read the grey screen.  This is the kind of album most groups drool over making once in their careers: the Roots have accomplished the feat twice in ten years (If you don't believe me, leave again to cop illadelph halflife from your local record store).  It also cements the Roots places in hip-hop's upper echelons (as if they had to do that), with groups like Run-DMC, the Wu-Tang Clan, and Outkast.  They are living legends, who have, in their own right, done something no one ever thought a hip-hop group would be able to do: be a band.  And on the Tipping Point, they sound like the best damn band on Earth.

The sixth Roots studio album begins with a cover of the classic Sly & the Family Stone "Everybody is a Star", simply named "Star", which sounds simpy beautiful.  It comes off as a duet between Sly and Black Thought, the Roots' resident microphone fiend, which would sound natural on a 70's funk album, if rapping was an acceptable music practice back then, of course.  "I Don't Care", while not the Roots at their most innovative, is an exercise in calculated excellence, where ?uestlove, Kamal, Hub, and Thought know exactly what they're doing. It's like watching Micheal Jordan hit 1, 000,000 jumpers in a row: you expect it, but it's breathtaking nonetheless.  The bass-heavy instrumentation of "... Care" is soon followed with the synthetic, yet still somehow funky "Don't Say Nuthin".  The head-nodder is not exactly what you expect, or want, from a Roots single, but the song (and spectacular hook) are indisputably catchy and certainly grow on the listener.  Yet none of this prepares any listener for the political power of "Guns Are Drawn", pretty much the definition of a work of art.  It's sad that Black Thought's words are overpowered by the gorgeous work of the band, as Thought spills himself into great lines like "Military target practicing/ they finna write another patriot act again".  As the fresh beat plays on and leaves the listener some space to breathe, their ears are bombarded seconds later with another jazzy track, "Stay Cool", which sounds like Pete Rock and Outkast just screwing around in the studio.  The trumpets on this song pretty much pick up where "T.R.O.Y." left off (nothing but love for the Soul Brother here, but this album is seriously in that classic territory).

"Web" is the closet this album comes to straight-up hip-hop, as BT goes 3 minutres and 16 seconds hookless with wordplay and flow that sounds like someone who's been studying old Big Daddy Kane tapes.  And speaking of Kane, on "Boom", Thought does his jaw-dropping impersonations of both Daddy and Kool G Rap.  While it sounds like a gimmick on paper, it works out as a great homage on record.  On "Somebody's Gotta Do It", Thought takes a breath and gives up the mic for two verses, letting the best female MC alive (at least until the best becomes sane) Jean Grae and young Philly MC Mac take the mic, as Houston native Devin the Dude rips the chorus.  While all of the MCs are great, Devin pretty much steals the spotlight with his gritty tenor which seems right with the legendary Roots crew.  "Duck Down!" is another Scott Storch collaboration (they previously worked with him on "...Nuthin" and their 2002 LP Phrenology's "P***y Galore").  It's a nice song, yet the beat sounds eerily similar to Storch's current summer banger for the Terror Squad, "Lean Back". 

The album officially closes with "Why (What's Goin On?)", one of the album's definite highlights.  The sing-along chorus and heartfelt BT lyrics ("Got the writing on the wall so clear I can taste it/ like a kid sniffing glue somewhere trying to escape") are perfectly accessible and a nice close to the album.  But it's not over, because one of the funniest men alive has not put in his say.  Dave Chappelle not only adlibs over the beat of the first bonus track, he actually raps the chorus.  BT shows his love for the comedian's sketch show by quoting his character Tron's first season line "and a banana cognac, beeyotch".  The song is like an inside joke for the whole world, yet this still does not end the album.  The group figures they have more than enough album space left for a cover of George Kranz's classic club song "Din Daa Daa", and pull it off.  While the idea is pretty audacious, the crew make it crazy enough it works.  It is an even more fitting end to an album full of innovative ways of reworking boundaries.

The Roots had one of the most anticipated albums of the year on their hands with the Tipping Point, and this is that one in a million album that delivers on the hype.  After losing two members of their group left (human beatbox Scratch left for personal reasons, and bass guitarist Ben Kenney joined Incubus), the Roots rebounded and silenced hip-hop purists who grew tired of their stretching of their genre's limits.  Consider those boundaries broken.

mp3 Player Worthy: "Guns are Drawn", "Stay Cool", "Star/Pointro", everything

Place on Permanent Skip: Nothing

Overall: 5.5 out of 6 Shots