''The Tipping Point'' is the sixth studio album by American hip hop band

the Roots The Roots are an American hip hop band formed in 1987 by Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter and Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The Roots serve as the house band on NBC's ''The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy F ...

, released July 13, 2004 on

Geffen Records Geffen Records is an American record label established by David Geffen and owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M Records imprint. Founded in 1980, Geffen Records has been a part of Interscope Geffen A&M since 1999 and h ...

. It is named after

Malcolm Gladwell Malcolm Timothy Gladwell (born 3 September 1963) is an English-born Canadian journalist, author, and public speaker. He has been a staff writer for ''The New Yorker'' since 1996. He has published seven books: '' The Tipping Point: How Little T ...

's book of the same name (2000),DeRogatis, Jim.
Review: ''The Tipping Point''
. ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...

'': 7. July 11, 2004. Archived fro
the original
on 2009-10-05. and is the follow-up to ''

Phrenology Phrenology () is a pseudoscience which involves the measurement of bumps on the skull to predict mental traits.Wihe, J. V. (2002). "Science and Pseudoscience: A Primer in Critical Thinking." In ''Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience'', pp. 195–203. C ...

'' (2002).Frosch, Dan.
Review: ''The Tipping Point''
. ''

Vibe ''Vibe'' is an American music and entertainment magazine founded by producers David Salzman and Quincy Jones. The publication predominantly features R&B and hip hop music artists, actors and other entertainers. After shutting down productio ...

'': August 2004. The album is a musical departure from their previous work, featuring a more diverse, yet pop-oriented sound, and it contains lyrics associated with

rapping Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

-prowess, political insight, and social commentary. ''The Tipping Point'' has been noted by music writers for exhibiting and emphasizing

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

, and

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

influences as well.Columnist
Review: ''The Tipping Point''
.

IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...

. Retrieved on 2009-10-05.Pareles, Jon
Review: ''The Tipping Point''
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''. Retrieved on 2009-10-05. Empire, Kitty
Review: ''The Tipping Point''
''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...

''. Retrieved on 2009-10-05. The song "I Don't Care" was featured on the soundtrack of the game ''

Gran Turismo 4 ''Gran Turismo 4'' is a 2004 racing video game for the PlayStation 2, the fourth installment in the main ''Gran Turismo'' series and the sixth for the overall series. It was developed by Polyphony Digital and published by Sony Computer Entertai ...

''. The cover image is a stylised rendering of a 1944 Boston police mug shot of

Malcolm X Malcolm X (born Malcolm Little, later Malik el-Shabazz; May 19, 1925 – February 21, 1965) was an American Muslim minister and human rights activist who was a prominent figure during the civil rights movement. A spokesman for the Nation of Is ...

, following his arrest for

larceny Larceny is a crime involving the unlawful taking or theft of the personal property of another person or business. It was an offence under the common law of England and became an offence in jurisdictions which incorporated the common law of Engla ...

Reception

The album debuted at number four on the U.S. ''Billboard'' 200 chart, selling 109,000 copies in its first week.Gelder, Laurence Van
Arts Briefing: Thursday, July 22, 2004
''The New York Times''. Retrieved on 2009-12-05. Despite mixed criticism towards its production and lyrical substance,Bieritz, Erick

Stylus Magazine ''Stylus Magazine'' was an American online music and film magazine, launched in 2002 and co-founded by Todd L. Burns. It featured long-form music journalism, four daily music reviews, movie reviews, podcasts, an MP3 blog, and a text blog. Addi ...

. Retrieved on 2009-12-05.Wang, Oliver
Review: ''The Tipping Point''
''The Village Voice''. Retrieved on 2009-10-05. ''The Tipping Point'' received generally positive reviews from most music critics, based on an aggregate score of 72 out of 100 on

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

Track listing

;Sample credits * "Star" samples "

Everybody Is a Star "Everybody Is a Star", released in December 1969, is song written by Sylvester Stewart and recorded by Sly and the Family Stone. The song, released as the B-side to the band's 1970 single "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)", reached number ...

" by

Sly & The Family Stone Sly and the Family Stone was an American band from San Francisco. Active from 1966 to 1983, it was pivotal in the development of funk, soul, rock, and psychedelic music. Its core line-up was led by singer-songwriter, record producer, and multi-i ...

* "Stay Cool" samples "Harlem Hendoo" by

Al Hirt Alois Maxwell "Al" Hirt (November 7, 1922 – April 27, 1999) was an American trumpeter and bandleader. He is best remembered for his million-selling recordings of "Java" and the accompanying album '' Honey in the Horn'' (1963), and for the them ...

* "Web" samples "Dance Girl" by The Rimshots ;Extra Notes * i = "Why (What's Goin' On?" only * ii = "In Love With The Mic" only * iii = "Din Da Da" only * iv = "Why (What's Goin' On?)" and "In Love With The Mic" only

Personnel

;The Roots * Vocals: Tariq 'Black Thought' Trotter * Bass: Adam Blackstone & Leonard 'Hub' Hubbard * Drums: Ahmir 'Questlove' Thompson * Guitars:

Anthony Tidd Anthony Tidd is a British-born bass player, composer and music producer, who has been based in the United States since 1996. A well-known name on the international jazz scene and veteran touring bass player, he has graced stages alongside many stapl ...

Captain Kirk Douglas "Captain" Kirk Douglas (born September 30, 1973) is an American guitarist and singer who performs with the hip hop band The Roots. He joined The Roots in 2003. His first album with The Roots was 2004's ''The Tipping Point'', where he split gui ...

Martin Luther Martin Luther (; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, theologian, author, hymnwriter, and professor, and Order of Saint Augustine, Augustinian friar. He is the seminal figure of the Reformation, Protestant Refo ...

* Horns: Kevin Hanson * Sound Manipulation: Si McMenamin * Keyboards:

Kamal Gray The Roots are an American hip hop band formed in 1987 by Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter and Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The Roots serve as the house band on NBC's ''The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy ...

& Omar Edwards * Percussion: Frank 'Knuckles' Walker ;Production * Producers: Questlove,

Scott Storch Scott Spencer Storch (born December 16, 1973) is an American record producer and songwriter. He started off as a keyboardist for the group the Roots. Early life Storch was born on Long Island, New York. He was raised in South Florida and Phila ...

, Melvin 'Chaos' Walker, Anthony Tidd, Frank 'Knuckles' Walker, Richard Nichols, Robert 'LB' Dorsey, Tahir, Zoukhari * Executive Producer: Richard Nichols

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

Notes

External links

*
The Tipping Point
' at

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the la ...

*
The Tipping Point
' at

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tipping Point, The The Roots albums 2004 albums Albums produced by Questlove Albums produced by Scott Storch Geffen Records albums