I'll weigh in too. It has been a disappointment.
I find myself hoping that it'll grow on me, much like how The Love Below grew on me so quickly even though I had never really heard anything like it. I'm sure there are other albums that I had to digest first or even songs too. But I'm just don't find myself too interested in hearing the whole album thru. I wonder if lazyness has settled into Thought's lyrics. He barely can come up with even the slightest bit of energy, except for a few songs and I would say his style is getting old to me. Flaws that I overlooked in the past I'm having trouble dismissing now. Like how he never ventures off into unknown messages besides boasting about his skills. That's the norm for most MCs but after so many albums, you have to expect something new. I always gave The Roots credit for innovation on the musical aspects but now, on this album, it's pretty lacking in innovation. Some are great and I can't think of the names but the one without a hook and I think it was simple, with just a drum and one or two other instruments and he starts killing it. But quite a few other tracks seemed boring to me. It's still a nice album but lacking in only 10 tracks, where quite a few fall short.
While I've been listening to it for the past week or so, I started to think about how many songs and albums have grown on me. I started to wonder about all the forces that allow me to accept albums and songs. Like Jay-Z. The Black Album, is good but depending on my mood, I might trash it for reminding me that Jay just wants to live on the throne of sales and publicity but not so much on lyrical skills. I guess lyrics isn't what he's lacking in but the message is tired. But when ever 99 Problems or a few other tracks that I originally dismissed comes on the radio, I find myself bobbing my head. Then I catch myself ignoring my initial problems with the album and continue to bob my head...and buy his albums even though his only great albums have been Reasonable Doubts and The Blueprint. Others have been great but to sum up, his career has been built on sales. Like how great every Final Fantasy or Mario is, just cuz they rack up the sales. Yeah, they are better than 90% of what's out there but each one isn't a kiss from Jesus.
The only thing that encourages me from my doubts that extraneous factors are influencing my listening habits is how quickly I pick up on great albums. I originally listened to The Love Below and College Dropout with hesitation but now looking back on both of them, they have been some of the better albums I've listened to in a long time. For different reasons, I enjoyed those for my own reasons. Even though they both had a ton of hype, I can ignore the MTV view cuz I don't watch it. I don't really watch videos consistently and the only thing I've been listening while in the car has been Howard Stern and Wendy Williams (BTW, that show last week where Brandy's 'ex-husband' confirmed they were never married and Brandy was just a trap, side piece who just happened to get pregnant and he was pressured by the family to fake the marriage was off the hook.) So I don't think anything but being great lead me to listen to both those albums. Kanye has the beats down pat and is a competent and I would say decent lyricist. And there are quite a few different messages besides money, hoes and clothes that always gets points from me. It wraps up into a great album.
Meanwhile, The Love Below plays to all my hopes of music moving away from the norm. Great lyrics, great theme, great production, Dre doing something he hasn't done before, moving hiphop and Black music in a great direction...all reasons it was my top album of the past few years.
Either way, this was my rant that's been cooking in my head for awhile. It'll be interesting how The Tipping Point ages over the next month or so. Right now, I'm skipping a lot of songs and the whole album, at times, to go back to listening to College Dropout, The Love Below and Speakerboxx.
Off topic Edit:After typing that in one sitting right now, it's like the screen is so small and I seem so far away. That must mean I've been at this screen for too long. It's almost like I'm looking at the screen from binoculars. I have to go look at TV. Doesn't help that my monitor is at 1152 X 864.
Oh, and all these great Alicia Keys songs make me wanna pick it up. Great voice. I want to marry her.