Vibe.com, August 25th, 2006
Dark and brooding, Game Theory (or song numbers 115 through 127 for you diehards) is a masterfully crafted, sobering wake-up call.
After years of dropping interchangeable battle raps and dewy love songs, the Roots reignited flickers of their political fire on their last album, 2004’s The Tipping Point. On songs like “Why (What’s Goin On?)” and “Guns Are Drawn,” front man Black Thought took shots at the Bush Doctrine. But in retrospect, their criticisms were tame—like peacenik sit-ins as opposed to the raging protests during the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
Game Theory’s title track embodies a more uncompromising mood. Over funky keyboard squawks and walloping drums, Thought declares himself “ready for a classic massacre.” He’s then one-upped in contempt and vigor by returning group member Malik B: “Dreams with M16s with infrared beams / Blowin’ up presidents cribs with cans of kerosene / Hijack the limousine with a strategic routine / Then blast my enemies….” Even the lead single, “Don’t Feel Right,” rages against the machine. After bringing aboard Musiq (“Break You Off”) and Scott Storch (“Don’t Say Nuthin’”) to kick-start their last two albums, the group spotlights little-known singer Miamouna Youssef as the big guest star this time. And Thought’s subject matter couldn’t be less in tune with radio: “I try to school these bucks, but they don’t wanna listen / That’s the reason the system making this paper from the prison.”
“Long Time Coming” documents a similar struggle. Black Thought reminisces about his youth (think Calogero from A Bronx Tale, only with a Gamble & Huff sound track) and perseverance to succeed: “They swore I’d fall / Or be another brick in the wall.”Meanwhile, the band makes sure the instrumentation matches the agitated lyrics. Kamal supplies angry keyboard chords on “Take It There,” and Hub’s woozy bass accentuates “Living in a New World” paranoia. They really jell, though, on “Here I Come.” Guitarist Martin Luther’s dizzying ax work gives the Roots a swagger they’ve been missing since 2002’s “Thought @ Work.”
The exhilaration doesn’t last, however. Black Thought rhymes from the perspective of a broken man (“As I go through the motions / Of medication upping my dosage”) on the Radiohead-sampling “Atonement.” Less successful is the manufactured tearjerker “Clock with No Arms.” Here, sappy keys beget sappy opening bars: “Sittin’ in the staircase holding back tears, looking over mad years worth of photographs.” Unfortunately, the emotion is all too real on “Can’t Stop,” the Roots’ eight-and-a-half minute tribute to Dilla, who died last February after a long battle with lupus. Halfway in, rugged drums start up, and Jay Dee is eulogized via a series of answering machine messages.
Like prior Roots albums, Game Theory boasts top-notch craftsmanship—mixing and sequencing do count!—but it’s continuity that makes this album unique. On “Take It There” Black Thought all but sums up the despondent theme: “Life crookeder than the spliff that wouldn’t burn right.” Wounded by their government, and even more by their own brush with mortality, the Roots acknowledge that not all stories have happy endings, and the good guys don’t always win. Welcome to the real world.
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