The Roots, Game Theory -- Review

Just so you know where I stand:

Do You Want More?!!!??! 4 1/2 out of 5 *_*
Illadelph Halflife 5 out of 5 *_*
Things Fall Apart 4 out of 5 *_*
Phrenology 4 1/4 out of 5 *_*
The Tipping Point 3 1/2 out of 5 *_*

I'm not the only one to contend that The Roots' last album was really the long-rumored Black Thought solo album stamped, for whatever reason (royalties, most likely), with his crew's name instead of his. Whether that was the case or not, The Tipping Point doesn't feel like a Roots' long player. Besides the dip in quality (though it definitely has its moments), Black Thought stands out on the album like those T-shirts in Almost Famous with Russell Hammond at the foreground and his bandmates' shadowy figures in the background.

But, to extend the Almost Famous analogy, ?uestlove is the real Russell Hammond, the true brains behind the outfit, and Black Thought, though I dig him like undertakers, is Jeff Bebe. If The Tipping Point is considered BT's brainchild, Game Theory is unquestionably ?uestlove's; and where the former's success was hampered by too much focus on its lead MC, on Game Theory ?uestlove rights the ship by spotlighting each of the The Roots Crew's members' gifts and talents. Thank god.

But how refreshing is it really? Peep game (Theory):


Dilltastic Vol Won(Derful)

Atmospheric, brief intro, just to let you know they ain't got time to waste. In no way holds a candle to the "let'sstartthefuckingshowalready" intro to Phrenology, though.

False Media

Druuuuums! Who's that doing spoken word? They shoulda recruited Chuck D. That beat is like trying to tune into a college radio hip-hop show circa 1995, Toronto area. In a good way. Xylophooooones! Good appetizer.

Game Theory

Nice Pete Rockesque segue between the tracks, and then...hold the fuck on! BT's on fire. A chopped-up crooning sample and ?uest's percussion provide the backing track, then on the 2nd verse some Bomb Squad-remininscent guitar wails make a brief appearance. Then...

Is that...? Could it be...? It is! Malik B makes his triumphant return to The Roots. If Publishers Clearing House hadn't this morning informed me that I've won 1,000,000 dollars, this definitely would have been the most pleasant surprise of the day. Fuck yeah.

Best line: "Now I'm the first out the limo like Charlie Mack." Am I the only one who got that?

Don't Feel Right

Again, drums and horns (which sound remarkably akin to the ones on The Luniz's I Got 5 On It). Then some singer (whose voice sounds remarkly akin to a pre-pubescent Talib Qweli) and the dopest piano since Marly Marl and RZA stopped being relevant makes an appearance.

Does feel right, especially when the Edanesque compu-funk makes a cameo after the 2nd verse and the piano track resumes.

I just figured where those horny horns are from: "Jungle Boogie"

Get down. Classic.

Choice lyric:

If you ain't got paper, then steal the CD. Well all right! Dig the subterfuge!

In The Music

Percussion and handclaps, followed by more industrial-sounding percussion and a Spy Hunter-style guitar loop. Fantastic track. You know, before I heard this I read a lot of press calling the album "brooding". Father UC King that, this album is a certified neck-snapper.

Malik B again! Feel good story of the year. Is that ?uestlove shouting the chorus?

Take It There

Rahzel provides the beat. This is more an addendum to the previous track than a stand-alone song...that is until the track emerges like a butterfly from a chrysalis (I graduated 3rd grade last week) into a louder, more emphatic song, one which can stand alone.

Baby

Sadly, no Dirty Dancing allusions. Black Thought sorta-sings, though doesn't commit himself enough for inclusion to the level of ridicule reserved for Andre 3000 and Pharrell (from others, not me).

Come to think of it, this track has NERD written all over it. And I like NERD. Does that make me a homo?

Here I Come

[awkward silence]

Blink and you may miss the fact that this is not in, um, fact a rock-inspired track but rather an adept throwback to both the heydays of Rakim and Kane and when posse tracks flowed adrenalin like you drool in your sleep. Dice motherfucking Raw has the track's best line: "money long like arms on Alonzo Mourning."

Call it a progressive throwback. I'm gonna write a thank-you letter to Jay-Z.

Long Time

Love that guitar. Fantastic track, but probably would have been better fitted as the album's closer. Plus BT is too intense for the track. He should've restrained himself a bit. Some guy named Peedi Peedi guest stars and impresses slightly, despite a truly awful nom de plume. Peedi Peedi? Seriously? That's a Lupe Fiasco.

Livin' In A New World

Too bad summer's over, because this is that season's perfect soundtrack. BT gets his Beastie Boys distortion on, which quickly conforms to clarity. Too short like Life Is..., though. I would have liked to have heard the whole gang on this one.

Clock With No Hands

A clock with no hands!? Trippy. Profound. Seriously though,

(I often have dreams of being chased by a headless lycanthrope wielding a semi-automatic)

this wouldn't have been out of place on Do You Want More?!!!??!. On this album, however, ehhhhh. Not bad, but not great either. It's certainly not bad but not great. The Pete Rockesque coda (seriously, dude should receive royalties whenever a track ends in such a manner), though, is pretty like Ned Beatty's mouth.

Atonement

That's a Radiohead sample, right? You and Whose Army?, right? Big money Def Jam, spared no expense. Good. I will admit that the advent of sampling laws helped cripple hip-hop as I knew it, but it worked/works both ways, and most cats took/take the easy route; and even though Knives Out isn't, say, as creative as some of the ish Primo, Prince Paul and others "re-imagined" (I like that word; it's friendly) back in the day, it's thinking fresh out the box for this (crappy) hip-hop era. Maybe ?uestlove can make sampling Radiohead his signature, much in the same way The Beatminerz for a period in the late-90's got by sampling Portishead records.

But I'm rambling. Good song. Sounds like coming down from heroin. Or so I imagine.

Can't Stop This

Know how when a pro wrestler turns heel or face, and their past transgressions are instantly ignored/forgotten? That's how I feel about this track. It's good, but it's subject, the late J-Dilla/Jay Dee, wasn't, I'm sorry, as monumental a hip-hop artist as the track claims. He was decent, don't get me wrong, but not by far one of the most-influential producers the game has seen. All this spinning is making me dizzy. The Muhammed Ali of beats? Come on, now. I appreciate the sentiment, and the track is good (if way too long), but let's not fool ourselves into thinking that Dilla was one of the greatest producers of all time. He was decent, that's all. AND, sorry again to speak ill of the dead, he made A Tribe Called Quest (and Common, arguably) suck.

Overall this eulogy on wax is heartfelt and somewhat touching; it's when J-Dilla is deified as one of hip-hop's most creative forces that I get my back up.

Then again, should I prematurly pass, I fully expect my peers (Idealjetsam and the ajumma posse in my neighborhood) to eulogize me as the best writer in the history of the English language. I look forward to Idealjetsam referring to me as "more talented than Dostoevsky and handsomer than Eric Stoltz."

Bread and Butter (Bonus Track)

Country like Style Donuts. Love the Citizen Kane reference. I'm not made of steel, after all. Perfect. For a bonus track.

Conclusion: As far as hip-hop groups go, The Roots will never be as groundbreaking or memorable as De La, A Tribe Called Quest or Outkast, though their creative output has been more consistent (and they've never dropped a certified-dookie like Idlewild); Black Thought and -- when present -- Malik B just don't have the combined mic prowess and charisma of Pos and Dave, Q-Tip and Phife, and Big Boi and Dre. As a pantheon crew, they're a perrenial 2nd Team selection. Nothing wrong with that. Props to Jay and the suits for allowing The Roots' Def Jam debut to be a Roots album rather than...I shudder to think what it could have been.

As is, it's a return to form, at times a phenomenal album. It ends on a low note, though, and that fact, combined with a few others (too much reliance on backing vocals, too few minutes to let the whole crew really shine) relegates Game Theory to "coulda been a contender (for classic)" status.

Nevertheless, it's the best hip-hop album released this year.

Rating: 4 3/8 out of 5 *_*