Game Theory - 3 1/2 Stars

It's a problem when the drummer is the most compelling member of your group (just ask the Max Weinberg Seven). Producer-drummer ?uestlove is the crucial Root, while frontman Black Thought is more of a reliable MC than an exceptional one. The Roots have overcome this drawback by consistently pushing the boundaries of hip-hop. For every head-nodding beat (and ?uestlove brings plenty of 'em), Game Theory has a head-turning treat, from the "om" chant intro on the gospel-style "Baby" to the melancholy Radiohead sample of "Atonement." While the straight-ahead, singsong "Don't Feel Right" is underwhelming, bigger hooks come courtesy of "Long Time." A piece of Prince-ly cyberfunk with a gorgeous string arrangement by Philadelphia soul vet Larry Gold, the song celebrates growing up in Philly, with guest MC Peedi Peedi bringing some welcome humor: "It started in the bathroom taking a dump/Listening to Ultramagnetic Ego Trippin'." The album closer, "Can't Stop," is a fizzy eight-minute tribute to departed producer J Dilla, memorialized here as the "Muhammad Ali of beats."

My question: what do they actually say in this review? Besides summing up the album more than actually reviewing it, they compare The Roots to Conan O'Brien's backing band? That's... ugh. Dude, I think The Roots have less to fear from bad reviews than shitty reviewers. How can Rolling Stone, who gave The Roots an online exclusive feature about GT (The "Heavy But No Debbie Downer" piece) write a review that says nothing but still gives them a less than ace score? I mean, yeah there are lots of cool hooks and "head turning treats," but a kid can say "hey that's cool." RS is supposed to be a magazine that champions good music and alerts about bad. I could have read the Amazon.com summation of GT for that.

oh yeah, P.S. - the only thing you do say, about Black Thought being underwhelming, is f-ing ignorant. Good job at not doing your job, RS. Seems to me that every important figure in Hip-Hop champions BT as an emcee's mc and one of the best in the game (like Talib did on these boards the other day), but you just go ahead and give Rick Ross all your love, you asshats.

Oh, and just because I ran across another one, here's the GT review from cokemachineglow.com. Much better, but once again the reviewer seems nuts for the album but only gives it a 71%.
----

Okay, players. Remember when we all wrote the Roots off, ?uestioning why we ever cared in the first place? Well, not exactly, because “Proceed,” “Clones,” and “Next Movement” would loom large over any catalogue. But even halfway through Things Fall Apart (1999) (about the point where Malik disappeared) we were thinking, “Really? Seriously? Is ‘ballsy electric piano’ the only patch Kamal’s keyboard has?” The ideas that had made the Roots relevant suddenly seemed tired, and the six people that actually cared that they were a Hip Hop Band stopped mentioning that all the time. Phrenology (2002) had its moments, sure, but the biggest story was the loss of their new guitarist Ben Kenney to that band who sang “Drive” (I know I could look it up, but isn’t it funnier that I can’t remember the band’s name? “Iccarus?” “Iconic Mall Punk?”), mostly ‘cause it meant that said band would continue on pretending they were “experimental.” And then, and I think this is what did it, The Tipping Point (2004) was kind of accepted by fans everywhere with a resigned “meh,” as if the shit quality of the album just wasn’t at all surprising. So we wrote them off, slotting the Roots in directly behind J5 in the hierarchy of Hip Hop Groups With Live Shows Fun Enough For Frat Boys.

Get ready to be surprised. Somehow, and for none of the reasons the Roots even deserve mention in the historical progress of rap (excepting Hub’s ever-present cigarillo), Game Theory -- even with two tracks consecutively titled “Baby, Here I Come” -- is good. Not just passable, but really good. Erasing the chalkboard good. I’m as confused as you.

Okay, but let’s be clear. I’ve duct-taped my trigger fingers together (which makes it hard to type) just in case the nostalgic power of Do You Want More?!!!??! (1995) makes me drop a 90-bomb on this shit. It ain’t that. But there’s no ill-formed punk excursions, the wonky experimentation is worked into the songs rather than stacked on top of and in between them (and in general is far less wonky), and, most shockingly, Black Thought is, for the first time in centuries, rapping about shit other than how ill his own damn illaself is. Well, some of the time, anyway.

So what’s different? First off, Thought sounds angry. I might even say “eye of the tiger,” if it wasn’t so far beyond that. Whereas Thought’s nimble jazz-spit technique has tended to undermine his political commentary in the past, on Game Theory it isn’t easy to escape the “fuck you” for the funk. His usual elasticity (quoth Aaron: “he makes other mcs sound sloppy”) abounds, but it’s nail-gunned to the beats; he’s punctuating clearly, and the elasticity itself serves his varying emotive deliveries, rather than, as in the past, defying any emotion whatsoever. Single “Don’t Feel Right” delivers his new manifesto; lines like “this ain’t a press junket / I ain’t seeking responses” and “if you ain’t speaking your life / your rhymes adopted” characterize Black Thought v.8 (harder, faster, better, stronger). I know -- after his by-the-numbers guest spot on Pick a Bigger Weapon, it’s even more shocking.

But beyond Thought’s transformation, the mooky jazz hooks central to The Roots of Hip Hop’s Past sound have been soulified, sliced up, and refashioned as something vital. Check the chorus on “Don’t Feel Right,” one of the best of the year, where the chance that you’ll be singing along in about five seconds hovers around 95%. As other-than-mc guests have become more frequent on Roots releases, the band have finally (if slowly) escaped the quandary implicit in their make-up. Since letting Jazz flip his seismic scratching on “The Next Movement,” the band seemed confined to a liminal space: to sample or not to sample. Thrice removed from Scratch and Rahzel, buoyed by shifting line-ups and necessity, and moving to Def Jam, it seems they’ve stopped caring. Samples abound on Game Theory (including, as Clay has noted, Radiohead), and unlike The Tipping Point, are used to rework the band’s tired formula into something exciting.

The samples aren’t the only spice in the pot. ?uestlove’s drums sound crisp and reinvigorated; rather than playing punk and rock, he throws Detroit auto-factory noises under “In the Music” while Thought gives “illest” (sort of) negative valence for the first time ever when referring to Philadelphia. “Take It There” gives ?uest room to experiment with drum tracks; the beat sounds close to beat boxing until his high hat slurs come in. The song stalls a bit until Kamal throws some dirge piano rolls over the end, the wild orchestration flipping the song emotionally and supporting Thought’s narrative. Immediately after, “Baby” clicks in, all “Chain Gang” vocal grunts and Leslie Cabinet guitars. The song veers towards the Andre 3000 irony-plus gauge of hip hop love songs, but the beat is interesting enough to make it work. “Here I Come,” fortunately, has nothing to do with the track before it, and besides a silly chorus, has Thought condensing syllables like he’s possessed over ?uest’s slap-happy snare, Captain Kirk’s industrial guitar, and Kamal’s synth flourishes.

“Long Time” and “Livin’ in a New World” begin the final section of the album. The former has Thought discussing life in South Philly over a neat little funk riff and a barrage of percussion. It’s arguably the track on the album where the band sounds like they’re having the most fun; the cruising soul vocals on the hook and the lilting strings soar behind the propulsive beat, highlighting the Roots’ above-average ability to be sentimental without sounding forced or ludicrous. “New World” makes a Beck of Black Thought on a megaphone filter; in a neat production trick, the filter slips away as a gorgeous flute sample enters. Screw MTV Unplugged; this is as acoustic as the Roots have ever sounded. The inoffensive-but-kind-of-just-there “Clock With No Hands” fills out the menu before “Atonement” Amnesiacs its way into history.

Game Theory’s highs never quite reach those of Do You Want More?!!!??! or Illadeph Halflife (1996), and those albums, even with those highs, are still inconsistent affairs. Which means that the Roots are back on track, but the track itself was never something we praised wholeheartedly in the first place. Game Theory shows the band working overtime on interesting ideas and textures formed into fresh beats, shedding the once ironclad definitions of what the Roots should sound like far more successfully than Phrenology or The Tipping Point, but still perched on a precipice of formula. It feels weird saying this about a band that has been around forever, but leap off, already.

Mark Abraham
August 24, 2006

here's a review from CMG. Reviewer loves it, but only gave it a 71%?

---

Okay, players. Remember when we all wrote the Roots off, ?uestioning why we ever cared in the first place? Well, not exactly, because “Proceed,” “Clones,” and “Next Movement” would loom large over any catalogue. But even halfway through Things Fall Apart (1999) (about the point where Malik disappeared) we were thinking, “Really? Seriously? Is ‘ballsy electric piano’ the only patch Kamal’s keyboard has?” The ideas that had made the Roots relevant suddenly seemed tired, and the six people that actually cared that they were a Hip Hop Band stopped mentioning that all the time. Phrenology (2002) had its moments, sure, but the biggest story was the loss of their new guitarist Ben Kenney to that band who sang “Drive” (I know I could look it up, but isn’t it funnier that I can’t remember the band’s name? “Iccarus?” “Iconic Mall Punk?”), mostly ‘cause it meant that said band would continue on pretending they were “experimental.” And then, and I think this is what did it, The Tipping Point (2004) was kind of accepted by fans everywhere with a resigned “meh,” as if the shit quality of the album just wasn’t at all surprising. So we wrote them off, slotting the Roots in directly behind J5 in the hierarchy of Hip Hop Groups With Live Shows Fun Enough For Frat Boys.

Get ready to be surprised. Somehow, and for none of the reasons the Roots even deserve mention in the historical progress of rap (excepting Hub’s ever-present cigarillo), Game Theory -- even with two tracks consecutively titled “Baby, Here I Come” -- is good. Not just passable, but really good. Erasing the chalkboard good. I’m as confused as you.

Okay, but let’s be clear. I’ve duct-taped my trigger fingers together (which makes it hard to type) just in case the nostalgic power of Do You Want More?!!!??! (1995) makes me drop a 90-bomb on this shit. It ain’t that. But there’s no ill-formed punk excursions, the wonky experimentation is worked into the songs rather than stacked on top of and in between them (and in general is far less wonky), and, most shockingly, Black Thought is, for the first time in centuries, rapping about shit other than how ill his own damn illaself is. Well, some of the time, anyway.

So what’s different? First off, Thought sounds angry. I might even say “eye of the tiger,” if it wasn’t so far beyond that. Whereas Thought’s nimble jazz-spit technique has tended to undermine his political commentary in the past, on Game Theory it isn’t easy to escape the “fuck you” for the funk. His usual elasticity (quoth Aaron: “he makes other mcs sound sloppy”) abounds, but it’s nail-gunned to the beats; he’s punctuating clearly, and the elasticity itself serves his varying emotive deliveries, rather than, as in the past, defying any emotion whatsoever. Single “Don’t Feel Right” delivers his new manifesto; lines like “this ain’t a press junket / I ain’t seeking responses” and “if you ain’t speaking your life / your rhymes adopted” characterize Black Thought v.8 (harder, faster, better, stronger). I know -- after his by-the-numbers guest spot on Pick a Bigger Weapon, it’s even more shocking.

But beyond Thought’s transformation, the mooky jazz hooks central to The Roots of Hip Hop’s Past sound have been soulified, sliced up, and refashioned as something vital. Check the chorus on “Don’t Feel Right,” one of the best of the year, where the chance that you’ll be singing along in about five seconds hovers around 95%. As other-than-mc guests have become more frequent on Roots releases, the band have finally (if slowly) escaped the quandary implicit in their make-up. Since letting Jazz flip his seismic scratching on “The Next Movement,” the band seemed confined to a liminal space: to sample or not to sample. Thrice removed from Scratch and Rahzel, buoyed by shifting line-ups and necessity, and moving to Def Jam, it seems they’ve stopped caring. Samples abound on Game Theory (including, as Clay has noted, Radiohead), and unlike The Tipping Point, are used to rework the band’s tired formula into something exciting.

The samples aren’t the only spice in the pot. ?uestlove’s drums sound crisp and reinvigorated; rather than playing punk and rock, he throws Detroit auto-factory noises under “In the Music” while Thought gives “illest” (sort of) negative valence for the first time ever when referring to Philadelphia. “Take It There” gives ?uest room to experiment with drum tracks; the beat sounds close to beat boxing until his high hat slurs come in. The song stalls a bit until Kamal throws some dirge piano rolls over the end, the wild orchestration flipping the song emotionally and supporting Thought’s narrative. Immediately after, “Baby” clicks in, all “Chain Gang” vocal grunts and Leslie Cabinet guitars. The song veers towards the Andre 3000 irony-plus gauge of hip hop love songs, but the beat is interesting enough to make it work. “Here I Come,” fortunately, has nothing to do with the track before it, and besides a silly chorus, has Thought condensing syllables like he’s possessed over ?uest’s slap-happy snare, Captain Kirk’s industrial guitar, and Kamal’s synth flourishes.

“Long Time” and “Livin’ in a New World” begin the final section of the album. The former has Thought discussing life in South Philly over a neat little funk riff and a barrage of percussion. It’s arguably the track on the album where the band sounds like they’re having the most fun; the cruising soul vocals on the hook and the lilting strings soar behind the propulsive beat, highlighting the Roots’ above-average ability to be sentimental without sounding forced or ludicrous. “New World” makes a Beck of Black Thought on a megaphone filter; in a neat production trick, the filter slips away as a gorgeous flute sample enters. Screw MTV Unplugged; this is as acoustic as the Roots have ever sounded. The inoffensive-but-kind-of-just-there “Clock With No Hands” fills out the menu before “Atonement” Amnesiacs its way into history.

Game Theory’s highs never quite reach those of Do You Want More?!!!??! or Illadeph Halflife (1996), and those albums, even with those highs, are still inconsistent affairs. Which means that the Roots are back on track, but the track itself was never something we praised wholeheartedly in the first place. Game Theory shows the band working overtime on interesting ideas and textures formed into fresh beats, shedding the once ironclad definitions of what the Roots should sound like far more successfully than Phrenology or The Tipping Point, but still perched on a precipice of formula. It feels weird saying this about a band that has been around forever, but leap off, already.

Mark Abraham
August 24, 2006

not saying you do, but this shit is awful.

dont mind the 3 and 1/2 star rating (havent heard it yet, so im not going to agree/disagree), but this shit is doesnt really say anything

I DO tend to talk about what the songs sound like, but dude gave it a 3.5 without even saying what's bad on the album.

I wrote a (relatively short) Game Theory review for a local paper. When it's published, y'all will see it.

adding another layer of f-ing terribleness...

the average user rating as of now is only 2 stars out of 5.

ouch

must not be the OKP community doing them ratings, cause I've heard nothing but love 'round here.





And now its time to say goodnight.

i don't get it either, i love the album, and on the whole most of the actual words in the reviews are excessively complimentary. but it's the numbers. i don't get it, but who cares. numbers are great, but fact: roots killed it with this album, slam dunk, hot shit. that's what I wanted. fuck-a-critic, it's interesting to see what they note (the CMG guy seems about to bust with compliments), but we got a great album. i'm satisfied

...motherfucker cites one line from the album - the guest rapper's...

but I think a bad rolling stone rating's mostly a good sign for a hiphop album.

Joke's on you, clown!

amazon.com gave it a good review which will hopefully sway a few customers.

Amazon.com
Despite their signing to Def Jam, on Game Theory the Roots head in a direction opposite from all the trendy, commercial formulas that the label has pioneered. This is as intensely a "Roots album" as anything they've put out, the rightful sequel to their brilliant, creative Phrenology (unlike their last album, the off-balance Tipping Point. Game Theory is a dark and brooding affair, not just in Black Thought's foreboding lyricism but also in its musical textures. There's a layer of melancholia running beneath nearly every song, whether in the heavy thump of "In the Music" or the frenetic verve of "Here I Come." Track-for-track, this isn't The Roots' most scintillating collection of songs, but listened to from end-to-end, it's actually a remarkable achievement in album-making. Every song builds into the next one, and those willing to experience Game Theory as a 47-minute suite of 13 songs will be richly rewarded by how precisely the whole puzzle fits together. --Oliver Wang

again.
i know how the game happens:
they get overwhelmed with shit to listen to and
if they even listen to the album more than 4 times before passing judgement
you are lucky:

if you notice they are all saying the same thing:

wanna know why?

enter tom brehan (whatever his name is) and the pitchfork crew.

journalists now live and die by whatever those guys say (pitchfork is RAL big on "the next thing" and "trashing the old gaurd")

so the trend this year is going after easy target tariq.

because there HAS to be a logical reason why we are not STARS.

meanwhile their praise of the mistrel culture in hip hop is even more disturbing to me (don't let me say the "r" word) simply because i see their acceptance of it as some backwards way of saying "see this IS REAL AUTHENTIC black life here."

i got more on this but imma chill.

>i got more on this but imma chill.

i'd like to hear more but i guess we all gotsta chill sometimes.
i agree a 100% tho. it's like they are just googling other reviews and suddenly they all talk about the same bullshit. this time it's black thought.
just a few good reviews here and there.

Is it cool if I post a link to my review when it runs this coming Wednesday?

And I completely agree about the "googling other reviews" thing. It's kind of pathetic that it happens though, because the last thing I've been taught to do is google anything...nevermind use someone else's work/words.

Most def, man. You don't need permission -- just say what you think...

At least write a blog abt it, you shouldn't have to hold your tongue on your own website!

It's fucked how they ganging up on Riq, guess u can't be too good for so long w/out getting dogged eventually

yeah, all my friends here at school only read pitchfork, so they miss some hot albums because they're just reading the reviews, and when i start spinning one of those albums, they love it until i tell em that pitchfork trashed it.

I'm still holding out hope that pitchfork isn't gonna fucking trash GT, because in the review they did of dilla's The Shining, they had nothing to say but good shit about black thought's cameo. So maybe dumbasses are startin' to see that BT is incredible. Or people are still walking around with their ears closed. Whatever, GT's hot, and thanks ?uest. Since I saw you guys 1 year ago in Ithaca (yes Ithaca) and you guys put on a burning show even though the audience was less than, you guys turned me on to some great music I wouldn't have gotten otherwise.

shit. i don't give a fuck on what they are saying in any review. i'll buy the album for sure.

everybody i know thats heard it either wasnt impressed or were impressed on the first listen but are bored to tears with it now...

with that said, that isnt a very indepth review...
but maybe they didnt feel it deemed an indepth review.

maybe the record is deeper to you than it is to the average person...
while it's not as shallow as tipping point, it definatly isnt as satisfying as illadelph halflife or even do you want more...

man....eff a review!

most of these cats reviewing your album (and any other quality hip-hop album for that matter...) have nothing to qualify it with. You can't compare what the roots do to what young or lil ________ (insert industy puppett here) does. that is like comparing good quaility Napa Valley wine to Tyrone's box of wine value pack that you get from Save-A-Bunch!

GT is classic....BT puts ALL of these industry whores to bed...HANDS DOWN!

meanwhile their praise of the mistrel culture in hip hop is even more disturbing to me (don't let me say the "r" word) simply because i see their acceptance of it as some backwards way of saying "see this IS REAL AUTHENTIC black life here."

>meanwhile their praise of the mistrel culture in hip hop is
>even more disturbing to me (don't let me say the "r" word)
>simply because i see their acceptance of it as some backwards
>way of saying "see this IS REAL AUTHENTIC black life here."

Exactly! I'm so glad other people are picking up on that trend. It's a shame, because a lot cats worship their opinion. I've been reading it for a minute now, but I haven't been able to stomach their rap reviews in the last year or so. When it comes to any other genre, they're all about the experimental, challenging sound, but the minute it turns to hip hop, they bash the same qualities in favor of that cookie-cutter crap.

read my review on Jambase ?uest! Lemme know if Im lazy!

No message

For their first release since Jay-Z signed them to Def Jam, the veteran Philadelphia rap band display a knuckled-down determination that utterly becomes them.

Every second of this album, an extended experimental tribute to their friend and sometime collaborator the late James “J. Dilla” Yancey, is both artful and meticulous. The band have long meshed live instruments with samples, but on tracks such as the Stevie Wonder-hued Long Time Coming, the atmospheric Take it There and, best of all, Here I Come, a bouncing, robotic song that emphasises their understanding of hip-hop’s sonic and emotional possibilities, they take their music to a new level of intensity and excellence.

5/5

About the 3rd largest newspaper in the UK. Well done roots!

i wouldn't have thought the times would have decent taste in most music, the guardian/observer usually does but i guess i just presumed the times was too tory-ish

doesnt tell me anything really about the album


reason #1230102893091802480 to become a music critic

fuck how good or bad the rating was, as long as it was a fucking fair assessment.

This review was complete and utter shit.

Rolling Stone ahsa LONG history of bad reviews.

And why is The Roots review 2 paragphs long? That's not a review, that's a "capsule review" like the ones you get in the back of a free weekly reader when they haven't seen a film.

Rolling Stone is also ALL OVER shit ass EMO bands. Pitforkmedia is 5 times worse, but RS is bad too.

The WORST review: (ignore the star ratings those are from readers)

Devo - Duty Now For The Future
http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/devo/albums/album/161853/review/5942032/duty_now_for_the_future

"Like the rest of the No Wave to which they're appended as a kind of accessible doppelgänger, Devo's funkless chubs have very few new ideas—most of the concepts on their second album, Duty Now for the Future, have been recycled from Frank Zappa, the Yardbirds and other Sixties avant-gardists — and the handful of original notions they do try to express are mostly lame or fraudulent. "

Tell me that Rolling Stone knows shit.

n/m

like DUH

I love black thought just the way he is! Not to flashy and gets his point accross. I have yet to hear any MC come close to this cat! for real! Honestly I don't think these cats know what they're talking about!

the bit that really gets me is that they take up about 1/4 of their magazine or more talking about dylan. Is he important? yes. is Dylan's face really gonna sell more magazines? no. he lost his relevance a while ago. that's not a diss to dylan, i think dylan knows it too. what good is another dylan interview and 3 page review gonna do? nothing. is it blood on the tracks? no? well then what's the big deal? if he gets into the top ten, it's because his entire fanbase will come out and buy anything with his name on it, every two years, then it will disappear.

I just have to wonder, like ?uesto, whether these people are in touch with the world or just with each other? "Perfunctory" doesn't even touch the roots review. Listen to the album and get yourself an education worthy of your prestigious job.

THE ONLY REASON I CAN FIND FOR THE 2 1/2 star rating for this album, is that it is from Houston, or that it will not make a commercial splash.

hmmm....


Chamillionaire
The Sound Of Revenge
Universal; 2005

The latest Houston rapper to release his major label solo debut is Chamillionaire. Alone after his fallout with former partner in rhyme Paul Wall, The Sound of Revenge finds Chamillionaire attempting to carve his own niche in an already oversaturated Houston hip-hop scene.

A couple of things immediately stand out upon hearing The Sound of Revenge: Chamillionaire’s distinctive voice and flow, and how different the production sounds from the typical Houston album. “The Sound of Revenge” serves as an epic introduction to the world of Chamillionaire, who with his sing-songy flow, is more 50 Cent than Mike Jones. The Scott Storch produced “Turn It Up” is a duet with H-town veteran Lil’ Flip, while Lil Wayne and Rasaq guest on “Fly As The Sky”, which suffers from an overly simple and robotic synthesized beat.

Chamillionaire succeeds most when he captures the almost UGK-like sound. “Picture Perfect” is a smooth-as-hell organ track, showcasing why Chamillionaire and Bun B are two of Houston’s best MCs, and are a cut above Paul Wall, Mike Jones, and company. “Rain” finds Cham alongside Scarface and Billy Cook in a song about overcoming adversity. Houston Mexican-American R&B singer Natalie assists on “Think I’m Crazy”, a track dealing with the issues surrounding a new relationship.

The Sound of Revenge is less crunk and more distinct in sound and subject matter than other recent Houston releases, but has a lack of stand-out radio-friendly songs and replay ability that will hamper Chamillionaire from reaching the success of some of his local contemporaries.


– Adrian Ruhi

>The Sound of Revenge is less crunk and more distinct in sound
>and subject matter than other recent Houston releases, but has
>a lack of stand-out radio-friendly songs and replay ability
>that will hamper Chamillionaire from reaching the success of
>some of his local contemporaries.

Yeah, too bad that Chamillionaire didn't have any radio-friendly songs, nothing that got replayed for the whole entire first part of the year.

When talking out your ass goes wrong . . .

This is so weak they don't know shit!! I interned ther for like four weeks and just did not think they cared at all for good hip-hop. Oh well we all know that black thought is one of the sickest emcees to ever bless the mic.

What the hell are they talking about?!
Max Weinberg is awesome.
and so is Game Theory.