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Zero 7
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.
Game Theory

Universal acclaim
Based on 26 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 55 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album >
Album Info
Label: Def Jam
Release Date: 29 August 2006
Discs: 1 disc
Genre(s): Rap
Summary
The hip-hop collective's eighth album is their first for Def Jam records, and also features the return to the group of rapper Malik B.
Also By This Artist: Phrenology Rising Down The Tipping Point
Also On The Web: Official Artist Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Stylus Magazine
With Game Theory, the Roots have finally delivered on nearly every once-broken promise.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly
It's all ghetto vérité and political paranoia, with claustrophobic production to match the doom and gloom.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club)
Especially in its superior second half, the album resonates with casual ambition as it reconciles ?uestlove's effortless bohemian cool and sonic perfectionism with Black Thought's dark swagger, street-level sociology, and silver-tongued virtuosity.
Read Full Review >Mojo
A focused tour de force. [Oct 2006, p.100]
All Music Guide
Game Theory is a heavy album, the Roots' sharpest work. It's destined to become one of Def Jam's proudest, if not most popular, moments.
Read Full Review >Tiny Mix Tapes
It is an excellent album that has taken them seven long years to finally get to, but those are seven years that have been evidently well spent: After years of mediocrity and being, to some degree, marginalized -- just when the world needed them -- The Roots are back like never before.
Read Full Review >NOW Magazine
If anything, the grooves have gotten tougher and funkier on Game Theory.
Read Full Review >Blender
Whatever style the Roots take on their eighth album, whether it’s 21st century Sly Stone ("Baby"), flute-inflected freak-folk ("Living in a New World") or epic black rock ("Game Theory"), they do better than anyone else in pop.
Read Full Review >Vibe
Like prior Roots albums, Game Theory boasts top-notch craftsmanship... but it's continuity that makes this album unique. [Sep 2006, p.211]
Spin
Game Theory is the Roots at their heaviest. [Sep 2006, p.114]
PopMatters
The Roots’ darkest, grimiest, most unrelenting and possibly most focused effort to date.
Read Full Review >Uncut
Consolidates the experimentation of 2002's Phrenology and the conscious snap of 1999's Things Fall Apart into a focused, intelligent record. [Oct 2006, p.123]
ShakingThrough.net
A few throwaways... keep Theory from attaining the rarified heights of earlier efforts. But in the final count, it’s just nice to hear this criminally underappreciated outfit sounding so sharp and revitalized.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times
"Game Theory" helps rescue a remarkably anemic hip-hop summer. [20 Aug 2006]
cokemachineglow
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.
Read Full Review >Urb
The Roots' energy is claustrophobic and thus, jaded. It still has a prominent place on Game Theory, but when it's not subdued, it's downright bitter. [Sep 2006, p.142]
Rolling Stone
For every head-nodding beat, Game Theory has a head-turning treat. [7 Sep 2006, p.100]
The New York Times
Black Thought... sounds more focused than he did on the Roots’ last album, “The Tipping Point,” and more engaged than on the one before it, “Phrenology.” But because he’s not the kind of rapper to modulate his emotional pitch, his intensity can level off into monotony.
Read Full Review >Q Magazine
Classic Roots. [Oct 2006, p.126]
What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this album is 9.2 (out of 10) based on 55 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Radoslav P. gave it a10:
Incredible - borders gendre,rase,coolor and religion - everythnig for everyone.
Krish B. gave it a10:
The Roots have done it again. Now that they have moved to a decent record label they have shown their true intentions for hip-hop and i have to say that it is absolutely amazing.
Cosmo D. gave it a9:
Best Hip Hop album of 06, people need to hear this shit because once i listened through it a few times the shit was unbelievable.
thomas m gave it a10:
absolute classic album, finally a rap act who isnt just focusing on club songs, great lyricism and substance all the way through
Torrey D gave it a10:
I Could Not Believe This Album did not win the best rap album at the funckin grammy's nuff said
Reuben F gave it a9:
Part of what I am calling an apparent Alt. Hip-Hop Renaissance, The Roots are up there with Subtle and TV On The Radio as stand out artists of the genre to release albums this year.
Happy C gave it a10:
Best hip-hop album of 2006, by far!
