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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.

Game Theory
by The Roots


9.1

based on 26 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 54 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album

Official Artist Site

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.

LABEL:	Def Jam
RELEASE DATE:	29 August 2006
DISCS:	1 disc
GENRE(S):	Rap

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...

100

Stylus Magazine

With Game Theory, the Roots have finally delivered on nearly every once-broken promise.

Entertainment Weekly

It's all ghetto vérité and political paranoia, with claustrophobic production to match the doom and gloom.

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.

Dot Music

This is not merely a good album, but a truly great one.

Dusted Magazine

Game Theory turns out to be The Roots’ finest record to date.

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.

RapReviews.com

There are plenty of unexpected surprises to be found.

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.

NOW Magazine

If anything, the grooves have gotten tougher and funkier on Game Theory.

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.

The Guardian

This taut, turbulent piece of work is the Roots' best yet.

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.

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]

Pitchfork

A streamlined product that die-hards can justly revel in.

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.

Los Angeles Times

"Game Theory" helps rescue a remarkably anemic hip-hop summer. [20 Aug 2006]

E! Online

[This] downcast disc is actually an improvement on its predecessor.

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.

Village Voice

They've resurfaced sounding dark, mysterious, and pissed off.

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.

Q Magazine

Classic Roots. [Oct 2006, p.126]

The average user rating for this album is 9.1 (out of 10) based on 54 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!

Game Theory by The Roots

Game Theory
by The Roots