The Northern Light

Shame on those who aren't familiar with The Roots. They are one of the few groups that has yet to release a bad album. The group is now on their seventh record, called "Game Theory."

For the new jacks, The Roots are arguably the only successful hip-hop band. This doesn't mean others haven't tried to perform hip-hop with a live band, and it doesn't even mean others haven't done a good job. What it means is that every group that tries to record rap music to a live band is eventually compared to The Roots.

Their drummer, ?uestlove (pronounced "Questlove"), has become a small icon, appearing everywhere from The Chappelle Show to Fiona Apple's "Extraordinary Machine." The less-public Black Thought, often considered the most underrated rapper in hip-hop, is known to change his flow with ease.

"Game Theory" clocks in at just less than 47 minutes, making it their shortest album to date. But "Game Theory" hits harder than any other release from The Roots.

Looking for a single quickly becomes a search for the softest song on the album. The most obvious candidate is "Baby," with Black Thought proclaiming, "Your ma don't like the jitterbug/ Said this unholy music/ Hip-hop just so ridiculous/ Everything sound/ So confusing." The Roots could very well be in a mood to kill Clear Channel when they send out their singles, and opt for one of the less radio-friendly songs like "Don't Feel Right," a song that sounds the way the cover looks. (And it should; the lyrics are printed on the front.)

Removed from everything else on the album is the Radiohead-sampled "Atonement," which borrows from "You and Whose Army?" It was only right to stick this gem at the end. The only track that follows is the eight minute tribute to the recently deceased Jay Dee.

The Roots are one of the few bands that can boast of a flawless track record. Up against all of the music released so far this year, "Game Theory" resides as the cream at the top of the cup, but that isn't how one judges a Roots album. Properly, one would compare a Roots album only to the other Roots albums. "Game Theory" follows through with all of the punches that "The Tipping Point" pulled. The album isn't quite as experimental as "Phrenology" and it doesn't owe its sounds to jazz as much as any of their albums up to "Things Fall Apart."

The sound is slightly different, but, as Black Thought said, "You are rocking to the sounds of the Legendary Roots Crew" when listening to "Game Theory." The album is great. Go out and pay whatever Mammoth Music is charging for it and be happy that you have another album by The Roots.

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