NEW DOUBLE LP
New sealed copy. 2025 reissue.
Game Theory is the seventh studio album by the Roots, released in 2006 through Def Jam Recordings. It was the group's first album for the label after leaving Geffen Records and was recorded largely using GarageBand. Compared with Phrenology and The Tipping Point, the album takes a darker and more stripped down approach, with less emphasis on conventional hooks and a stronger sense of cohesion across the record.
Musically, Game Theory combines the Roots' live instrumentation and jazz influenced hip hop with dense, serious production and a pronounced influence from Public Enemy. Black Thought's lyrics address war, violence, politics, social conditions, and personal loss, while the album also pays tribute to producer J Dilla. "Atonement" incorporates a sample of Radiohead's "You and Whose Army?" and "False Media" establishes the record's political tone from its opening moments.
Game Theory debuted at number nine on the Billboard 200 and received a Grammy nomination for Best Rap Album. Its darker tone and focused social commentary distinguished it from the Roots' immediately preceding work and marked the beginning of their Def Jam period.
TRACKLIST:
A1 Dilltastic Vol Won(derful)
A2 False Media
A3 Game Theory
A4 Don't Feel Right
B1 In The Music
B2 Take It There
B3 Baby
C1 Here I Come
C2 Long Time
C3 Livin' In A New World
D1 Clock With No Hands
D2 Atonement
D3 Can't Stop This
