Posted on Tue, Aug. 29, 2006

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The Roots spreading

The group shoots for national attention with "Game Theory," a dark, tough album that takes hip-hop to a new level.

By Dan DeLuca

Inquirer Music Critic

The Roots (from left): Frank Knuckles, Kamal Gray, Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson, Tarik "Black Thought" Trotter, Kirk Douglas, and Leonard Hubbard. "Game Theory" is their first album on the Def Jam label.

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In the land of the unseen hand that holds trouble

Theorize your game, it's difficult to roll a double

The struggle ain't right up in ya face: It's more subtle.

- The Roots, "Don't Feel Right"

On Game Theory, the seventh and most tightly focused album in the Philadelphia rap collective's career, trouble isn't hard to find.

On the title track of the Roots' new album, it's as unavoidable as a mounting body count on crack-infested streets. On the melancholy "Clock With No Hands" it's ever-present in rapper Black Thought's memories of "people I used to love / Why ain't I show 'em that?"

And in "Don't Feel Right," the single featuring vocalist Maimouna Youssef, it's there in an edgy, jittery, dire situation that needs speaking on: "If you ain't saying nothin', you the system's accomplice / It should play with your conscience, do away with the nonsense."

There's never been anything nonsensical about the Roots. But on Game Theory (***½), the bohemian rappers' first album since being signed to the storied Def Jam label by Jay-Z, they sound tougher, more streetwise if not downright paranoid, than ever before.

Things Fall Apart (1999) and Phrenology (2002), the two previous high-water marks for the band - a six-man lineup built around Black Thought, a.k.a. Tarik Trotter, and drummer Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson - were benchmarks in neo-soul and arty, alternative hip-hop, respectively.

Questions about the Roots have persisted within the hip-hop community, even as they've risen to be Jay-Z and Eminem's backing band of choice, and scored hit singles with the help of Jill Scott, Erykah Badu and Eve ("You Got Me"), and Cody Chesnutt ("The Seed").

The attributes that make people who don't like hip-hop like the Roots (they studied jazz, they play their own instruments) are the same things that make hip-hop heads suspect them (they studied jazz, they play their own instruments). The silliness of that stance becomes evident to anyone who pays close attention to ?uestlove's production techniques or the band's multifaceted attack. Cases in point on Game Theory included the rocked-out "Here I Come" and the equally soulful "Long Time" and "Atonement."

The other cause of consternation among Roots doubters is Black Thought, whose stature as a front man is often overshadowed by his own drummer. Trotter is a rapper's rapper, as attested to by Boots Riley of the Coup, on whose album Pick a Bigger Weapon BT appears.

"He's a brilliant lyricist," Riley says. "And there are some lyricists who aren't great MCs. But he has the creativity and stamina and the kind of breath control that KRS-One was always talking about... . It's just the whole package rolled into one."

Still, in a hip-hop game in which stars such as 50 Cent and Lil' Jon market themselves as larger-than-life caricatures, Trotter has always come off as an unflashy craftsman.

That's really no different on Game Theory. But this time, he's raised the level of his craft. Even when he's just boasting ("I want my people to rock this / Bang this music in your speakers and boxes / Langston Hughes is about as deep as my thoughts is") he's worth hearing.

Most of the time, he's doing more than boasting. More likely, he's turning his soul inside out, as on "Clock With No Hands." Or he's using Public Enemy - the former Def Jam consciousness-raising heroes - as a clear inspiration, and painting a detailed portrait of inner city frustration on "False Media" and "In the Music."

Black Thought's thick, relentless assault can threaten to render the Roots one-dimensional. The band's marathon shows can be as exhausting as they are impressive. But that's where ?uestlove's skills as a producer come in.

On Game Theory, he pairs his partner with a slew of other sounds and voices. Subtly employed samples of Sly Stone and the Ohio Players; light female vocal counterpoint from J Davey and Mercedes Martinez of the Jazzyfatnastees.

Backup vocals by Gamble and Huff studio ace Bunny Sigler. Gleaming string arrangements by Larry Gold. And a host of fellow Philadelphia rappers, including former Roots member Malik B., plus up-and-comer Peedi Peedi with a standout cameo on "In the Music."

The cumulative effect is an album that mixes old-school soul moves with up-to-the-minute hip-hop grit, and holds forth on weighty matters without stooping to preaching. Until it loses its way with a closing eight-minute-plus tribute to late hip-hop producer J-Dilla, Game Theory grabs your attention, and holds it. It takes itself seriously, and deservedly so.

Listen to music clips from "Game Theory" at http://go.philly.

com/albums