For this one occasion, August 29th replaced December 25th, for I was a young child ferociously tearing through my one and only present…a toasty, brand new CD. I impatiently ripped apart the precise packaging and broke the case with no care. Without even having to think, I popped in The Roots’ brand new album into my CD player (yes, I still use one), and one track after the other was instantly attacked by a bombardment of extravagant music.Released on August 29th, Game Theory is The Roots’ eighth released studio album, and clearly follows up all of the hype and success of its predecessor, The Tipping Point. Although the group has gone through many significant changes over its tenure in terms of members, Black Thought, ?uestlove, Kamal Gray, Hub, F. Knuckles and Captain Kirk Douglas combined to formulate another classic album. The album is still upbeat as most of their other albums, however, it separates itself from the other albums by being a bit more mellow and murky, often probing into political issues and other serious topics.An abundance of artists are featured in the album as well, ranging from Malik B., Peedi Peedi and Wadud Ahmad, just to name a few, who bring their own unique lyricism and a change of pace to the songs. J Dilla and Khari Mateen make some appearances on the album in terms of production, bringing a bit of an edgy flavor to the natural sounds that are usually harvested by The Roots. The fourth track, Don’t Feel Right, is what I consider to be the best song on the entire album. The song was leaked out on the internet a couple of months ago and created a buzz about the album. The lyricism is amazing and the beat is top-notch. Also, featured on the song is Maimouna Youssef, an upcoming R&B artist who was a contestant on American Idol, who provided good vocals on a very catchy chorus. Livin’ In A New World is one of the darker songs on the album. It explains of a new world that people are occupying, one in which it is extremely hard to have any sense of privacy whatsoever. Satirically making fun of the rumors of how President Bush was secretly tapping into people’s phones, could we also end up in this “new world” that’s being mentioned? Game Theory is another one of the songs that quickly got my head nodding to the beat. A cacophony of drums, symbols and voices, I could do nothing but listen to the song over and over again. So if you’re a real hip hop head and appreciate the world of underground hip hop, then I highly recommend you getting The Roots’ Game Theory. You’ll end up like me…receiving a present full of goodies, instead of a lump of coal.