“If you listen to my lyrical content, I’m bigging up the West and saying how people forgot about how the West was won. I’m reminding them.” ﾗ Game
Like his teammate 50 Cent did with “Wanksta,” G-Unit’s Game wants to get a buzz going by putting out a record for the ‘hood, then hitting the masses upside the head with a blockbuster Dr. Dre-produced official single.
So far he feels he’s on the right track.
“That’s like my ‘Wanksta,‘ ” Game said of his current record, “Westside Story,” also produced by Dre. “That ain’t even the single, that’s my street single. It’s picking up like crazy. I took the title from the movie [‘West Side Story’]. If you listen to my lyrical content, I’m bigging up the West and saying how people forgot about how the West was won. I’m reminding them.“
“Westside Story” features 50 on the hook rapping, “If you take a look in my eyes/ See I’ll be a gangsta till I die/ That California chronic got me so high/ Game, tell ’em where you from/ Westsiiiide.” There’s also a version of the song with Snoop Dogg saying the identical rhymes as 50.
“Higher,” Game’s real-deal lead cut produced by the leader of the Aftermath Records squad, should surface soon.
“It’s a club knock,” he said of the record. “After that, we’re off to the races. It’s just ‘Operation Bring the West Coast Back.’ I’m happy to be a part of this sh–. It seems like everything is falling in my hands.“
Besides 50 Cent, Dre and Snoop Dogg, Busta Rhymes, Nate Dogg and Mary J. Blige will also appear on Game’s debut LP. If the Compton MC gets his way, he’ll have yet another Cali icon on the album as well: the late Eazy-E. Nothing is definitive, but Game is contemplating adding the mixtape cut “Still Cruising,” which features never-before-heard lyrics by Eazy.
“I didn’t expect it to blow like it did, but since everybody is loving it, I might have to bonus track that,” the 24-year-old said. “Red Spyda and Whoo Kid produced it. I don’t know where they got the Eazy vocals from, but they found them. They brought them to me. I know every Eazy verse line-for-line and I never heard that one. I heard it, I ran out the studio. I couldn’t believe that. I followed Eazy my whole life and to hear an unreleased Eazy track, I went bonkers.“
As the ultimate show of respect to Eazy and Dre, who were both members of legendary rap crew N.W.A, Game wants to title his album N.W.A Volume 1, but that name might hit a red-tape snafu. Regardless, the LP is tentatively scheduled for release before the end of the year. Game is shooting the video for “Higher” in the next couple of weeks.
