game complex interview

[big mat]

Not that he's even a little bet soft-the 26-year-old compton city g is Real like Milk. But, as opposed to the numb (and numbing) cardboard cutouts that populate the increasingly banal world of gangsta rap, Jayceon Taylor has a range of emotions. Being liked-by fans, other rappers, and his son-makes him happy. Being Dr. Dre's protege' (even in the past tense) makes him proud. Being betrayed by 50 Cent makes him mad. Being hated by 50's fans makes him sad.
Like Eminem, and 2Pac before him, it's this-Game's vulnerability, versatility, and visceral passion-that connects with listeners. And it's why the Game, whose debut, The Documentary, has sold in excess of five million units, might just be the last great rap star. And it's why, despite being booted from G-Unit and then from Dre's Aftermath Records too (an embarrassment, some might say), his new album, The Doctor's Advocate, remains the year's most anticipated release. And it's why, despite having a roster of unknowns, his Black Wall Street label lies at the center of a bidding war. Game took a moment, feet from NYC's Wall Street (the decidedly white one), to talk with Complex about dreams, nightmares, and what's really going on with him and Dre.

After a lot of hand holding last time, now you're player and coach. How's that?
I'm one of the worst critics and the hardest on myself, so it's just been a battle with myself. I've been beating myself in the head for the last year and a half trying to get this record where I want it to be.

Well, being your own worst critic, what is your greatest weakness as an artist?
My greatest weakness is that I work too hard, because I always compare myself to Biggie, Pac, Jay-z, Snoop, BGig Daddy Kane, Ice Cube...I think my Top 5 dopest MC's ever already are solid, but I'm still trying to fight to be No.6 or 7.

So, The Documentary-what is your biggest criticism of it?
The Documentary...I never really listened to it.

Really?
It's my album...like, who sits at a coffee table and looks at a picture of themself all day?

I reread my articles.
Yeah, but it's different with journalism. You gotta read it to make sure...well, you're writing about different people. My album is about me.

That's true.
You don't read your fuckin' diary all day.

I dont keep a diary, but I see your point. Still, you don't feel like it's important to analyze what you've done?
I just improve. I don't want to get trapped in The Documentary. It's not about that. It's about The Doctor's Advocate.

You stuck with that title despite the press release Interscope issued saying that you'd been moved off Dre's label to Geffen. Why?
It's not about being on Aftermath, it's not about having Dre's beats. It's about working close and getting game and soaking up knowledge from someone who I've worked with for the last five years as close as fucking Scottie Pippen and Jordan. If you talk to Scottie Pippen, he ain't never gonna say nothing bad about Mike; they did great things together.

Even though Mike was supposedly a dick
Huh?

Well, people in the know seem to say that Mike was a dick the whole time.
Hey man, that's between Scottie and Mike. I don't know them personally, I just use it as a comparison.

So you don't feel like it's weird to be the Doctor's advocate if the Doctor's not necessarily being an advocaste for you?
I mean...but what do you mean being an advocate for?

Putting his weight behind your project, giving you beats.
How about giving me a chance to feed my family for the rest of my life? Isn't that better than giving me a beat? He molded me into what I am today, which is amongst hip-hop's elite. How about my son's karate class? My son's school, his clothes, my mom's car, house, the things that I've been able to do for my dad and my homies?

Yeah, that's all true. But, by the same token, his lack of participation could be seen as leaving your future in jeopardy, no?
I mean, but who knows if there'sa lack of participation besides me and Dr. Dre, until the album drops?

You tell me.
I won't tell you, that's the thing.

Why is that?
Because, man, you always leave somthing for people to wonder. Giving that would be just giving them what they want. And i'm going to give them what they want-they just have to wait.

In raising your son, what's the most important thing that you want to instill in him?
Loyalty. Loyalty will take you along way in life. Even if you're just living a semiwealthy, all-American life. It'll get you the two-story house with the minivan, the white picket fence, the dog, the wife, and the kids. If you're loyal to your parents, your teachers, your friends, your mate, your kids, your job, nobody could say you're a bad guy.

Is that why you've chosen to take the high road, in regards to the label drama?
Right. I stay loyal. It's like people trying to...just because people think Dre's not working on the album, or they feel like Dre turned his back, doesn't mean that I'm not going to stay loyal to the guy that has helped me turn my life around. For that, I will forever be in debt to Dr. Dre, no matter what he does. In my heart lies loyalty.

So what's been the toughest decision that you had to make since the last album dropped?
That would be...let me see...to do it on my own. Dre guided me so closely on the first album that in the beginning it was kinda rough. Like when Dre left Death Row. He had that machine. When you leave that, you're kinda on your own. He put out that Aftermath album and it didn't do so good. But then he put out 2001 and shit started rolling again, man.


PART 2

Given that someone of his stature could have problems like that, are you concerned that you might stumble out the gate, too?
I'm saying that I'm not going to have those issues, because I recognize that I know what it is. Even if everybody in the world hated me, this album could fly. The quality of hte music is just that great. That's just the reality of it man-I've earned the right to say that. I was, six months ago, at a point in my life where I felt like I knew how it felt for a person to want to commit suicide. Life was just that bad.

How so?
I felt like I didn't get the props that I deserved, and that started fucking with me. And when you hear this album, you'll hear the motherfuckin' five-time-platinum gangsta rap artist from Compton that was sitting in a closet by himself with fuckin' tears running down my face, trying to figure out, How did I go from being one of the best rappers in the world and the most loved to being one of the most hated?

That was clearly the result of the chess game you and 50 have been playing.
And I'm Bobby Fischer.

Okay, so you tell me then, what's his next move?
Bang the clock before I punch it, because the next time I punch the clock, the king's knocking all his pieces off the board.

Enough business, let's talk art. Do you keep your rhyme books?
I keep my rhymes in my Sidekick. They're all there, man, see? [Editor's note: points to list of song names in Sidekick] Just Blaze joint, Cool and Dre with Mary J...see that one there?

There it is.
Dre beat. [Laughs]

That's what it says. [Laughs] Do you have a computer?
I've got the new black iBook. It's dope. I keep all my rhymes and songs in there,a nd I can MySpace on the road.

How's that going?
MySpace is dope, man. I recently found mhy sister that I haven't seen since she was three years old on MySpace. Typed in her name, and the shit pops up.

So you check your own page?
I try to. I go on there sometimes, from time to time, and the emails with the crazy subjects, I read and respond to most of them, but there's no way I can fucking do all of them and maintain my fucking rap career.

You were with Mya-how's the celebrity dating thing?
It's cool, but that shit has got its ups and downs. The up is you kinda feel hot, the Jay-Z and Beyonce thing. The downside is that you don't get to spend as much time with double celebrity shit. Then there's the thing that they be switching up-youtake my girlfriend now, I'll take your boyfriend, and you know different couples with different muthafuckas, so I'm pretty much done at this point. I'll keep a regular bitch.

When did it end with Mya?
Umm...we still cool. We're good friends...

But romantically, it ended?
Umm, right.

Okay, so being that you're a rich rap star, how do you have a relationship with a regular girl?
I can because I don't have the mentally like a rich rap star. I'm not in Vines in the frozen food section with my chains on.

Dating regular chicks...have you seen A Bronx Tale?
I already know what you're gonna ask.

So do you have a test?
Nah, I'm a great judge of character. You gotta have that instinct or else you'll end up dead or in jail.

Do you have a main lady in Cali?
Yup. She's a good woman, and she trust me to do me. For that I hold her down.

Is this your son's mother?
We'll leave it at a lady in Cali.

Because there are, like, five chicks who'll read this and think,"Oh, he's talking about me."
Could be a million, man.[Laughs]

Do you read any books?
I've read The 48 Laws of Power. I'm not reallyinto books crazy like that-I've read The Isis Papers, if you're familiar with that.

Sure.
I readf deep books. I read Black Wall Street so that when people ask me questions about the situation that happened in Tulsa, Oklahoma, I dont seem like the buffon that doesn't know what he's pushing.

Do you watch TV?
I love TV, but I don't have time. There aren't enough hours in the day for me-being that everybody's pulling. I have to spend time with my son, my girl, the homies. Gotta spend time in the studio, on tour. I think that I'm going to probably quit rapping around 31.

Really?
It's not about digging in the cookie jar until all the crumbs are gone.

That makes sense, but I get the vibe from you that for you music is more than, "I write this and you pay me."
My dream is to be in that Dre role, that's why I'm producing on this album.

What?!??
The song I got with Nas-that's me on the drums. I'm on the pads, man! I've got Dre sounds, Scott gave me some sounds. I might have a No.1 record soon that's not even on my album!

Really?
I've been in the studio with Dre for five years-don't think that I haven't been soaking up game. Every time this dude hits a button, turns a knob, I'm on his ass, looking over his shoulders.

Working as hard as you do, how do you stay creative?
My mind works similar to those of all of the weird geniuses. I think about shit that nobody else-well, I won't say nobody else- but the average person doesn't think about. I wonder how we're walking around without batteries and things like that. I question some things that I read in the Bible. I even have weird dreams, and I wake up with these ideas-yo, the title track,"The Doctor's Advocate," I wrote the lyrics to it in my dream. Woke up, remembered all of it.

That's crazy.
My inspiration-that shit comes from the weirdest places, man.

PART 3

Do you have nightmares?
I have nightmares, man.

What about?
Weird shit. I have nightmares of situations where people were people were murdered or their life ended in some tragedy; but instead of it being them, it's me. I have nightmares of Kanye West's car crash breaking up my face. I have nightmares of being in the car with Suge and sitting in Pac's position. I wake up trying to rationalize and analyze the situations or think agbout how Pac really died. What don't people know? Maybe I should go back to sleep and meet Pac in my dream and ask him. I'll be wanting to know shit, and it fucks you up inside when you dont know and can't figure out what happened, like how did Eazy die? Did Eazy really die from AIDS? If he died from AIDS, how come his wife doesn't have AIDS, and I'm pretty sure he banged her out a week before he went to the hospital. You know what I'm saying?

Sure
How come none of his kids have AIDS? No girlfriends after Eazy died-not one person came to the light and said, "He gave me AIDS"? Now if Eazy had AIDS for real, how come nobody came forth for some money?

Dunno
There are the questions that I don't want to raise too much, but it sounds like some internal murder, to me. That's my biggest nightmare, man-going to the hospital and somebody trying to do something...I don't fucking go to the hospital, man. Everybody is on the take. We're all out here fighting for the greenback. You're doing editing, you're the editor of a magazine, you're conducting interviews-you have double jobs.

I do
We're all out here fighting, man. I'm out here fighting for a place in hip-hop, and janitors are cleaning up McDonald's better than the other janitor, just so he can get a raise and be on fries next week. So I have all tons of nightmares, man. It's pretty weird and fucking crazy for somebody reading this right now [and thinking], "This dude is sick." But fuck it, maybe I am.

Sounds intense.
Nah, I have crazy fucking nightmares, but I never wake up like I'm fucking scared. I'm just yawning, like, Damn, that was a crazy dream, but I just keep going.

Do you have anxiety?
Nah, I don't take any prescription drugs or go to see a psychiatrist, because you know, I'm not crazy, man.

Are you sure?
Maybe I am.

[Laughs]
I don't know [laughs], some people would say I'm crazy. Today I'm sane.

jacked

[Don Seer]

rough styled interview.. but there are some dope quesetions that push things at the same time..

[redemption7]

Interview is a little rough, but im digging some of the questions. Thanks for the post

[Adriano]

That makes sense, but I get the vibe from you that for you music is more than, "I write this and you pay me."
GAME: My dream is to be in that Dre role, that's why I'm producing on this album.

What?!??
GAME: The song I got with Nas-that's me on the drums. I'm on the pads, man! I've got Dre sounds, Scott gave me some sounds. I might have a No.1 record soon that's not even on my album!

Really?
GAME: I've been in the studio with Dre for five years-don't think that I haven't been soaking up game. Every time this dude hits a button, turns a knob, I'm on his ass, looking over his shoulders.


jacked

damn...game the next dre  ? interesting

[Mygla]

thiis was a great interview as far as the question being asked...

[Brazemac]

what a dope interview.
best game interview so far

[Teddy Roosevelt]

Nice interview.

And it's why, despite having a roster of unknowns, his Black Wall Street label lies at the center of a bidding war.

Right.

[westkoastanostra]

real great interview

[dogg krush]

Game iz a BIG FOOL

[Sweet & Tender Hooligan]

I think its fake for some reason. Game says "Mate"....Iv never heard a rapper say "mate".

[Brazemac]

he spoke in a brittish accent when big boy had him on power 106. when he called the station from London and I think he even used that word.

[da_notorious_mack]

game knows what its like to live like a g in london...



or so he says...