MTV previews Game's Album

[Visualize what you can't see]

nothin special but still worth reading 

Game Album Preview: Gritty Stories, Slick Production

Before his LP became one of the most anticipated releases of the year, before he solidified himself as a mixtape murderer, before he joined the G-Unit, and even before Dr. Dre saw platinum potential in him, the Game knew he had plenty to live up to.

Not only had it been a decade since an MC from his coast had risen to superstardom, if he were to truly rep his 'hood of Compton, he'd have to live up to the legacy of DJ Quik, Compton's Most Wanted and his idols N.W.A (see "Game Ready To Prove He's Worthy Of The Hype").

Of course, with his first LP, The Documentary, fully loaded like the 2005 New York Yankees roster, the chances of him hitting his mark and living up to expectations doesn't seem like much of a stretch. It boasts executive producers Dr. Dre and 50 Cent (with 50 also appearing on three songs), guest appearances by Eminem, Mary J. Blige, Nate Dogg (twice) and production by Dr. Dre, Scott Storch, Timbaland, and Cool and Dre.

Besides, the pressure of critical praise and mainstream expectations is nothing once you've spent time in a foster home, only to get ambushed and shot in the chest — nearly dying — as a young adult and then watch as throughout your life people close to you are murdered — one for a pair of Charles Barkley sneakers.

Game tells it all on The Documentary, a musical autobiography of sorts, never wavering in honesty, walking listeners through his past 25 years.

When he was shot in 2001, the gruff griot says, his entire life played out in his mind like a movie. No wonder he's contemplating how things might've been different on "Start From Scratch." The track starts off with Game asking himself, "You want a piece of me?" He goes on to proclaim that he wouldn't change a thing in his own life, rapping that he would have the "same hollow tips breaking off in my chest/ Same bloody T-shirt." Solemnly, though, over the creeping G-funk courtesy of Dr. Dre and Scott Storch, he wishes he could bring back his loved ones.

Kanye West's spiritual soundscape for "Dreams" acts like a musical truth potion for Game as he takes us on a drive-by of his inner thoughts, from having eternal love for his son, to holding a gun to own head, to battling to be the king of rap and, more salaciously, lusting after Mya.

"Read the article in the magazine/ She loved gangstas, loved nasty things/ So I'm in the glass house having nasty dreams," he raps. "Good girls never give it up/ But anything is possible."

Mobb Deep's Havoc provides an equally gripping soul track on "Don't Need Your Love," where Faith Evans swoops down on the hook with subtle fire, singing the words that comprise the song's title. Once again, Game gives us insight into the facial grimaces we see on him in videos and photos. "I was forced to live this life/ Forced to bust my chrome/ My pops left me in a foster home/ ... I got shot over two pounds of weed/ Still ain't found them n---as/ But karma comes quicker for a n---a on the other side of the gun/ That's something I gotta teach my son."

Later in the song, his attention shifts from his history in the streets to trying to break through into the music game.

"I was gassed up/ Murder Inc., Roc-A-Fella passed up/ I sat up in Daddy's House with Black Rob and Loon/ Ask Puff."

Horrific realities aside, The Documentary is far from a depress-fest. Timbaland gives Game enough bounce to keep the most crunk-crazy, hyphy hip-hop fan appeased without taking the Compton contender out of his zone. Even listening to Game vocalizing his ill will for his enemies on "Church for Thugs," there's no way you're not going to want for a neck brace after hearing Just Blaze's horns.

As Jay-Z, 50 Cent and Fat Joe have discovered, keeping pace with Eminem on a joint track is no cakewalk. So when Marshall Mathers joins The Documentary with production and raps in between Game verses on "We Ain't," his compatriot has fun with it, adopting a familiar Slim Shady flow throughout the record and even poking fun at himself, saying, "Get Dre on the phone quick/ Tell him Em just killed me on my own sh--."

With the lane basically clear of major hip-hop releases during The Documentary's world premiere on January 18, Game's impeccable production and affecting words look likely to set the bar for MCs in 2005. Now the game has to live up to the Game.

— Shaheem Reid

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1495543/01102005/game.jhtml?headlines=true

[acbaylove]

nothin special but still worth reading 

No.

[E. J. Rizo]

they have the whole thing up at mtv.com if you want to check it out and dont want to download it.......and it seems to be that we do have the official rip.....same rip we got.....anyway just thought id let you guys know....

[Bomb-A®]

It boasts executive producers Dr. Dre and 50 Cent

wtf???



peace