Game - The R.E.D. Album [Official Discussion Thread]

[jmj540]

This was a much better album than I expected. Sure, Game jacks most of the rapper's flows when they're featured on his song, and track 13-17 is pretty awful but it still comes out as a damn good album. A solid ****/5 album.

wait....how can an album with at least 4 awful tracks be a 4 star album? imo a 4 star album is an album with 4 star songs, and 1 weak song at worst.

the best songs are really damn good and keep it from being a 3 star album imo.

[GangstaBoogy]

No wonder Game can satisfy his fans. Yall niggas shit on his good music and praise the wach shit like "the ocean" and "I'm the king".

I agree "monsters in my head" shouldve been on the album. But if it were included the usual attendance-haters wouldve said its dumb to include a leaked song.

I finally finished listening to Hood Mornin yesterday, I will say "graveyard", "rough" and/or "the town" shouldve made the album. But I haven't heard RED to say what songs they should replace, I just know they're too good to be just mixtape tracks. 

[Deuce-Deuce]

Not Feelin this. Inconsistent and too much mainstream shit.

Should looked like this:
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/193/redtracklist.jpg/
Instant Classic

[Enigma]

I don't know what the complaint is here - sure track 13 drops off into more commercial appeal track, but the song with Lloyd is dope. Even the one with Mario and Wale is cool.

I can see this possibly having more radio singles than any of his past albums. Not to mention there are some tracks on here that might end up being some of the past in his discography like "Ricky" and "The City."

I wasn't too fond of the project upon the first listen, but the second and third listen have grown on me. And make sure y'all are hearing this album with some knocking speakers - laptop speakers aren't gonna do this album any justice.

[operation stackola]

Ehhhh..it's ok.  Some bangers on here, but overall, I'd say it's at the same level as LAX.  Lil B and Kendrick Lamar got the albums of the year still, imo

[Dikteta Dax]

the city, martians vs goblins, good girls go bad, ricky, heavy artillery are the tracks I been fucking with.   The rest are ehhhh, really haven't given a chance yet though...

[Lunatic]

1. Dr. Dre Intro - Cool narration

2. The City - 4/5. Very cool Dre & Cool beat. Game sounding hungry on the first verse, flowing nice and aggressive. Kendrick's hook is tight, longer than most hooks. Kendrick's verse is pretty sick. I dig this.

3. Drug Test - 4/5. West Coast banger. Dre sounds different. Beat is sick. Sly's hook is great, wish he did more in the song; we basically hear him twice. I was hoping the final version would be slightly different but this is still cool. Snoop is nothing special on this either and barely in the track.

4. Martians Vs. Goblins - 4/5. No I.D. & 1500? Cool! Beat bangs. Game's flow is weird, but cool. I can't really fuck with Tyler's voice but his flow and lyrics are very tight. Lil Wayne's hook is nothing special at all.

5. Red Nation - 3.5/5. Everyone's heard this already. I thought it was decent when it first came out and my opinion hasn't changed. Wayne's hook is pretty tight but had too many curses for a radio single.

6. Dr. Dre 1 - Cool narration

7. Good Girls Go Bad - 3.75/5. Already the third Cool & Dre beat; this one is alright. The soulful hook saves this song IMO. Damn at the McNair line. Drake's verse is OK, have heard him spit much better. It's got a feel-good vibe to it.

8. Ricky - 4.5/5. This is dope. Beat bangs, Game spitting very nice; maybe his nicest solo performance so far. Exactly who is "Ricky" anyways? The beat is really tight! Probably the best track so far.

9. The Good, The Bad, The Ugly - 3.5/5. Hit-Boy is one of the best up & coming producers. "My God" & "Niggas in Paris", two dope recent hit-Boy beats. This beat is cool but not amazing. Game's voice sounds tight but I like when he's in storytelling mode. This is cool, but I don't feel like it'll have a lot of replay value.

10. Heavy Artillery - 3.75/5. Never been a big StreetRunner fan but this beat is decent. I've heard Ross spit much nicer than this; disappointed he didn't come tighter. Game wasn't special either. Beanie had the best verse. This is decent.

11. Paramedics - 3/5. Maestro will never make a better beat than "Gangsta Rap Made Me Do It" lol. This sounds nothing special. Probably the worst track so far, but not horrible. Sounds like a track that would be on a Jeezy album.

12. Speakers on Blast - 4/5. Was really looking forward to this one (Big Boi feature). Beat bangs nicely from Mars. Game's verse is cool and he actually does a very nice hook. A Big Boi verse literally never disappoints. Easily one of the best flows in rap history as well. I've never loved E-40 but he fits this track nicely.

13. Hello - 2.5/5. This shows the inconsistency of Mars perfectly. A banger on the last track, a dud on this one. Not my style at all, but I guess it's a good pop beat. This that soft shit Game always has. I'll pass.

14. All the Way Gone - 3/5. Another poppy dud from Mars. Not as bad as "Hello" but still doesn't do much for me at all. Fits Wale better than it does Game.

15. Pot of Gold - 3.25/5 Chris Brown is a very talented singer, but I don't want to hear him on a Game album lol.

16. Dr. Dre 2 - Cool narration.

17. All I Know - 3/5. Toronto in the buildin' baby, Luu Breeze & Boi-1da   This beat is ok. Luu's hook fits it, but again this isn't my thing. This is basically typical average mainstream music.

18. Born in the Trap - 4/5. Finally back on the right track. A dope Premier beat. The sound in the hook can be weird but it's still a tight beat. This is a nice return to form. Finally Game spits over a Premier track.

19. Mama Knows - 3.25/5. Toronto in the buildin' once again   This isn't as poppy as I expected it to be. Beat is cool. Nelly Furtardo sounds way too high pitched on the hook though. Kinda' weird as well.

20. California Dream - 4/5. Mars on the beat. This is alright. Game always ends his albums on a positive, meaningful note. I really dig the soulful hook.

21. Dr. Dre Outro - Again, cool narration.

All in all, a pretty average album. Too many tracks, a lot of filler. Especially as the album goes on. About on par with LAX I'd say.

Track listing should have looked like (without going through all the mixtapes and shit)

1. Dr. Dre Intro
2. The City (feat. Kendrick Lamar)
3. Drug Test (feat. Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg & Sly)
4. Martians Vs. Goblins (feat. Lil Wayne & Tyler the Creator)
5. Dr. Dre 1
6. Good Girls Go Bad (feat. Drake)
7. Ricky
8. The Good, The Bad, The Ugly
9. Heavy Artillery (feat. Rick Ross & Beanie Sigel)
10. Speakers on Blast (feat. Big Boi & E-40)
11. Dr. Dre 2
12. Pot of Gold (feat. Chris Brown)
13. Born in the Trap
14. California Dream
15. Dr. Dre Outro

Still gets to keep Drake/Chris Brown for future singles/sales reference but much shorter and better overall. I'd include the Nelly Furtado track possibly.

I only gave about a handful of tracks (just over a handful) a 4/5 and I rate pretty easily. That's not a good sign.

[eNgIeS]

Same really great tracks, but the 2nd half of the album bar a few tracks were major let downs with the chick songs. The weird thing is there was some really good songs on the mixtapes that should've made the album, like The Kill, Lost. If you got some of the tracks off the mixtapes this album could've been close to classic

[Hittman2001]

8. Ricky - 4.5/5. This is dope. Beat bangs, Game spitting very nice; maybe his nicest solo performance so far. Exactly who is "Ricky" anyways? The beat is really tight! Probably the best track so far.

Watch Boyz N Tha Hood and ye shall be enlightened 

[BlueSwan]

I've never understood why a track leaking somehow disqualifies it from album inclusion. The fact is that only hardcore hip-hop fans listen to leaked songs on the net. Mainstream rappers with a mainstream audience, of which Game is one, should care one way or the other about a few early leaks. But what is arguably worse than not including great lekaed tracks like Rough and Monsters In My Head, is voluntarily throwing away some of your very best material on mixtapes. "Lost" is one of the best tracks on every level that Game has ever done and he put that on a mixtape? Crazy.

Anyway, on my first listen now and I'm digging it so far, but I haven't gotten to the dreaded commercial part of the album yet.

[friscoliving]

come on man, boyz in da hood

1. Dr. Dre Intro - Cool narration

2. The City - 4/5. Very cool Dre & Cool beat. Game sounding hungry on the first verse, flowing nice and aggressive. Kendrick's hook is tight, longer than most hooks. Kendrick's verse is pretty sick. I dig this.

3. Drug Test - 4/5. West Coast banger. Dre sounds different. Beat is sick. Sly's hook is great, wish he did more in the song; we basically hear him twice. I was hoping the final version would be slightly different but this is still cool. Snoop is nothing special on this either and barely in the track.

4. Martians Vs. Goblins - 4/5. No I.D. & 1500? Cool! Beat bangs. Game's flow is weird, but cool. I can't really fuck with Tyler's voice but his flow and lyrics are very tight. Lil Wayne's hook is nothing special at all.

5. Red Nation - 3.5/5. Everyone's heard this already. I thought it was decent when it first came out and my opinion hasn't changed. Wayne's hook is pretty tight but had too many curses for a radio single.

6. Dr. Dre 1 - Cool narration

7. Good Girls Go Bad - 3.75/5. Already the third Cool & Dre beat; this one is alright. The soulful hook saves this song IMO. Damn at the McNair line. Drake's verse is OK, have heard him spit much better. It's got a feel-good vibe to it.

8. Ricky - 4.5/5. This is dope. Beat bangs, Game spitting very nice; maybe his nicest solo performance so far. Exactly who is "Ricky" anyways? The beat is really tight! Probably the best track so far.

9. The Good, The Bad, The Ugly - 3.5/5. Hit-Boy is one of the best up & coming producers. "My God" & "Niggas in Paris", two dope recent hit-Boy beats. This beat is cool but not amazing. Game's voice sounds tight but I like when he's in storytelling mode. This is cool, but I don't feel like it'll have a lot of replay value.

10. Heavy Artillery - 3.75/5. Never been a big StreetRunner fan but this beat is decent. I've heard Ross spit much nicer than this; disappointed he didn't come tighter. Game wasn't special either. Beanie had the best verse. This is decent.

11. Paramedics - 3/5. Maestro will never make a better beat than "Gangsta Rap Made Me Do It" lol. This sounds nothing special. Probably the worst track so far, but not horrible. Sounds like a track that would be on a Jeezy album.

12. Speakers on Blast - 4/5. Was really looking forward to this one (Big Boi feature). Beat bangs nicely from Mars. Game's verse is cool and he actually does a very nice hook. A Big Boi verse literally never disappoints. Easily one of the best flows in rap history as well. I've never loved E-40 but he fits this track nicely.

13. Hello - 2.5/5. This shows the inconsistency of Mars perfectly. A banger on the last track, a dud on this one. Not my style at all, but I guess it's a good pop beat. This that soft shit Game always has. I'll pass.

14. All the Way Gone - 3/5. Another poppy dud from Mars. Not as bad as "Hello" but still doesn't do much for me at all. Fits Wale better than it does Game.

15. Pot of Gold - 3.25/5 Chris Brown is a very talented singer, but I don't want to hear him on a Game album lol.

16. Dr. Dre 2 - Cool narration.

17. All I Know - 3/5. Toronto in the buildin' baby, Luu Breeze & Boi-1da   This beat is ok. Luu's hook fits it, but again this isn't my thing. This is basically typical average mainstream music.

18. Born in the Trap - 4/5. Finally back on the right track. A dope Premier beat. The sound in the hook can be weird but it's still a tight beat. This is a nice return to form. Finally Game spits over a Premier track.

19. Mama Knows - 3.25/5. Toronto in the buildin' once again   This isn't as poppy as I expected it to be. Beat is cool. Nelly Furtardo sounds way too high pitched on the hook though. Kinda' weird as well.

20. California Dream - 4/5. Mars on the beat. This is alright. Game always ends his albums on a positive, meaningful note. I really dig the soulful hook.

21. Dr. Dre Outro - Again, cool narration.

All in all, a pretty average album. Too many tracks, a lot of filler. Especially as the album goes on. About on par with LAX I'd say.

Track listing should have looked like (without going through all the mixtapes and shit)

1. Dr. Dre Intro
2. The City (feat. Kendrick Lamar)
3. Drug Test (feat. Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg & Sly)
4. Martians Vs. Goblins (feat. Lil Wayne & Tyler the Creator)
5. Dr. Dre 1
6. Good Girls Go Bad (feat. Drake)
7. Ricky
8. The Good, The Bad, The Ugly
9. Heavy Artillery (feat. Rick Ross & Beanie Sigel)
10. Speakers on Blast (feat. Big Boi & E-40)
11. Dr. Dre 2
12. Pot of Gold (feat. Chris Brown)
13. Born in the Trap
14. California Dream
15. Dr. Dre Outro

Still gets to keep Drake/Chris Brown for future singles/sales reference but much shorter and better overall. I'd include the Nelly Furtado track possibly.

I only gave about a handful of tracks (just over a handful) a 4/5 and I rate pretty easily. That's not a good sign.

[simple]

is there a "Lost" CDQ without tags?

[BlueSwan]

After first listen I'm deeply disappointed. I love each of the first three Game albums, but honestly R.E.D. bored me to tears. Far too many generic hip-hop tracks that's got nothing special about them at all. I like Purp & Patron better than this. Only joint I really loved on first listen was "The City".

D.A. > LAX = The Doc >>>>>> R.E.D.

[simple]

LAX = DOC ?

[Okka]

"The City" and "Heavy Artillery" been in heavy rotation last night and today.