The Game
Interview by Black Dog Bone
Why did you name this new album “The RED Album”?
My fans named it “The RED Album”. When I was trying to figure out a name for the album I kept seeing shit around, fans saying, “When is Game coming out with ‘The RED Album’?” I’m wondering what the fuck is “The RED Album”. I saw it so much I finally just said, fuck it, it’s “The RED Album”.
On this album you’re working with Dr. Dre again and you’re working with so many other legends. Then you’ve also got a song with Tyler the Creator of Odd Future. What made you decide to reach out to Tyler?
I respect Tyler, everything he’s doing. He’s got a big following and he’s making his moves. Plus I like his voice and the way he rhymes. I reached out and he wanted to do the track. It’s called “Martians Vs Goblins” with me, him and Weezy.
What do you think of the new sound of Rap music, with some influence of Dancehall and Techno/Electronic sounds?
I don’t really know why or how, but every 5 or 10 years Hip Hop changes. You either gotta get with it or it’ll pass you up. You’ll fall off like so many rappers we’ve seen fall off the game in the last couple of years.
Do you have some of that new sound on this new album?
No, that’s the thing. I don’t change my sound. I just make who I am go with the times. Hip Hop’s gotta change for me, I’m not changin for Hip Hop. I love my Hip Hop the way that I love it. I’m not changing for nobody.
How would you describe the sound you came with on this new album?
It’s real dark. Then towards the middle it picks up a little bit. By the end it gets really light and turns into a beautiful album. It starts off dark, so I hope everybody’s ready. Every time I come I’m gonna bring the realness back to Hip Hop. It’s gonna be stories and real shit.
This album is kind of like your life story, it starts off dark and gets lighter?
This album IS my life story.
Before you started making this album did you decide to make this your life story? Or did it just happen?
It kinda happened like that and I’m glad that it did. But once I started to figure out that this album was about my life, then I just kinda went with it and made it everything that it is.
Sometimes rappers feel like they’ve said everything they have to say and they’re drying out….
Ha, ha! I could go for another thirty years. I’m never gonna run outta shit to say. How could a rapper say that? You can’t run outta stuff to say. A lotta people have run outta stuff to say and they’re only talking about the same shit—cars, bitches, chains and alcohol. Fuck that! I ain’t into Rap like that. I’m into real life, real situations that everybody can relate to. Fuck cars, fuck chains and fuck bitches, man!
Rap lyrics have become really redundant.
Right and I’m not with that. I’m gonna keep my shit real. I’m a real dude. I’m with real people and I go through real situations. So do everybody else, so that’s how it should stay. Rap should stay real. When you’re doing a recording do you write everything down?
I stopped writing two albums ago. I just go in the booth and start puttin it together.
When you perform do you go back and learn the words?
I always forget the words, but I’m so real that I just fuckin don’t care. I stop it, I stop the beat and go to the next song.
Your fans don’t mind?
My fans don’t care. I’m just so real. All I can do is be real. I just tell them I forgot the words for the song and they’re cool with that.
You sound really excited about this new album.
When it comes to my albums it never fails. I’ve got three platinum albums, this is about to be number four. “R.E.D.” is highly anticipated. Dr. Dre is on the album. Pharrell executive produced the album with Mars. We locked it down. Got a lotta dope producers, a lotta dope artists, and you know Game gonna do his thang every time. We got crazy beats, and we gonna be rockin it.
Who did most of the production?
You got Dr. Dre, you got Pharrell, you got Mars, you got Cool & Dre, DJ Premiere, Hit Boy, Neptune’s, a lotta dope producers on there.
Each album you’ve made represented a certain period of your life and a different side of The Game. What state of mind were you in while making this album?
It’s called “R.E.D.” for a reason. First it’s Redemption cause I’m in a point in my career where I feel It’s either now or never. Also R.E.D. is short for “re-dedicate”. I’m re-dedicated to my fans, my family, my craft which is Hip Hop. I’m just takin it real serious right now. The Game you’re gonna get with this album is a seasoned veteran, a legend, mixed with Hurricane Game, the monster that I was when it all started off in the beginning.
You have worked with some of the most interesting producers over the years. What kind of memories do you have of working with different producers?
My favorite producer to work with is Pharrell, man. When you go in there with Pharrell you can accomplish anything. He already has the concept and it’s easy when you’ve got the concept to the song. Then I know exactly what to write about. And Pharrell damn near almost has the hook too. Pharrell is your one-stop shop for a classic Hip Hop song. He’s dope, and I appreciate him.
Is this the first time you worked with him?
Yeah, on “The RED Album”. I wanted to work with Pharrell. We had a conversation for like an hour and after that we started working. Once we started workin we figured out that we work pretty good together, so we just kept on going. Now we created like a brotherhood, that’s my brother. I would do anything for Pharrell.
When you look at your second, third and forth albums do you feel like you’ve changed drastically from one to the next?
Of course, I’m always moving in a different direction, but I never forget where I come from. I don’t change my foundation. But, like I said, I’m a veteran and now my pen game is on point and I’m at the peak of my career as far as writing music. I think a lotta people are gonna be surprised when they hear “The R.E.D. Album”.
Even though you’re originally from LA, when you started your Rap career you were in the Bay Area.
I started off in the Bay. I was runnin around with Fat Rat, JT The Bigga Figga, Sean T, Double D (rest in peace), Telly Mac, a buncha cats from Fillmore all the way down to San Leandro all the way down to Sac. I came to the Bay and that’s where I got the grind from, that independent hustle. I’m forever indebted to Frisco, Fillmore, and Oakland, the surrounding areas. I’m thankful to the whole Bay for lookin out for me at that early stage of my career.
How long were you here in the Bay?
I was there for like a year, just soaking up and learning the culture.
What made you decide to move here? Did you know people in San Francisco?
Basically I met Fat Rat and he told me to come out to the Bay.
What was it like for you when you were growing up?
I grew up on the Westside of Compton in California. I went to David Junior High School. For high school I went to Dominion High School, Compton High School and Fremont High School, for basketball.
Did you have a lot of brothers and sisters?
Naw, naw. My mom has four daughters and me. I got two brothers that died from gang violence. Other than that, I basically grew up in a foster home.
How old were you when your brothers were killed and how did that effect you?
Thirteen and Nineteen. They was murdered. Before my brother Devon was killed I think that I was a pretty standup kid. I was real happy and having a lotta fun in life. After that I kinda got a sore spot about me. I really started to get into the streets at that point. I turned into a bad kid. I started doing a bunch of the wrong things. I started to sell drugs and make drugs. Getting into shit with some of my friends. Sometimes Compton swallows you whole, especially when you don’t have nobody taking care in the home on an everyday basis.
It seems like your brothers’ deaths put you on a certain path and you couldn’t get off of that.
Right. I always say that. I always wonder how things would’ve turned out if it hadn’t happened like that, what I woulda been doing. I think I woulda been playing basketball cause that was my first love. I still play and every time I play I feel so good. When I’m on the courts, that’s when I’m at my happiest. Playin basketball or playing video games with my girl or my family, my kids.
When you got into the streets, were you still in school at that time?
I was still in school; I think I was in the eighth or ninth grade.
At that time were you interested in music or writing lyrics? Even though you’re a Gangsta/Reality West Coast rapper, you are very lyrical almost like an East Coast Hip Hop artist.
Yeah. I was always a fan of Hip Hop. I didn’t rap until I was older, in my twenties, but I loved Hip Hop. I loved East Coast Hip Hop and I loved Gangsta Rap, which was what I grew up around—NWA and Spice 1, even the Geto Boys and Big Mike and all those guys Down South. I fell in love with lyrics, people like Dougie Fresh and Dana Dane and Big Daddy Kane, LL Cool J, who were a little more lyrical than the Gangsta rappers. I kinda mixed that style with the Gangsta Rap and that’s what made Game.
When you first came out you stood out from a lot of West Coast artists because you had that lyrical background.
That’s who I am, you can’t never change that. I am what I am. No matter what I go through in life or how I elevate myself or how wise I get or how old I get, the core of me is still that. You can take me out the hood but you can’t take the hood outta homeboy.
You didn’t start rapping until you were in your twenties. What was it that turned you to the music?
I got shot. Once you get shot you try to figure out anything you can to do, you gotta get yourself a change of life. When I got shot it was a reality check for me, it woke me up to try to do something else better with my life. I definitely didn’t wanna die, as much as I thought that I wanted to die. Before I got shot I really didn’t care about nothing. You never died before so you don’t know what to expect. You’re out there surviving in the streets, but once you get close to death it’s a wake up call. I didn’t wanna die as much as I thought I wanted to. I had to reconcile my differences with the streets and change my lifestyle.
When you got shot was it really serious? You were really hurt?
It was real crucial. I got shot five times. I got shot in the chest real real close to my heart. I got shot under my arm, my leg, my stomach, my forearm. It was serious.
It’s a miracle that you survived! At that time you just decided to start rapping? How did that all start?
In the beginning it was crazy when I first came on the Rap scene. They kinda took control of me. I didn’t really have control of it…doing the wrong things…it all happened so fast, even trying to remember it or talk about it, as you can see it makes me stutter, man. Everything happened so fast that I couldn’t control it. I was everywhere, I was all over the place. I was wild, runnin around, smoking, drinking. I wasn’t bein faithful to my woman. I was wild, man. That’s what happens to the best of them. You go from a situation where you’re a normal person and the next day you wake up and everybody knows your name. It’s hard to stay focused on the things that are positive. The devil takes control of you and you just start rippin and runnin.
I remember when you first came out there was such a buzz around The Game. People were always calling the Murder Dog line and sending us emails telling us to do something on The Game. I kept wondering who this Game was that people kept talking about. You seemed to come out of the blue.
I guess at that time I was the only thing in the streets. I was a breath of fresh air. It was universal. The West Coast loved me to death because I was Gangsta, I had a presence, I was tall and marketable. And it hadn’t been nobody since the Death Row dynasty fell in the West to make a name for themselves. And the East Coast loved me cause I could actually rap and I was lyrical. They thought I was from the East but I’d moved out to the West or something. I remember for a long time people thought I was from Queens; they thought that I had moved out to LA and started claiming LA. But naw, born and raised in Compton. I just had a lyrical rappin flow.
I remember that time when you first hit the scene and everybody was talking about The Game. You remember that time?
I remember that time. It was probably the best time and the worst time of my life. Everything happened so fast. Just maybe 6 or 8 months ago I slowed down and realized like, “Wow man, shit! Seven years have passed.”
What were the things that happened to make it the worst and best time for you?
The worst thing that happened was I inherited millions of dollars really fast when I was just a kid and I didn’t know what to do with everything. I was buying chains Ferrari’s, Lamborghini’s. I was buying everybody in my hood a new car, all the homies. Strip clubs, we was drinkin. Fuckin pounds of weed, we was smoking then. Those were the good times. But the downside was I wasn’t focused on life. I wasn’t around my son as much as I wanted to be. And I was touring, it was wild. It was fun but I’m glad that it’s over.
At that time were you married?
At that time I wasn’t married. I had a woman. I think she was ready for me to be something that I wasn’t. At that time I was young and I wasn’t ready to take it to that level. We kinda clashed and that meant that I wasn’t able to be there like I should’ve been. But at that time it wasn’t about her, it was about me. I did everything I could to make me happy and I left everybody else astray.
Are you still with that woman or are you with someone else now?
I got my woman. She’s right here beside me. That’s why I gotta make sure I say the right shit. If I don’t say the right things then who know what might happen. (laughing)
At that time how did you connect with Dr. Dre? Were you looking for a deal? How did it all come together?
Sometimes things just happen and there really ain’t no explanation for it. Nothing you could do about it. They heard about me and the opportunity came.
When you look back and look at your situation now, how do you see it all?
I’m glad that I’m not the person that I used to be. I’m happy to be where I am now and I don’t wanna go back. That’s how it is in life. If you’re lucky enough to make it through your hard times then you can look back and just appreciate what you went through. Everything I went through made me who I am today, which is the best man possible for everybody that I’m around. My friends, my woman, my kids, I’m the best Rap artist for my fans, all of that.
What about the fans that liked you because you were that crazy guy. What do they think?
I’m still kinda crazy. If somebody push my buttons I can still channel the whole game. He ain’t dead.
You’re the same man, but you have come into a deeper understanding.
Deeper understanding of life. I appreciate the things that matter most to me a lot more. As everybody should when they come of age. There’s a time in your life when you gotta step up.
You don’t look like you’ve grown older physically. You look like the same Game.
I got a baby face. I still gotta stay young. It’s all in eatin good and workin out. I’ve been workin out a lot more.
What were some memories you have from growing up in Compton?
I remember when I was riding down the street and I had a 10-speed. I was riding down the street in Compton on my 10-speed, I used to like to ride with no hands. If I ride with no hands then I could eat my food and ride down the street. So I’m eatin this pickle, man. Back in the day we used to put Now-N-Laters in our pickles. I was riding down the street with my pickle and my arm got stuck on the gauge. You know how they got the two sticky metal things sticking up. My arm got stuck there and I yanked it out and I got twenty stitches. My arm was everywhere, man. I left my bike right there, I ran home screaming for my mom, “Aaaagh! I’m dying, I’m dyin!” That’s one incident. I’ll tell you another one: I was in the backyard playin baseball with my little brother. We were poor so we didn’t have a baseball. We played baseball with a basketball. We had a bat, a metal bat. He was throwing the ball and I hit it so hard that the ball bounced off of the basketball, and it hit me in the eye. I busted my eye open, man. I had ten more stitches under my right eye. You see pictures of me from that time with a big scar and ten stitches under my eye. Once again, I hit myself and fuck, it hurt! I touched my eye and felt blood and again, “Waaaah!” A few childhood experiences that were crazy.
When we hear your music it’s so intense and so dark, but we don’t usually hear those stories of your past. I can see that you’ve gone through some crazy shit!
Sometimes people don’t really wanna hear about the fun times. People only wanna hear about negativity and violence. Those are the kinda things that get people listening. It’s funny that you asked me about those times. I appreciate and respect you for that because everybody when I do interviews only wanna know about the same things: when you got shot, how your brothers died, when your sisters got molested, stuff like that.
I want to know about you as a kid growing up because I feel like that’s what shaped your music.
If you appreciate me for that aspect of my lyricism and my skill, wait ‘til you get “The RED Album”. “The RED Album” is my entire life broken down piece by piece, narrated by Dr. Dre. You’re gonna love “The RED Album”. I’m not talking about nobody else but you, Black Dog. You as a Game fan that loves stories and wanna know about my life, you’re gonna love “The RED Album”, guaranteed.
It sounds like this album is uniquely different from your other albums.
No doubt. This album is definitely different. This is my best work. I know everybody loved “Documentary”. My favorite album was “Doctors Advocate”, but “The RED Album” is about to be my new favorite. I can’t wait for the critics and the haters to get this album. It’s not really anything you could say about it. If you get “The RED Album” and say you don’t like it you’ve got to be completely lying to yourself.
What’s happening with the Goon Squad? You have a bunch of talented artists with you.
Everybody’s still here working on their music. From Maestro to New Jersey Devil to Menace to K-Red. Everybody’s still here, we’re just working.
What’s coming up next for The Game? What are you excited about?
Next up is my daughter’s birthday. It hasn’t happened yet, but I’m lookin forward to it. It’s cool that you say this in Murder Dog, cause everybody thinks in Murder Dog it’s gotta be all Gangsta shit, it’s all street shit. But at the end of the day, gangstas need love too man. My daughter’s having a Minnie Mouse birthday party on the 21st, two days before my album drops. I’m lookin forward to that!
When is your birthday?
My birthday is November 29, 1979. That’s when The Game was born. Don’t you forget it.
The people with the most experience on the streets are often the realest when you talk to them. I just did an interview with X-Raided, who has been in prison for the last 18 years, and he’s so real. It’s great talking with you, Game.
Whenever I do anything with Murder Dog it’s all love. Murder Dog’s been lookin out for me for a long time. I swear I’ll never do a Murder Dog interview unless it’s with you, Black Dog. You’re crazy, man!
Every time you’ve dropped an album we’ve put you on the cover. We love you.
I love you too. One love.
