The Documentary [PA] - Game (The) (CD 2005)

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You know much about The Game? He was promoted as being the savior of the Western coastline. He s that rapper that made people say Someone in G-Unit has skills? and immediately become curious. He was the one who created the feat of three hundred bars that dissed the most hypocritical rap group in the biz, even if he said the same line worded differently every few bars.

Is he my new favorite artist because of that? No.

But The Game is certainly a pleasurable startover for gangsta rap, especially ever since he was unfairly kicked out of the most generically monstrous group of it in these years right now. He s infamous, that s certain, but how his flow functions in a deliberately cold and irrepressible manner that makes his emotions trigger off of the microphone requires quite a bit of knack. And if someone from a infinite supply of people who will shove any kind of 50 Cent album down their throat and be a factor in his cash gain wants to immediately stop pressuring the guerillas for more releasing and start realizing Game, it s a wonderful once-in-a-while thing that could hopefully turn into a habit for other emcees. I don t know if leaving it did him any better for points from the underground or money or even die-hard fans; or natives of the wild Compton but you can t repress the talent or the anthemic struggle that every rapper has a say in or a twist of their own, nowadays.

The Intro is a barrage of soulful music transported through a lively and deep sample reminiscent of the wise words of Common s father, better known and recognized under the name Pops. Other than that, the thirty-some seconds are a tad shrill and unneeded, but it plants buzz single Westside Story down on the ground. The latter track features 50 Cent trying to use his awkwardly rough voice in more of a musical manner against the desolately catchy pianos, and a vibe that belongs in a stadium amongst the yells of the fans. You know how everything works for a lead-off single (especially for G-Unit) so we ll leave it at that.

Dreams is another sliver of Kanye with a pretty mixture of strings and samples, and Game s voice gets very compatible and intimate with the music, talking about the dreams that have followed and showed him the way throughout his life. The haunting background is a mist that Game revives himself on, with proverbs and quotables surely used for resisting misleading circumstances to give up on what you had planned for your own future. He definitely steps out of the hollow hole his former partners in the Unit were living in. His ability seems to accelerate throughout the song, starting out with shallow mentionings of record label partners and ending with quotes that are wise enough to stretch Game s longevity as an artist. But when you rewind the line It s kinda hard to imagine like Kanye West, comin back from his fatal accident to beatmaking and rappin and you realize that Game thinks that Kanye died, came back to life and then resumed producing, you start not to take him as seriously as everyone else already has.

After the song fades out after a wistful dedication to someone who was slain in his hometown Compton; the dreamy Hate It Or Love It proves its worth. You can see the flashing city lights against the trumpets and beauteous instrumentation and remind yourself that no matter what any other person says, only you know your own struggle and can express your views on certain things. Even the strong 50 dislikers such as myself can distinguish the triumph in the chorus and find it so relatable that you understand for a moment what he means when he spits his verse, and though it s still relatively simple; it s more truthful and interesting than much of his material. Now Cool & Dre aren t huge hip hop producers from the brand that brought you Scott Storch and Dr. Dre, but this is definitely a must-hear. Start From Scratch is a drifting piano set up with a drunken, secluded Game wishing away his past on the microphone. It s a song based off of previous mischief that he wants to hide from and he wishes he could wipe everything off of his slate. With sympathizing chords from Havoc, Don t Need Your Love s main driving force is the spirited chorus of Faith Evans which delves through the melody and the piano which wriggles its way through Game s vocals, and he still sustains an edginess through his accent, giving plentiful amounts of emotion every time he spits. His emotion, regardless of topic, is one of his stronger traits as is his ability to make an impression on anyone.

Higher is the West Coast-bred production which Dr. Dre and Game inserted as a reminder of his hometown (it s Compton, just in case you didn t notice how many times he mentioned it.) The piano riff is dramatic and head-nodding and the rest of the Dre formula works well too. The lyrics have a usage even though it s a party track, and Game disregarded the lyrical direction most likely because people s minds will be meandering through the beat instead, imprisoned in the dark violin chambers and wrestling with the synthesizers. And The Documentary has one of the most excellent beats I ve heard on this sort of record in a while, those dark strings and the West Coast attitude with pressuring keys. But did anyone else notice that once the track cuts to an interlude and he s asked about the battle with Jay he s trying to evade, in a whispery tone he says uh oh ? And Church For Thugs is another banger, with those Just Blaze horns with an arena-like swagger that was supposedly written by 50 and more passionate charism that melds with mandatory braggadocio.

What s up with the bad stuff, then? When tedious, you-said-that-already rhymes tangle with the songs. Repetition slaughters songs occasionally, and even though We Ain t revamps Eminem without I-have-a-responsibility-as-a-father lyrics or unimaginary, disgustingly descriptive rhymes about his pee-pee, Game s third verse excels in monotony. And once you hear the first few tracks off the album many times, you begin to feel eager to skip many of them. If Game tried to be groundbreaking, he d just get his foot stuck in the mud. But he respects (sucks up) to the ones that walked the path before him, and he gives a style that the listener remembers. While the beefs between Game and several different artists including G-Unit seep through mixtapes, that doesn t mean he s bad. Rivaling an industrial mess that has forgotten what rap is and is more focused on what it s become, he s got many choices in his career and many roads to embark on. We ll see where exactly he goes

Great Music To Play While: thinking to yourself that Mr. Taylor could have chosen a more original stage name than the Game

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