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The Game
Straight outta' Compton, again…
The next generation Nigga With Attitude!
The Game is from the birthplace of Gangsta' Rap,
Compton, CA. But this is a new, different Westside
story, one that joins with the Eastside while paying
respects to rap's hardcore pioneers of the '80s, NWA.
The Game, a former gangbanger who turned to rap after
being shot five times and left for dead, is about peace
not war. Working closely with Dr. Dre on his debut
album; This Game is for real.
The Game Vol. 1, (Aftermath/G Unit/Interscope), the
debut album from The Game (a/k/a Jayceon Taylor),
announces the arrival of the most significant West Coast
gangsta rapper since Snoop Dogg more than a decade
earlier. With guest spots from 50 Cent, Nate Dogg and
several others, as well as producers from Dr. Dre to
Kanye West to Just Blaze and tracks such as "Like Father
Like Son," "Church For Thugs," "Dreams," "Where I'm
From" and "Westside Story," The Game Vol. 1 resurrects
the truth, spirit and hope of hardcore rap.
"A lot of rap today is bubblegum bullshit that says
nothing and means nothing to anybody living in the
'hood," says the 24-year-old with a tattoo of NWA's Eazy-E
on his right forearm. "I'm not knocking anybody's hustle
but I can't feel what's in hip-hop today. Everybody's
rapping but they're not saying anything. NWA, Biggie,
2Pac, Snoop and Jay-Z all had something to say then
Biggie, Pac and Eazy died and it was devastating. We
almost let rap die until the Great White Hype (Eminem)
saved hip-hop and 50 dropped the gangsta wake-up call. I
feel like it's my turn now and I can fill the shoes."
 What
all three have in common is the guiding hand of Dr. Dre,
Compton's own and one of the founding members of NWA.
"The best moment I've had in rap was walking into his
studio in 2002 and Dre saying he heard a mix tape of my
freestyles and wanted to sign me," says Game. "Trying to
act cool? I was frozen. I'm still starstruck with Dre.
He's been almost 20 years at the top. That I get to soak
up the game from a musical genius like him gives me a
20-year head start on everybody else. He's like the
father I never had. Everything about a
father throwing a baseball to his son in the suburbs,
that's what NWA was to me. They were the only role
models I had besides Michael Jordan. Eazy was the father
of hardcore and I don't understand why he only gets
honorable mention when people talk about rap."
Game's beloved grandmother nicknamed him Game because he
was always game for anything--basketball, running track,
riding bikes, playing in the streets. Family problems
related to his father caused him to be placed in a
foster home from the third grade to the ninth grade. "My
childhood was fucked up but it wasn't really that
different from anyone else who lived in the 'hood," he
says. Soon after he was returned to his mother, one of
his older brothers, Jevon, was shot and killed. The Game
then started running behind another older brother, Big
Fase 100, who had been taken in by the Cedar Block Piru
Bloods, even though they grew up in a Crip neighborhood
called Santana Block on Compton's East Side.
Fase tried to keep him away from thuggin' but, once it
became clear that Game was going to be there, his
brother was determined to teach him how to survive on
the streets. Then, after graduating high school in 1999,
an older adopted brother, Charles, was shot and killed.
"People don't know what type of toll that takes on your
life," he says. "Especially being young and just fresh
out in the world." A one-time star shooting guard for
Compton High School who was offered scholarships to
various colleges, the 6-foot-4 Game now started
gangbangin' hard--car thefts, drug dealing and
shootings. Finding him too much to handle, his mother
kicked him out of her house.
In 2000, The Game and his brother moved into the
projects in a nearby city and took over its drug trade.
Their success attracted rivals. Late on the night of
October 1, 2001, Game was alone in their apartment when
there was a knock on the door. Game became victim to a
home invasion. "That was the biggest learning experience
ever in my life. This sounds crazy but I appreciate that
happening to me, because I'd probably be dead if it
didn't. Anybody who gets shot and survives feels lucky.
On the other hand I went through so much already that I
felt somebody owed me. Now I could live out my dreams."
He sent his brother to buy new copies of all the classic
rap albums, East Coast and West Coast - Dre's The
Chronic, Big's Ready To Die, Jay-Z's Reasonable Doubt,
Ice Cube's Death Certificate, Snoop's Doggystyle, 2Pac's
All Eyez On Me, every Kool G Rap record, and anything
from NWA. He studied them carefully over the next five
months. In December 2001, he rapped for the first time.
"I mixed everybody's style into one. That's why some
people feel that I sound like I'm from the East Coast
even though I rap about the West Coast."
He also hopes the purpose of the graphic nature of The
Game Vol. 1 doesn't get twisted. "I'm telling my story.
I'm out to please no one but myself. I'm not telling
anybody to sell drugs or pick up guns. When I sold drugs
it was because it was my last resort, because I had four
sisters and an older brother and we were eating Cheerios
on Thanksgiving. When I picked up a gun it was because
my life was threatened. If you don't want to hear that;
then don't listen. I'm not glorifying the life I lived
because I wouldn't wish that on anybody. I'm just one
human being raised in the 'hood who wanted nothing more
than to get out."
His sole regret is that his grandmother--the only person
who ever believed he could make it out--passed away
before she could see his success not just in rap but in
life: In summer 2003, Game became a father for the first
time with son Harlem Caron Taylor. He says the best
moment he's ever experienced was watching his son's
mother give birth: "That was some next level shit. I've
never been so happy. I wanted to bring him into the
world so much that I was going, 'Come on!'"
There's more than anger in this next generation NWA.
There's pride and even optimism for the future. "I gave
all I could to this album, it's me. Enjoy it because
it's the last time I'm living it. As humans we grow and
the next album will be about how I'm living now--and I'm
loving life."
The Game has only just begun.
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