Is the Game a Legend?
The Game has announced that his Next album is his “last”. Hip Hop like in sports only the Legends get to pick when it’s over and it’s an interesting conversation depending on who you ask. To some Game is a great mc, to others he’s an attention seeking gang member who will find any kind of drama to attach himself to. In my eyes though game is one of the greatest mc’s to ever pick up a microphone. He checks all the boxes.
When I look at a legendary rappers there are a certain marks you hit
- Talent: if i put you in a room and told you to just rap would i be impressed?
- Commercial success: A lot of “Hip Hop” Purist would scoff at making commercial success a marker of a legendary MC, but this my opinion and as far as i can see no one who is lauded as one of the greatest doesn’t have some commercial success.
- Influence: the mark a rapper leaves on the game has to be bigger than sales. Who did you influence can you look around the game and see the rappers you’ve help create or influence.
- The classic album.
Game has had numerous tmz run ins where it comes off as he’s just trying to keep his name in news. Which is unfortunate because of his past success and the ability of his pen you’d hope he wouldn’t have to stoop to those levels for “fame”. Game displays West coast bravado with the sharp technical delivery of a golden era east coast MC. He makes it apparent during the height of the east coast, west coast beef that he wasn't picking sides…. musically at least. When he said
These bars right here capture the game entire persona to me. Compton raised me but i really like how those east coast mc’s rap.
Game combining his West Coast flavor with East coast rhyme style easily became the most talented rapper in the then biggest group in Hip Hop G unit. 50 may have been the hit making prodigy but game combined a little of 50’s hit making ability at the time with Lyrics that had to be respected by all Mc’s . With 5 million records sold out the gate Game was officially a rap Superstar, to put selling 5 million in perspective Dmx “And then there was X” 5 million sold, Eminem “Eminem show” “Slim shady Lp” both sold 5 million, Snoop doggs “Doggy style” 5 milllion sold and Jay z’s biggest commercial success “In My lifetime vol 2” sold 5 million. Game joined a club that very few rappers have, not to mention all those albums i named are classics in the Hip Hop history books.
A rappers influence is always the hardest thing to measure. It’s easy to say he got this from rapper X but then someone older could tell you where rapper X got it from.
With Game though he was the mainstream rap artist to bring gang culture back into a prominent role in Hip Hop for better or for worse. We see the likes of YG and Kendrick lamar go onto national success with gang culture being heavily influencing their music even if they are delivering their messages differently.
The biggest influence Game had on the Hip Hop community was he was the first west coast rapper who could go bar for bar lyrically and word play wise with the east coast heavy weights. I’m not disrespecting the west in anyway but west coast music has a different vibe from the east. It’s production out west, it’s gliding on a track and making it your own no matter who’s song it is, be it Snoop dogg’s melodic flow or ice cubes unrivaled aggression west coast rappers were known more so for their vibe . Out east we’re just trying to fuck the beat up, leave no question we had the most impressive and usually complex verse. Game literally melted those worlds together and from that i believe artist like Kendrick lamar, Vince staple, tyler the creator, Earl sweatshirt and so many more west coast artist who over the past few years have been showing their lyrical prowess on tracks.
Games respect as a Mc was never in question but he put the world on notice with the most impressive onslaught of bars the industry had ever seen. After his extremely public break from Gunit that climaxed with a shooting that left one dead outside of hot 97 game immediately flew back to LA where he recorded a 15 minute diss track to 50 and the unit. With every bar being more scathing than the next 300 bars showed the first chink in the armour of 50 cent who at that point was known for demolishing opponents after he got Ja rule out of the game. The energy surrounding the Game and 50 beef felt like East coast West coast world war 2 was brewing, thank god 50 cent had already made his rounds through the city and he didn’t have too many artist friends to say the least.
The Classic: The Documentary. What makes a classic? No one know’s, there is no equation that could explain a classic album. You just know it when you hear it. It sounds like nothing you’ve ever heard before every song brings you to a new place in the artist’s mind. With songs like “How we do” and “Hate it or love it” Leading the album as the single and B side the hits were clearly apparent. Production from Dr Dre, Timberland, Havoc, Jus Blaze and Kanye West, the production was second to none. I know there isn’t a formula for classics but with a producer list like this you’ve already put the right ingredients on the table. Then most importantly the bars lock in a classic album for hip hop heads, those verses and bars that will have you hitting pause and hitting your homie like did you hear when he said... were riddled all over the documentary. Game put the world on notice with his debut classic.
Game may have never had another album reach the commercial success of The documentary that comes with leaving the hottest entity in the industry (50 and Gunit) during the height of your fame. The game has continued to put out quality projects that have continued to garner critical acclaim despite all the antics to keep his name in the headlines.
So that’s it for now at least. Game has “one” more album on the way regardless of what the albums sells we know Game kept the west a float until this new influx of talent had come into their own. The West should be pay homage but we all should respect the career of the Game.
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