The Game (born Jayceon Taylor on November 27, 1979 in Compton, California) is a rapper signed to Aftermath Entertainment.
Biography
The Game was born and raised in the birthplace of gangsta rap, Compton, California. He received his nickname from his grandmother, who claimed he was always game for anything. Growing up in Compton, The Game grew up in the Santana Blocc Crips neighborhood. He was placed in a foster home from the 3rd grade until the 9th grade due to family problems with his father, who raped his sister as stated in a recent song "Around the Way". Soon after he was reunited with his mother, one of his older brothers, Jevon,who was later shot and killed. Just after his high school graduation in 1999, his older adopted brother, Charles, was shot and killed. His half brother, nicknamed "Big Fase Hunned", grew up in a different neighborhood and was an active member of the Cedar Block Piru Bloods. As their relationship grew, The Game became a member of the Cedar Block Pirus as well, all while living in a Crip neighborhood. Prior to rapping, at 6'4" The Game was a star basketball player at Compton High School. He received a basketball scholarship to Washington State University but was dismissed from the school during his freshman year over drug allegations. He grew up with NBA star Baron Davis, who is now the godfather to The Game's son, Harlem Caron Taylor. The Game eventually got into the lifestyle of hustling with his brother, Big Fase Hunned. Car thefts, drug dealing, and shootings forced his mother to kick him out of the house. He moved into the projects in a nearby city with Big Fase 100 in 2000 and took over the local drug trade. Late on the night of October 1st 2001, he was shot five times during a home invasion. While in the hospital The Game decided to change his life, put his past behind him, and pursue his dream of becoming a rapper. His brother encouraging, telling him he had a way with words. The Game began to study classic albums of great rappers such as Notorious B.I.G., Snoop Dogg, Nas, and Jay-Z. Soon after, The Game was discovered by rap pioneer and former N.W.A member, Dr. Dre, who signed The Game to his Aftermath Entertainment label.
Although The Game was originally signed as an artist at Aftermath Entertainment, Interscope CEO, Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre decided to have The Game work with 50 Cent and G-Unit (currently made up of 50 Cent, Lloyd Banks, Tony Yayo, Olivia, Young Buck, DJ Whoo Kid, and Spider Loc). The concept of The Game with G-Unit, was to help increase the popularity of one of the leading acts in rap & hip-hop, and to also increase the notoriety of G-Unit on the West Coast. Furthermore, the popularity of G-Unit along with the support of Dr. Dre would ensure The Game a high album sales. Dr. Dre and 50 Cent were producers on his debut album The Documentary, an album that explores The Game's life while he was pursuing a career in the rap industry. The strategy succeeded, the album debuted at the number one spot on Billboard music charts with hit singles such as "How We Do", "Hate It Or Love It", and "Dreams".
Although The Game originally wanted to title his album Nigga Wit' An Attitude - Volume 1, he couldn't secure the album's title because of a court order from Eazy E's widow, requesting that he not have the N.W.A. name on the album, forcing The Game to rename it.
Controversy
See Hip-Hop Rivalries for more information.
Though The Game is a new artist, he has already made some hip hop rivals: among them Suge Knight and Death Row Records, Memphis Bleek and Young Gunz of Roc-A-Fella Records, Yukmouth, Joe Budden, and even mentor 50 Cent.
Joe Budden
Although Joe Budden didn't really have a dispute with The Game, his disagreement with G-Unit was started through 50 Cent's comments of Joe Budden's debut album. He criticized Budden's album for "lacking street credibility". Joe Budden took offense and released various insults directed at G-Unit. In early 2004, a track on a mixtape had Budden attacking G-Unit on the same track that The Game was featured on. During 2004, The Game had exchanged several disrespectful records with Joe Budden his most famous being the song "Buddens". The Game made many death threats towards Joe Budden even going so far as to flying to New York to attempt to find him. Joe Budden was the first to bring to light an incident in Game's early years where he appeared on the dating game show "Change of Heart" and had a tongue ring. The Game admitted to both allegations on his Web site, but defended himself by saying that he was young and needed the money. They mutually decided to stop making hostile records towards each other at a party in New York, however Game has continued to reference his self-proclaimed victory in songs and interviews.
Yukmouth
A video surfaced on the Internet in early 2004 that had Yukmouth in a studio with rapper Domination, who happened to be making a disrespectful song aimed at G-Unit. At the end of the clip, Yukmouth makes comments about Game having a tongue ring. In October 2004, The Game released a record directed towards Yukmouth, "I Got A Million On It", using the same beat Yukmouth is most famous for, The Luniz track "I Got 5 On It". Yukmouth responded with two tracks and a music video for the second track, featuring an impersonator of The Game. Both songs claimed the same things Joe Budden had said but also said The Game was slapped by Suge Knight. That rumor was supposedly started by Daz Dillinger. The Game responded on his website, saying that if Suge Knight ever touched him, Knight would be "6 feet under". In February 2005, Yukmouth released a mixtape called "All Out War" with several tracks directed towards The Game. The two squashed their beef after the West Coast Peace Treaty and even recorded a song together prior to that.
Death Row
Dr. Dre's old nemesis Suge Knight is feuding with The Game. After the 2005 BET Awards, associates of Death Row were apparently uninvited to a party hosted by R&B singer Ciara. An altercation was impeded by a member of Death Row trying to attack and steal The Game's chain. Suge Knight has been having an ongoing feud with Dr. Dre and many of his artists despite the west coast peace treaty that was brokered. Game made a public statement on his BlackWallStreet website forums expressing his extreme dislike of Suge Knight because of "the lives he has endangered".
Roc-A-Fella and Jay-Z
Throughout the debut of The Game, he had a rivalry with Memphis Bleek. The origin of the competition emanates from JT the Bigga Figga's old label (Get Low) sounding very similar to Memphis Bleek's label (Dirty Get Low). The Game was on Get Low Records before signing to Aftermath. The Game bashed Memphis Bleek for the name situation on many tracks. Another rivalry is based on a line from The Game's "Westside Story" track where he says "And I don't do button up shirts or drive Maybachs", which Jay-Z took this as a direct insult to him. Game stated several times that the diss is in reference to Ja Rule and that he respects Jay-Z. Jay-Z later performed a freestyle on the radio called "Dear Summer" where he frequently mentions the word game in his rhymes leading Game to believe he was taking shots at him.
The Game responded the next day at a concert in Amsterdam where he made several remarks about Jay-Z, Memphis Bleek, Beanie Sigel, and Roc-A-Fella Records in an impromptu song. Jay-Z insisted the "Game" references were just about the rap game itself, not the rapper. The Game also retreated when Tim Westwood asked questions about it on a radio station in the U.K. the same day. In his concert in Los Angeles he attacked everyone he had problems with in the past, which included Jay-Z and Roc-A-Fella. Soon after he returned home however, he and Jay-Z made amends and are no longer rivals. Game has continued in dissing Memphis Bleek however, even including Roc members, the Young Gunz in his verbal assaults. Both have responded on freestyles to which Game and BWS member Cyssero have done a freestyle dissing Young Gunz called "Feel it in the Air".
50 Cent and G-Unit
The Game was originally a member of G-Unit. After his album, The Documentary was released, 50 Cent announced on the radio he was releasing The Game from label. 50 Cent claimed that the rapper was disloyal for not participating in his rap feud with Nas, Jadakiss, and Fat Joe and not giving him proper credit for The Game's album debut. 50 Cent claimed that The Game was not only a "hard head" but almost a risk for the whole G-Unit group because it caused strained relations with Lloyd Banks and 50 Cent. He felt that his album was being neglected for The Game and his jealousy was fueled by their constant arguing while on tour together. Also there were rumors that 50 Cent had a pushing match with The Game. After hearing of the interview in which 50 Cent was kicking Game out of G-Unit, The Game had gone to confront 50 Cent at the Hot 97 radio station since 50 had not previously talked to Game about his dismissal from the group. When they were not allowed entry to the building, the entourage of both 50 Cent and The Game were involved in a dispute leading to a member of Game's entourage getting shot and wounded. 50 Cent ended his interview while on air as he was rushed out of the building. It was widely speculated that 50 Cent created the incident to create more record sales as at the time he started a feud with several different rappers.
The rappers had officially put an end to the disagreement between one another and donated money to charitable causes. Although they rarely made eye contact, they both agreed that they were not risking their lives over this feud. Within a few weeks, 50 Cent and G-Unit were dissing The Game once again. In the XXL Magazine, 50 Cent was still dissing The Game, and claimed that without his support on the next album, The Game will not see multi-platinum sales. He also went on to say that Game is not a gangsta and he only says he has an AK47 to make people think he is a gangsta. Tony Yayo was on Power 105 in New York re-igniting the feud between G-Unit and The Game. Yayo was commenting about the street credibility about The Game and talking about his Change Of Heart appearance. 50 Cent filed a lawsuit against Jimmy Henchmen, the manager of The Game. The rapper sued Henchmen over the filming of the DVD the original "50 Cent" in Infamous Times. The movie chronicles the life of Kelvin "50 Cents" Martin and the rapper authorized footage for the DVD. Henchmen dismissed the lawsuit, stating that 50 Cent's jealousy of The Game was the reason for him suing him.
At New York radio station Hot 97's Summer Jam concert at Giant's Stadium in New Jersey on June 5th 2005, The Game's performance confirmed that his feud with G-Unit has not been squashed. During his performance The Game slandered G-Unit several times, at one point yelling out "G-Unot". The insults culminated in the appearance of a mascot dressed up as a rat sporting a G-Unit tank top on stage. The rat represented 50 Cent, who has been accused of snitching and placing others in jail by other rappers such as Fat Joe and Jadakiss. The mascot was then beaten down by members of The Black Wall Street. During the set, The Game challenged his former G-Unit members, and capped this off by tossing his G-Unit chain into the crowd. The outlashing at G-Unit received a very mixed crowd response.
He recently released "300 Bars and Runnin'", a 15 minute diss at G-Unit attacking every single member of his former crew except for fellow West-coast rapper Spider-Loc. 50 Cent has mixed feelings about the diss, nevertheless he responded with his video "Piggybank" in which he depicts The Game as Mr. Potato Head. Tony Yayo has briefly mentioned 300 Bars and that he hasn't listened to it because it is "too long".
The Game remains on 50 Cents G-Unit Records (dispite being booted from the clique) until Interscope release a statement saying otherwise.
Benzino
Benzino and The Source recently attacked The Game over his comments from his album The Documentary. The Game stated on "Don't Need Your Love", his displeasure of The Source. Also The Game recorded a scathing freestyle rap with Malice, a white rapper from Compton to respond towards the situation between Benzino and Eminem. Benzino responded on the song "Check Mate". Benzino has had a long standing feud with Eminem and has disrespected several artists on Interscope Records, which Eminem is a part of, in the past. An affiliate of The Game was interviewed for The Source. The cover story will explain what happened between The Game and 50 Cent after the incident at Hot 97. Also it is alleged that 50 was being made a sex slave by Jeffery Atkins known as Ja Rule, when 50 was asked to answer that, he declined and say it is not a press's business.
The Radio One incident
On January 25,2005, while promoting his debut album, The Game was in Washington, D.C. alongside his manager Jimmy Henchmen. They were being interviewed for WKYS-FM by DJ Zxulu and by the Hip Hop Zone's Kwasi Jones. A comment made by Zxulu about the earpiece Henchmen was wearing started a confrontation with 20 members of The Game's entourage. Both Zxulu and Jones suffered physical assault which led to them being admitted to hospital. The incident at the radio station caused Radio One to remove all the singles from The Game off their play lists in some of their mainstream markets. It was soon lifted after The Game and his Black Wall Street group issued an apology to the radio station. Those same comments were also stated while filming his video for the single "Hate It Or Love It". The song original was featured on The Documentary, but the remix was on 50 Cent's The Massacre. The remix featured The Game stating remarks about the incident: "I’m rap’s MVP/Don’t make me remind ya'll what happened in D.C."
Alleged accounts from Jones prompted him file a lawsuit against The Game for the line in the song added further stress to himself. Jones sued The Game for $280 million dollars and also named his mentors Dr. Dre and 50 Cent alongside Eminem in this lawsuit. Prince George's County Courts filed assault and battery charges against The Game. As of 2005, the lawsuit against The Game was thrown out.
Unity among rivals
The Game along with Steve Harvey, Snoop Dogg and various members that represent California's rap inner circles all came together to form a west coast "peace treaty". The peace treaty ended the rivalry between Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre and Suge Knight. Although neither person was in attendance, The Game was there on behalf of Dr. Dre and Harvey was on behalf of Suge Knight. The rivalry between Dr. Dre and Suge Knight has been ongoing since Dre's departure from Death Row Records.;
While on tour
The Game and Snoop Dogg joined together to promote the "How The West Was Won Tour". They made a stop in Seattle and performed at the Auburn White River Amphitheatre. Richard Monroe, an apparent fan, went onstage and got too close to Snoop Dogg. The incident sparred a brawl with 12 members of Snoop Dogg and The Game's bodyguards. The incident was filmed on home video showing Snoop Dogg performing his song "Gin and Juice" and Monroe happened to lean his arm on the rapper's shoulder. The bodyguards grabbed Monroe and tossed him to ground and repeatedly punched and kicked the fan. Conflicting reports state that Snoop Dogg invited fans onstage to perform with him. The Auburn staff refuted the claim stating the incident between the fan and the bodyguards. They maintained that the safety of all performers was mandatory and the fan had no business being onstage in the first place. Fans also claim to have seen The Game punching and kicking Monroe while the incident took place. Representatives of Interscope haven't commented on the altercation. Local investigators are looking into the situation to discern if charges need to be filed.
Other Controversies
The Game currently has a dispute with former mentor JT Tha Bigga Figga for releasing old Game material when he was signed to his Get Low imprint. JT has legal right to do so however and still is releasing music from the outraged musician. He also had a small disagreement with another Compton rapper, Guerilla Black. The rapper accuses Guerilla Black of stealing his fame to generate success for the massive rebirth of west coast hip-hop. The Game as well as Guerilla Black are under the Czar Management company.
His appearance on Punk'd
The Game went into the studio to make his new album, but the construction workers moved into the driveway and start repaving the driveway. The Game didn't know that the parking lot was going to be closed for couple of days, until he came out from the studio. The Game threw a bench a chair and a broom so he could go over the concrete. They were asked to remove the benches and a chair, but one man tried to escape with a Cadillac until his car was stuck inside the concrete. The Game talked to the construction guys until Ashton Kutcher pulled the plug off from this incident.
The Origin Of 300 Bars and Runnin'
In mid-June 2005, The Game released a 15-minute-long diss song entitled 300 Bars and Runnin' (the title an homage to NWA's 100 Miles and Runnin' EP), addressing various enemies of his, including Memphis Bleek, 50 Cent, Lloyd Banks, Olivia, and Tony Yayo, among others. Notably, The Game explicitly quells rumors of a growing beef between himself and Jay-Z ("That wasn't no subliminal, Jay"), though whether or not the beef will stay squashed is another issue. The track's instrumental is comprised of several famous hip-hop beats, including Jay-Z's Dead Presidents, Takeover, and Dear Summer, The Blueprint 2, Eazy-E's Real Muthaphuckkin' G's, Mobb Deep's Shook Ones, 50 Cent's In Da Club, Kanye West's Diamonds (From Sierra Leone) (the first single from his sophomore LP, Late Registration) and more. The Game had actually written parts of the song when he was still a member of G-Unit, and finally released it after a concert in which he threw his G-Unit chain into the crowd and proclaimed that the G-Unit is full of a bunch of "snitches", and questioning Olivia's gender. He also started his own apparel that read "G-Unot", and sells them over The Black Wall Street website.
The Black Wall Street
The Black Wall Street Records is a label started by the rapper The Game and his half brother Big Fase 100. The label's name comes from the title of a book written by Bay Area label owner JT The Bigga Figga of Get Low Records, distributed through Interscope. The Black Wall Street Records is not affiliated with G-Unit. On a sad note, in June 2004, rapper Billboard was murdered in Compton by still yet unknown killers. Game has said to the public he will not retaliate in his movement to end all gang violence in the Los Angeles County area. titled: "Black Wall Street: The Next Generation of Independent Billionaires". A book whose subject is concerning creating and running a hip hop record label (Game was signed to Get Low records before signing to Aftermath Entertainment). The Black Wall Street label features artists Vita (formerly of Murder, Inc), 4Bent (known as Billboard), Black Friday, Glasses Malone (a Crip), Life, and Producer Nu Jerzy Devil. In 2005, The Game signed on ex-Death Row Records artists Techniek and Eastwood and are prepared to get together a group known as M.O.B. Cyssero is also affiliated with Black Wall Street. The Game is also appointed as an artist although he is also signed to Aftermath Entertainment and G-Unit Records. The labels are
Discography
Albums
- Untold Story (Produced by JT The Bigga Figga) - (2004)
- The Documentary (Produced by Dr. Dre, Scott Storch, Kanye West, Cool & Dre, Eminem, Jeff Bhasker, Nathaniel "Danja Hand" Hills, Jeff Reed, Havoc, Timbaland, Needlz, Just Blaze, Focus, Luis Resto, Mark Batson, Buckwild, Che Vicious, Hi-Tek) - (2005) #1 US (2x Platinum certification), #7 UK
- West Coast Resurrection (Produced by JT The Bigga Figga) - (2005)
- Untold Story, Vol. 2 - (2005) #61 US
DVD
- The Documentary DVD - (2005)
Singles
| Year | Title | Chart positions | Album | |||
| US Hot 100 | US R&B/Hip-Hop | US Rap | UK | |||
| 2004 | "Westside Story" (feat. 50 Cent) | #93 | ?? | ?? | ?? | The Documentary |
| 2004 | "How We Do" (feat. 50 Cent) | #4 | #2 | #2 | #5 | The Documentary |
| 2005 | "Hate It or Love It" | #2 | #1 (2 weeks) | #1 (4 weeks) | #4 | The Documentary |
| 2005 | "Dreams" | #32 | #12 | #5 | #8 | The Documentary |