The game don't wait, at least that's what Warren G once said. However, The Game says that Hip Hop may have to wait on him to hear more after three largely-publicized, arguably classic albums. The third in the trilogy, L.A.X., is the topic at an early afternoon conversation in a Geffen Records corner office in New York City.
Although it seems it's impossible to get The Game to not be controversial, the first Compton rapper since his mentor to further the city's legacy seems to be about bigger issues than feuds, bravado and half-stepping rumors of retirement. Whether his promises are to be believed or not, the rapper who has been one of the few platinum superstars to still serve time, demonstrates his love of Hip Hop history, and use his underdog status to do what EPMD, Too Short, Master P and Jay-Z did before him - threaten to hang it up if we don't wake up.
HipHopDX: One of my favorite singles of the year is “Game's Pain" . I think it might be the first time Kool Herc’s name, or maybe even Red Alert have been mentioned in a mainstream rap single, ever. You even have a line about that with Big Daddy Kane. I know early in your career, critics including myself joked around with your name-dropping. Do you feel at this point in your career that you’re actually educating these kids?
The Game: Yeah, I definitely think that. I think that I’m a big enough artist to be vocal enough for kids. What I did with “Game’s Pain” is, I want new school cats to know where it started, where Hip Hop comes from, who did it before us, and who we should pay homage to – and who we shouldn’t. On the second hand, I want to remind these old school cats and these cats existing in Hip Hop now, let’s not forget; let’s not get too far away from the essence of what true Hip Hop is supposed to be.
So every now and then, I’m gonna name-drop some of my favorite artists of my career. I write the lyrics, I can do whatever I want, and I sell millions of records every time, so it’s obviously not too painful to hear about it. And if you think about it, there’s a lot of people that say, “Game name-drops too much,” but then I listen to everybody else, like every other rapper, and they be doing the same thing, but nobody catches it when they do it. My whole career, man, people have always been trying to find shit to render me helpless, but it don’t work, ‘cause I don’t give a fuck, I just rap how I rap, and you can hate it or love it. You can buy my shit or you can leave it on the shelf. I don’t ever try to over-sell myself, my albums, my records; I don’t a give a fuck if you don’t buy my records, don’t buy my shit – buy the one next to it, like who cares? I make music for me and my fans and the people who appreciate me. All the people who judge, criticize and knit-pick like little bitches and shit, just buy somebody else’s shit, that’s it. You ain’t gonna buy Game; leave my shit on the shelf.
Read the full interview here
Docta Joe
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