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Gangsta rap is dead! At least that’s what Hip Hop’s reclusive legion of Facebookbangers, Twitter hipsters and blog’d out skinny jean
b-boys would have us believe.
And, on some level, they do have a valid argument. With the global economy tilted like your local pool hall’s pinball machine and Cali penitentiaries hella crowded like public housing, things just ain’t
the same for gangstas. Consequently, it’s back to bangin’ for way too
real estate and slangin’ rocks for rims in a dope spot nowhere near you.
Knowing his golden state is a little bang’d up, THE GAME g-rides through rap’s OZONE layer leaking crimson R.E.D. comments. Chilled out in a so-Cal burger joint, we rapped about why he’s so much
smarter at 30, why he and 50 never should have dismantled the “Black
Beatles,” and why his R.E.D. Album is his most street of all. Get The
Game str8 from Chuck Taylor’s bloody mouth.
They say gangsta gap is dead, G! Is that true?
That’s obviously somebody’s opinion. It ain’t mine. But I will say that what niggas consider “gangsta” is changing. Like, the hardest niggas I’d
ever seen in the hood are wearing suits now. Dressing it up. Being more
professional about themselves and aiming more at money than each other.
Niggas in the hood are taking better care of their families and shit
now, at least more than before. But as far as gangsta rap, as long as I
got Eazy Duz It and Doggystyle spinnin’ in my changer, gangsta rap will
never die.
Is society safer now that these youngsters are tryin’ to be Drake and Wale instead of Game and Snoop? Especially on the West Coast?
I’m loving the West Coast right now. Most niggas out here are on chill
and, like I said, focused more on money than mayhem. Don’t get it
twisted though. You can still turn the wrong corner and get your melon
split, but everyone is on that cool shit. I call it the “Drake Era,” and
you can print that in bold. I fuck with Drake because he is leading
this sort of cool movement that is contagious right now in Hip Hop. I
wish ‘Pac had lived to see Cali on cool like this.
When you arrived in Hip Hop, around ’02, you were grinding to get you and the homies out of the hood. You were driven to build Black Wall Street. You’re rich now and established. What’s the motivation
today?
Two boys, my sons. One is six years old and the other is two. Harlem and
Justice, man. You could put me on the Lakers and I’d score more than
Kobe with how I’m feeling right now.
I can tell, man. I hear it. I see it. The enthusiasm. The energy. I haven’t seen you this amped since The Documentary sessions.
My sons advance my thinking. Fatherhood has forced me to think ahead and
be smarter about things. I’m even more motivated to take shit over.
We’ve followed your career from the gate. And in doing so we’ve been exposed to different people in your life. I’m going to ask you about a few of those people and see where you are, today, with those
people. Let’s start with George Ausborne Taylor, Jr.
Man… (pause)… Right now, man… (longer pause)… I ain’t seen that dude in a
minute. That’s my pops. I’ve always had real mixed feeling about that
dude. I haven’t really fucked with him in a minute because of different
shit that’s going on in the family that I don’t really wanna talk about
right now, but I recorded a song about it for the R.E.D. Album. You
listen to that joint and it’s gonna bring tears to everybody eyes.
Billboard.
That’s my Beanie Sigel if I’m Jay-Z, not the [recent] beef but the unstoppable Roc empire days. If I’m Jadakiss that’s my Styles P. That’s
my nigga for life, best friend ever. But you think I’m hardheaded
(laughs)! That nigga wouldn’t listen to nobody. I’d be like, “Let’s not
go out tonight. Let’s stay in and record.” And he’d be like “Nah, I’m
riding. Serving this nigga. That nigga.” But to be honest, and that is
my nigga for life when I say this, I think the way Billboard went out,
being murdered in the streets of L.A., is how that nigga wanted to go
out. He’d already accepted that as his will and testament. Wasn’t no
convincing the nigga otherwise. But I love that nigga, man.
Carol Edith Zeigler.
Aw, man. You spinning me around the room right now. That’s my grandmother. That woman right there was a special woman. That’s my Lena
Horne. My Oprah Winfrey. My Angela Bassett. She is another person that I
lost way too soon. My grandmother is the person who called me Game. I
wish she’d lived to see where I made it to, not necessarily all the
negative shit I had to do to reach this point, but the pinnacle I’m at
now.
Lastly, I have to ask you about that little dude that was crawling around The Documentary photo shoot in chucks and a diaper. Harlem Caron.
(laughs)… Harlem is good. That dude is Tiger Woods, man. He don’t know
nothing about no hood. He doesn’t even know that I’m a rapper. He just
has fun at school. Plays soccer, baseball, little league stuff. Plays
with his toys. Harlem is all innocent and I’m grateful that I’m able to
provide that for him. But my two year old, Justice, that dude knows my
songs and shit (laughs). He knows all my business. He’s like,”‘You goin’
to tha dudio?” (laughs)
You’ve obviously enjoyed tremendous success without 50. And, in turn, he has done well without you. But deep down, real talk, is there any part of that creative business relationship you miss? Any
regrets?
I made some of the biggest songs of my career with that dude. And it’s
not about he wrote this or I wrote that, but it was just the
collaborative effort. No different from Swizz working with Cass or Jay
working with Beans or Puff working with Bigg. I miss us being the
Voltron of Hip Hop. Em, D12, Dre, Nate, me. All of that power and
creative energy and good music.
I bet Iovine misses it too.
To this day, every time I see Jimmy he says, ‘Why’d you guys have to go and break up the Black Beatles?” And, honestly man, that relationship
didn’t have to spoil. But I’m principled. Things weren’t headed in a
direction I was comfortable with and you know me. I’m not one to hold my
tongue. I’ma tell a muthafucker when shit ain’t right.
Back in the studio with the good Doctor. He and Pharrell are executive producers on this album. How’d that reunion happen?
I wouldn’t say it’s a reunion. It’s more… (pauses)… Dre was kicking it
with Snoop one day and called me to ask if I wanted to come in and work.
We should all be happy Dr. Dre ain’t God, because the world never would
have been created in seven days. It would have taken three years like
my album… but yeah, they called me and asked if I wanted to work. One
thing led to another and we’ve been working on my album ever since.
There is so much energy in your sessions right now. Skateboard P and Dre, Snoop. And to think that you were threatening us all with your retirement after L.A.X. went platinum. What changed?
I ain’t going nowhere. What happened is Hip Hop changed. And I told
people that it would on my last album. You can hear how everybody is
just having a good time. Gucci Mane, Soulja Boy, Wayne. These cats are
just having a good time and that is where Hip Hop needs to be.
I would be remiss if I didn’t talk to you about Compton. Everything from public education to public transportation to teen pregnancy rates, murder rates, violent crimes, gang-related crimes, are
through the roof. What’s it going to take for shit to change in the CPT?
50 years of dedication to changing things. See, Compton is rotten to the
core. Like you said, all the way down to the kindergarten level. By
junior high you already know that you don’t really have a good shot at
making it out. I don’t know what else I can do that I haven’t already
done. We did a lot for the hood with Black Wall Street but shit hasn’t
really improved except for a few people we helped directly.
Do you think President Obama is going to cop the R.E.D. Album?
I don’t know about cop it, but he’ll definitely have a couple songs in
his iTunes workout (laughs). Because if he cops the entire album and
listens to it his war strategy is gonna change. He’s gonna take all the
soldiers out of Iraq and send the prisoners over there instead.
What’s the biggest difference between Chuck Taylor at 20 and Chuck Taylor now, at 30?
I was a dumb, dangerous muthafucker ten years ago. Walking around with
loaded weapons and no brain. I understand life more now. I know how
things are going to end. Not when, but I know how. When is up to God’s
will. Only he knows that.
Safe to say you’re a lot richer now too, huh?
Yeah, that too (laughs). //
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