Dubcnn: It’s Jose with Dubcnn I’m here with Game. What’s up Game?
Game: What’s up homes?
Dubcnn: First off it’s a pleasure to be here with Game. We were just in the new studio and we got to listen to it and it’s crazy. Tell us about your new album and how everything’s going with it.
Game: My new album, I’m sort of like Dre with Detox. I keep everything quiet, y’all two was kind of privy, I’m pretty sure it was a treat for y’all. Album’s crazy though it’s called The RED Album, rededicated, REDicated to my fans. My hood, my block, my family, my craft, which is hip-hop. It’s my reincarnation into what I really came to do in music. Ain’t really focused on no beefs on this album, ain’t up against the wall. I can really create. Pharrell is executive producing the album, Dre, I’m back working with Dre, helping him with Detox, he’s helping me with The RED album. It’s just a good vibe, a good feel. The album’s gonna be incredible so when it come out on February 16th, you already know what it is, it’s gonna be locked in, RED.
Dubcnn: The track are definitely hot. Speaking of Dre. When everyone saw that picture of you him and Snoop in the studio everyone got pretty excited. How did you get hooked up back with Dre?
Game: Dre called me, he had Brandon from Aftermath call me and was like, “Yo Dre want you in the studio.” And I always told Dre, “Whenever you need me holla and I’ll be there 30 minutes or less like Dominoes pizza.” Brandon told me Dre wanted me to come down and help him write some songs for Detox. I shot down there and we started gettin’ it in. When I got there Snoop was there we chilled, we smoked a couple of blunts, and Dre was like, “Yo, y’all wanna take a picture?” Me and Snoop was like lookin’ at each other like, “We wit’ it.” Took a picture, blasted it off my twitter page and that was that.
Dubcnn: I think that picture’s gonna be classic when people look back on it. It’s definitely a definition of the West Coast, especially now. Speaking of West Coast projects, you were talking about doing a Diary of Compton, a DOC album. Have you talked to the other guys about doing that?
Game: I haven’t been privy to meet MC Ren, met King T, cool with him, Ice Cube is the big homie, Dr. Dre is a father figure or a big brother to me in hip-hop, me and Snoop ride or die for each other in music and in the street, that’s like my big brother and he hold me down. To put it together it ain’t nothing, but it’s gonna take everyone, The Dogg Pound, Daz, Kurupt. Everybody to come together and really help me perfect that album, I’m not gonna do it halfway. I gotta have 100% of the definition of what Compton is to the artists involved and myself and what people see from the outside looking in. I want to depict Compton is a way that’s so real that you’re from Compton if you’re not. You feel like you’ve seen and you’ve been through what I’ve been through in my life. That’s on hold and hopefully it can be my fifth album, which’ll be my last album on Interscope/Geffen.
Dubcnn: You just got out of a session with Pharrell, and you haven’t worked with him that much before. What’s the vibe like in the studio when you’re working together?
Game: Yo Pharrell is my new favorite producer. I got a whole new respect for Pharrell and the Neptunes but especially Pharrell and how he do his thing. The way he coach me when I’m in the booth, it’s like a Pat Riley to a Tim Hardaway or to a Magic Johnson. The way he let me run point guard when I’m in that booth, it’s crazy. The Neptunes, people don’t really understand what the Neptunes are, but if you take away the Neptunes from hip-hop you take away the color from hip hop, you take way these new kids that’s jerkin’, you take away Jay-Z’s “Change Clothes”. The Neptunes brought a whole new sound a whole new aura to hip hop and it manifested and turned into something that nobody thought would be as big as it is. I’m excited about being in with Pharrell, he’s my new favorite producer and we’ve established this friendship, this bond that goes beyond the music. Me and Pharrell we did four records yesterday and three records today. We recordin’ man. I asked Pharrell if he would executive produce the album and he said “Hell yeah”. Same thing I asked Dre if he would help me complete The Red Album and mix a couple songs and he said yeah. So with Dre and Pharrell, and my lyricism, it’s just crazy.
Dubcnn: You also linked with DJ Premiere on this album.
Game: Nah, I ain’t get with Premiere, I’m supposed to be gettin’ with Premiere before Christmas, I hope that happens. Premiere is one of my favorite classic OG producers that’s still potent in hip-hop today. I just can’t wait to get in with Premiere because I think we can make some classics.
Dubcnn: Let’s talk about Black Wall Street. Are there any of them you’d ever consider pushing and trying to get them on a major platform?
Game: All my guys, XO, Juice, Menace, Clyde Carson, Goon, they all do their thing. Black Wall Street is really like a family; they put their work in on the streets. Once the streets talk back, they’ll tell you who’s hot, kinda like how Drake came up. When the streets start talking about one of my artists I’mma jump behind ‘em and give ‘em 100%. But everybody gotta go through the trials and tribulation of being a new artist and that grind. And if you don’t go through the grind then how will you respect the grind once you on. Everybody gotta go through that. There’s gonna be some turmoils some hardships but the ones that endure are the biggest artists.
Dubcnn: As a West coast artist, as one of the few people able to take West Coast to a worldwide level especially recently, what do you think the West Coast needs to do to stay relevant in hip-hop?
Game: More unity, less hate. That’s it.
Dubcnn: You talked about how you were thinking about retirement. How’s that looking, are you thinking about that?
Game: Right now I’m just doing me. I just love to do music and the people I work with they’re friends more than they are just producers and artists. I’m just gonna rock out in hip-hop as long as hip-hop is standing to have me. I’mma do what I can to contribute to the legacy of good music.
Dubcnn: So if you ever did see a day where you retired, what would a day in the life of Game be like?
Game: I’d be a father and a husband. I love being with my kids, I love being with my girl. I love the family aura, that’s what I’m about. That’s what I want to do after hip-hop. I wanna be so caked up that I don’t have to worry about doing nothing else but being with my family and having fun.
Dubcnn: When everything’s said and done and you want people to look at you 100 years from know what do you want them to think? What’s your legacy?
Game: My legacy is 100% real. That’s it. Kept it real from the beginning to the end, didn’t hold his tongue for nobody, he said what he wanted to say, he voiced his opinions in situations where he felt it was needed. He was a man, a man’s man, he was a father, he was a husband, and he was a good nigga, to his niggas. But he was from Compton.
Dubcnn: Tell us about the label situation, you went to Geffen, now you’re back on Interscope.
Game: Geffen and Interscope is the same thing, that’s what people don’t understand. It’s the same people, Jimmy Iovine run it all, David Geffen, the step Johnsons, the Tubbies, the Garnetts, everybody’s the same, Geffen and Interscope is like jelly and jelly.
Dubcnn: Talking about Jimmy, he called 50, you and Dre the black Beatles. What do you think about that comparison?
Game: I think that at the time when we were doing our thing we were like the Beatles. Jimmy always liked to say that, “Why’d you guys have to break up the Beatles? I have to get the Beatles back together. Game you’re John Lennon, 50’s Paul McCartney. You just fuckin’ can’t get it right”. But me I don’t hold no grudges, if dude wanna make some music tomorrow, then we can talk about it. I don’t really hate 50, it’s all music. One of the things about me and him, I had to survive and at the time, he was so powerful, I felt like he was trying to do the same thing with me he did to Murder Inc. and I just couldn’t let that happen ‘cause I’m a soldier, I’m a warrior and I’mma fight to the death to stay alive to make sure my kids have money and college funds to make sure they’re able to live in whatever economic conditions. I had my back against the wall, I came out swinging. I did what any man would do. I fought for my own existence, I fought G Unit, I fought my own label and I came out victorious. I’m still on Interscope and last year I sold the most records in the building, all music genres. And in 2010 I plan to do the same thing. I’mma just keep rollin’, my label behind me, my family’s behind me, Pharrell is behind me, Dre’s behind me, the 50 nonsense is behind me. Everything is behind me and I’m headed straight that way.
Dubcnn: What can you tell us about the album. What are the surprises, what are they gonna get, what should they expect?
Game: You get what you pay for, that’s all I can tell you. February 16th, The Red Album in stores.
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Related Media & Links
Game - Crazy Feat. Gucci Mane and Timbaland (Prod. by Timbaland)
Game - Big Money (Prod. by Cool & Dre)
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Game // Video Interview // Dubcnn
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