The Game = best album of the year? (NYT-R)

mannybolone

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/09/arts/music/09sann.html?_r=1&ref=music&oref=sloginWow. Really wow.I reviewed the album for the LA Times and K and I reference many of the same, exact points only to arrive at completely different conclusions. I mean - I'm all for more emotionally vulnerable male role models but I'm just not sure if The Game is who I had in mind to lead the new men's movement.

alieNDN

i like his voice. that's all i'l say. that and, if i like an artist's voice, i'l listen to them continuously, whether they have props or not. i'm not the same way with music. if i love the music but hate the artist's voice, i might not listen to it altogether. i know it sucks, but its true for me. that's why i hate guns n roses and like velvet revolver, or like rage against the machine but hate audio slave.

mannybolone

i like his voice. that's all i'l say. that and, if i like an artist's voice, i'l listen to them continuously, whether they have props or not. i'm not the same way with music. if i love the music but hate the artist's voice, i might not listen to it altogether. i know it sucks, but its true for me. that's why i hate guns n roses and like velvet revolver, or like rage against the machine but hate audio slave.

I hear you on the voice thing but I find it difficult to believe you'd roll with a completely mediocre artist (I'm not saying this about the Game...though many would) just because they have a nice voice. Isn't that like praising a film simply because you like the use of color?

rootlesscosmo

I like the Game.

That said, this Kelefa character's writing has always been silly.

Brian

i dont even have to listen to this to say its not the best album of the year

mannybolone

Let me just be clear: I like The Game too despite all the legit reasons not to. I just think his new CD imploded under the weight of Dre's absence BUT only because the Game had to keep talking about that very fact.

That said, there were still some good songs on there, no question. And I like his swag, even as transparent as it can be. Go figure.

drewnice

Sounds good from my listen, but suffers for Dre dick-riding reference overload.

alieNDN

i like his voice. that's all i'l say. that and, if i like an artist's voice, i'l listen to them continuously, whether they have props or not. i'm not the same way with music. if i love the music but hate the artist's voice, i might not listen to it altogether. i know it sucks, but its true for me. that's why i hate guns n roses and like velvet revolver, or like rage against the machine but hate audio slave.

I hear you on the voice thing but I find it difficult to believe you'd roll with a completely mediocre artist (I'm not saying this about the Game...though many would) just because they have a nice voice. Isn't that like praising a film simply because you like the use of color?

while i appreciate visual artistic elements, i can't make the parallel. with music, i feel you have a choice of either abiding bad music to get down with the vocalist, or abiding bad vocalism and getting down with the music (like gangstarr, or led zepplin). for me, a film, would have to have a proper plot, i wouldn't just appreciate it on visual terms (ok, ok, "the cell" with jennifer lopez is the sole exception, thanks for ruining my argument), but for the most part, that's how i see it.

nas has seen some awful production over they years, but his rhythm is always smooth, and i found afterwards, that even with production that i found was lame, if his verses were acapellas over a different beat, he'd be tight.

but from the start, i dug game's voice. he could rap over "lucas with the lid off" and i'd still bump it.

oh, but i'l agree with you on this tip, even though snoop's voice and tone is untouchable, i can't mess with that album he did on no limit no matter what. so i see what you're saying.

Mike_Bell

with music, i feel you have a choice of either abiding bad music to get down with the vocalist, or abiding bad vocalism and getting down with the music (like gangstarr...)

You're not feeling Guru's monotone?

alieNDN

AZ is another one. if the dude did nothing but rap abouth multi-sylable names in a telephone directory, i would still bump his shiet like no tommorow, his rhythm is so on point for me it can overcome music with poor melody or rhythm.

Mike_Bell

AZ is another one...

I was highly dissapointed in how he
never reached the potential that he should have.

yuichi

Sounds good from my listen, but suffers for Dre dick-riding reference overload.

If it weren't for Dr. Dre, The Game would probably still be on the streets, selling CDs. He's showing respect where respect is due, I don't see how that's a problem.

yuichi

I'll take The Game and Snoop over any of the garabage music flooding the market today.

shakezula808

AZ is another one. if the dude did nothing but rap abouth multi-sylable names in a telephone directory, i would still bump his shiet like no tommorow, his rhythm is so on point for me it can overcome music with poor melody or rhythm.

add to this list: De La Soul. Luckily, with them they've almost always (AOI series aside) had stellar production.

mannybolone

Sounds good from my listen, but suffers for Dre dick-riding reference overload.

If it weren't for Dr. Dre, The Game would probably still be on the streets, selling CDs. He's showing respect where respect is due, I don't see how that's a problem.

Yuichi,

I hear you but the important question: have you actually heard the album?

Since when does "showing respect" equate to = name checking Dre at least 3 times a song?

bull_ox

Sounds good from my listen, but suffers for Dre dick-riding reference overload.

If it weren't for Dr. Dre, The Game would probably still be on the streets, selling CDs. He's showing respect where respect is due, I don't see how that's a problem.

Yuichi,

I hear you but the important question: have you actually heard the album?

Since when does "showing respect" equate to = name checking Dre at least 3 times a song?

The reason why the incessant name-dropping and the titular reference are so funny/sad is because the good doctor refused to even let a single beat appear on this record... its like he's made a whole album in tribute to his ex-girlfriend or something

What I couldn't believe was that in a XXL cover-story like a month before the album dropped Game claimed that he still had beats that Dre had let him use from way back and that "nobody can take those from me"

mannybolone

What I couldn't believe was that in a XXL cover-story like a month before the album dropped Game claimed that he still had beats that Dre had let him use from way back and that "nobody can take those from me"

Yeah. Definition of

bull_ox

What I couldn't believe was that in a XXL cover-story like a month before the album dropped Game claimed that he still had beats that Dre had let him use from way back and that "nobody can take those from me"

Yeah. Definition of

I can only guess it was a last minute attempt to fool folk into buying the LP? (as if the title weren't misleading enough)

Surely he knew by that point he wasn't getting those beats

faux_rillz

I mean - I'm all for more emotionally vulnerable male role models but I'm just not sure if The Game is who I had in mind to lead the new men's movement.

I think K meant more that Game is the embodiment of the dishonest and generally unpleasant adolescent that lurks inside most of us and surfaces at our pettier moments.

faux_rillz

What I couldn't believe was that in a XXL cover-story like a month before the album dropped Game claimed that he still had beats that Dre had let him use from way back and that "nobody can take those from me"

Yeah. Definition of

I can only guess it was a last minute attempt to fool folk into buying the LP? (as if the title weren't misleading enough)

Surely he knew by that point he wasn't getting those beats

Of course he did.

I've never understood why people find him to be a compelling character.

He's just a lying little schitt that can't act right--nothing unique or compelling about that; I went to middle school with dozens of people who he reminds me of.




I'll still probably check the album at some point.

kenny

that song produced by Nottz is so good!!

LordNO

The Game is clearly obsessed with the rappers who came before him, and it???s an obsession that demands a tally. In the course of 16 songs, he makes reference to no less than 44 different hip-hop stars, including two named Ice (Cube and -T), three named Lil (Jon, Kim and Wayne) and two named Young (Jeezy and M.C.). And no one comes up more often than Dr. Dre, whose name finds its way into nearly every song. By album???s end he has been invoked about 30 times; the absent mentor is everywhere.

suffers for dick-riding overload

I don't get the appeal, he's mediocre and coming up off other folks' name recognition is weak, especially all these dead cats,

Eazy E inspired you? cool. Pac? cool. But let their legacy be what it is and stop trying to associate yourself with them.

Come up off your own shit, like they did it.

mannybolone

I mean - I'm all for more emotionally vulnerable male role models but I'm just not sure if The Game is who I had in mind to lead the new men's movement.

I think K meant more that Game is the embodiment of the dishonest and generally unpleasant adolescent that lurks inside most of us and surfaces at our pettier moments.

No, I got that from K's piece. I mean, I appreciate that he's really coming at this from a different angle...taking what would normally be considered an unqualified negative yet turning it into something redemptive.

But for me, I just didn't like listening to The Game indulge his insecurities over and over even if I'm glad he's not just fronting a bulletproof immortality on every song.

faux_rillz

I mean - I'm all for more emotionally vulnerable male role models but I'm just not sure if The Game is who I had in mind to lead the new men's movement.

I think K meant more that Game is the embodiment of the dishonest and generally unpleasant adolescent that lurks inside most of us and surfaces at our pettier moments.

No, I got that from K's piece. I mean, I appreciate that he's really coming at this from a different angle...taking what would normally be considered an unqualified negative yet turning it into something redemptive.

But for me, I just didn't like listening to The Game indulge his insecurities over and over even if I'm glad he's not just fronting a bulletproof immortality on every song.

Well, I think we're on the same page, then--I appreciated the ambitiousness of K's argument, but also found it unconvincing.

33thirdcom

We have the new Game... got it on Thursday. Went to Vegas over the weekend and listened to it multiple times in the ride. Overall its a cool album. the production for the most part is on point with a few tracks that are ehh. Overall though he will not stop mentioning, name dropping or straight up crying to Dre. It gets really annoying. Between that and his rhyme line jacking it got old pretty fast.

The song with Busta Rhymes - Doctor's Advocate is just a straight up bad look. Busta is ok on it, but the fact he would even cosign on a track like this is just dumb.

the only other issue with the album is Game straight up sounds exactly like Dre rappin throughout the album. The one homie kept asking if it was Dre rhyming on each track...

But compared to the rest of the schitt that has dropped this year this is actually a pretty decent album, but mainly because the production is solid overall.

mannybolone

The song with Busta Rhymes - Doctor's Advocate is just a straight up bad look. Busta is ok on it, but the fact he would even cosign on a track like this is just dumb.

Seriously. If I were Dre, I'd kick Busta off Aftermath just for that alone.