“Let her off the label… Let her do her thing… If the artist is not happy, you should let the artist do their thing.” – Those were the words California rapper The Game had for a TMZ photographer who asked him to comment on the recent ruling in regards to pop singer Kesha‘s contract with Sony.
As we are all too aware by now, Kesha’s contract with Sony remains intact. Despite giving a significantly moving and powerful performance at Coachella with Zedd, she still isn’t free from the tyrannical grip of her contractual obligations. As it stands, Kesha is still required to produce a number of full length albums to see out her contract, despite the fact that doing so would be entirely detrimental to her mental and emotional health as well as her creativity. Simply being guarded from working with her alleged abuser Dr. Luke is not a good enough solution, and many people are weighing in on the situation. It would seem that now, The Game can be added to the rather long list of Kesha’s fellow entertainers who believe the outcome has been far less than just.
After being asked why he didn’t attend the big party that was Coachella, The Game, who has bounced from label to label himself continually leaving his own contractual obligations unfulfilled, was asked to comment on Kesha’s ordeal. With his own murky history regarding sexual assault and a confusing defence of Bill Cosby, the rapper stuck to discussing the music industry – which he described as having a slave mentality. “You know what a contract is? A piece of paper that I signed when I was dumb and illiterate to the music business.” He went on to add that as you move and grow through the industry, which Kesha hasn’t been allowed to do due to her contract with Sony, “… you figure it out, you get smart, you get aware, you realize you signed some bullshit.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WIiItSAU3k
Image: Billboard
As an individual who needs to constantly be reminded that he is in fact, no longer a teenager, it’s hard for me to look back on 2005. Not only was this the year that I would be graduating high school, and thus beginning my slow march towards the inevitability of adulthood, but it was also the year I turned 17.
To mark the occasion, my best friend’s parents, who were long time family friends, would usually give him $50 to give to me (as my parents would do for his birthdays) instead of purchasing me a real gift. In more innocent times, that money would go towards a DVD or some other bullshit. However, as we were both by that stage well into the socially acceptable drinking age, the money would usually go towards booze (for us) and cigarettes (for me). On this birthday, apart from the customary $50 he also threw me a bootleg (because we sure as fuck weren’t making CD-buying money) of an album titled The Documentary.
After laughing at an artist giving himself the moniker The Game, I began to listen to my friend rant about how good the album was, how it was exactly the type of west-coast music we grew up listening to, only it was new!
Straight off the bat, The Documentary grabbed me as some of the best shit I’d heard since 2Pac. Don’t bother rushing off to list me a bunch of artists that dropped good albums around the same period of time. For two years straight, The Documentary was the album I’d be pumping through my cheap headphones.
Looking back at it through slightly more music savvy eyes, it’s relatively easy to see why the album was such a grand success for Game. The music production was off the charts, which is usually the case when you end up having some of the best in the business produce for you. The likes of Dr. Dre, Timbaland, Scott Storch, Just Blaze and even Kanye West all played an integral part, ensuring that from start to finish the album had the head bopping west-coast feel that made it hard to forget, and more to the point, had the listener immediately hooked.
The who’s who of the rap game litters the entire album, notably featuring 50 Cent on a number of songs, lending his trademark voice to some of the most critically successful tracks, including Hate It or Love It and How We Do. Eminem was in there too, throwing in a verse which, although sub par, still allowed Game to declare that, “Em just killed me on my own shit”, which, in fairness, is true. Faith Evans, Mary J. Blige, Busta Rhymes, Nate Dogg and Tony Yayo are all in their element, too, bringing a myriad star power to the seminal record.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PH34kMOjmQk
Pinpointing the exact reason the album resonated with me is difficult. Like many other Australians listening to American hip-hop, it would be a stretch to declare that I could relate my real life circumstances to the ones portrayed in a gangster rap album. Although, I would be lying if I said that as a teenager I didn’t feel like it did. At no point was I disillusioned enough to think that our lives were similar, but it wasn’t hard to change a few things around and relate to the emotion put into some of the songs and relating it to my own. Lord knows I’d been doing it for years with 2Pac.
Start from Scratch was absolutely one of those songs. Game, who was most likely intoxicated during its recording, essentially runs through some of the things he would do if he could turn back time.
“Homey if I can make ’94 today,
I’d tell Eazy and Dre to bring back N.W.A,
I woulda told ‘Pac not to stomp out Orlando,
Told Puffy and Big about the Rampart scandal,
I got too many dead homies, fuck a rap career,
I’d give anything in the world to bring back my nigga Tear”
While the song follows in the same vein of the rest of the album namely that it’s littered with prominent hip-hop references, it also relates to a “what if” scenario which I feel almost everyone thinks about from time to time. The idea of, “of only I’d known then what I know now” is something that to this day still pops into my head from time to time, and is one which is somewhat haunting. Game’s emotion is easily felt throughout the track and without a doubt made me feel like it wasn’t just something he made for the sake of adding another song to the album, but rather something that he had to get off his chest. A genuine feeling and emotion which he translated into words.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKM1rX532_4
Bangers like How We Do and Higher soon became the anthems to youthful pre-drinks and served as the catalyst to many memorable nights of drinking and partying. A friend who now lives in London, and who I hadn’t seen for a number of years visited me a few months back, and absolutely flipped his shit when I put on How We Do, prompting the two of us to reminisce about all the crazy shit we did when we were younger and less responsible, while the album played in the background.
Image: metrouk2
Dreams, produced by Kanye West, instilled the idea of striving to reach your potential and the satisfaction you get when you finally do.
“Daydreamin’ yesterday, dozin’ off backstage,
I thought I saw Eazy talking to Jam Master Jay,
So I walked over, heard Jam Master say,
“It’s a hard knock life, then you pass away”,
They say sleep is the cousin of death, so my eyes wide open,
Cause a dream is kin to your last breath”
I found these lyrics to be positive and melancholy at the same time. Putting emphasis on the fleeting nature of time, and reaffirming its status as something precious which needs to utilised before it is lost.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iijSdgMIvZA
Needless to say, the album in its entirety made an impact on my late teens, and subsequently shaped, to some extent, my approach to the early 20s. If I didn’t have such a connection to the album, and was forced to look at it through fresh eyes, I probably wouldn’t think it was that great. There are plenty of areas in which the album is lacking and undoubtedly you can read all about it in a bunch of other reviews from back in the day.
For me, The Game’s first studio album will always have a special place in my music library. His guttural and occasionally angry delivery, mixed in with his contemplative tracks, perfectly blend my favourite things about rap music, emotion and storytelling. For those not on the up and up regarding hip-hop history, the album is rife with bits of trivia relating to important points on the rap timeline. For a 17-year-old me, it was the perfect work, which allowed me to transition from listening to albums that were ten years old, to branching out into newer rap albums and sparked my need to learn about everything that is hip-hop.
Words by Luke Benjamin
Lil Wayne is the newest face of Samsung, appearing in three recently released spots alongside actor Wesley Snipes. The Louisiana rapper is the ambassador for the newest iteration of the Galaxy, the S7, and examines its waterproof capabilities with a short champagne shower.
In the other ads, Wayne and Wesley Snipes fool around with the phones new virtual reality feature, birthing elephants, canoeing, and generally palling around. The commercials are pretty hysterical, and sadly, probably better than Lil Wayne’s recent musical output.
Though the spots are blissfully short, Lil Wayne’s acting chops are undeniable, his charisma easily shining through in his gravelly lines. In fact, some, not me, may even suggest that Weezy’s performance is comparable to that of his former Cash Money running-mate and hip-hop acting GOAT, Drake.
Drizzy of course, was one of the stars of this years Super Bowl ad bonanza with his Hotline Bling inspired T-Mobile spot:
The former child star and Degrassi actor is easily comfortable in front of the camera, with a quick smile and calm demeanor. Not to mention, the boy has some range, as his SNL hosting resume shows.
At this point, you may be wondering where Lil Wayne and Drake’s acting turns rank in the great pantheon of rapper commercials, well let’s go to the tape.
In our review of the esteemed art that is hip-hop commercials, it’s only right to start with maybe the most iconic rapper of the 2000s, Kanye West. ‘Ye’s acted on a number of occasions, but I’d bet few remember his classic 2004 Boost Mobile ad with Ludacris and The Game:
The Where Ya At spot is probably the only time in the history of Boost Mobile that they’ve been associated with anything cool, and the nostalgia of popped polo Kanye is priceless. More than that though, is the high level of unintentional comedy that comes with three multi-millionaire rappers trying to look hard while trading bars into flip-phones. Kanye’s sheepish face when he decides to “keep the beat for himself” is everything. 9.5/10.
Next, I’d be remiss if I didn’t include this criminally underrated gem from 2015:
https://twitter.com/juviethegreat/status/613446004851892224
Yes, that is Juvenile hawking appliances in 2015. The former Hot Boy seems to have fallen on leaner times, but his commitment to pushing washers and dryers in this twitter video is downright inspiring. Though arguably more low-budget than the other offerings in this overview, Juves work is lovably imperfect, with the sound of humming refrigerators partially obscuring his companions pitch. 10/10
Alright, so before I call it quits, and watch that Juve The Great masterpiece like twelve more times, there’s one more ad that has to be mentioned, Jay Z’s 2003 Heineken spot:
This last commercial is masterful for countless reasons, but to list a few:
1. Pre-Bey Jay
2. That Jay-Z chooses a Heineken after turning down fridges full of champagne
3. Vintage Rocawear
4. The use of “Excuse Me Miss”
5. Jay nonchalantly forgetting or ignoring his girls request
So, yeah this one is a winner. 8.5/10
In conclusion, Juve had one of the best commercials of all time! ALL TIME!
Image: Phandroid
In between learning how to post some of the most provocative images on Instagram, not showing up in court to defend himself against sexual assault charges, defending Bill Cosby, fighting with Stitches and becoming a successful hip-hop star, it seems The Game‘s geography knowledge may have been squeezed out of his brain. Or at least, the simple difference between Australia and New Zealand.
It came to light today that The Game arrived on Australian soil with the wrong visa, as in a visa for New Zealand instead, and returned to LA immediately. Now, I guess that’s all well and good. Mistakes can happen, I suppose. Except for the fact that he was scheduled to perform at Auckland festival Raggamuffin, which consequently got slammed by punters for not informing the public that The Game had cancelled – even though they had no idea he had actually flown to the wrong country.
“We honestly believed ‘The Game’ would honour his obligations to our festival and it was only when we had our people at the airport on Saturday to pick him up to play Raggamuffin IX did we find out he did not board the plane in Dubai. Statements to the contrary are simply not true,” the festival said in a statement.
This news comes hot on the heels of the developments last week that saw The Game’s Australian tour (actually Australian) having to be cancelled just days out from his first shows, and now it seems this is the reason why. Although a reason wasn’t provided last week by Metropolis Touring when the news broke, fans are quickly putting 2 and 2 together, as he posted an obnoxious photo on Instagram, seemingly rejoicing at being back in LA. Unfazed by the whole thing, there is no word on when, if ever, The Game will be returning, but we strongly suggest someone travel with him at all times – just to make sure he gets on the right plane.
Image: Daily Mail
Following a ruling against him in the $10 million lawsuit by Priscilla Rainey, The Game has taken to social media to vent his anger. The allegations of sexual assault were brought against The Game after Rainey took part in the VH1 series She Got Game. Accusing the rapper of assaulting her during filming of the show, in court, the judge ruled in Rainey’s favour due to The Game’s non-attendance.
Hitting back at the ruling, The Game posted a hate filled rant on Instagram maintaining that Rainey will never see a cent of the claim, and lashing out with transphobic insults like “transvestite” and “Mister Rainey”. Accompanying an image of himself squaring up to the camera in a pair of Louis Vuitton boxing gloves, the tirade reads like the kind of trash talk you would expect to hear on WWF Wrestling. Clearly perceiving the implication of transvestism, and even transsexualism, as a valid insult, the post indicates a particularly unpleasant prejudice apparent in The Game’s character.
Claiming that both himself and VH1 will win their respective lawsuits filed by Rainey, because “#1 this BIYATCH (Snoop’s voice) is a liar. She has a history of theft, fraud, prostitution arrests & a lot of other “Tranny Panty” activity in her past that makes this false claim irrelevant.” Apparently too angry to move onto #2, the rest is devoted to continued insults and taunts. He also claims that Rainey was “begging for [his] attention the entire time we shot the show” and that being kicked off the series “made her lil wee wee hard so she did what all chicks like her do when life gives them no other options…. They sue you !”
As you may have gathered, The Game continues to deny the allegations against him. But regardless of how true those accusations may be, I’m not sure that this particular act will help him find favour in court. You can read the entire post below.
The Game has lost a $10 million lawsuit filed against him by a former gameshow contestant by not attending the hearing, forcing the judge to rule against him by default.
Priscilla Rainey was one of the contestants on the VH1 reality show She Got Game, in which a number of women competed for the rapper’s heart. In August 2015, she sued the Compton rapper for sexually assaulting her during the filming of the show.
In her lawsuit, the contestant claims that during a shooting of the show in which she went out on a date with the rapper to a bar, The Game was heavily intoxicated and high on drugs. She has stated that he assaulted her on numerous occasions during the evening, including an incident where the artist was, “forcefully reaching his hand inside her dress to rub her bare vagina and buttocks.”
The ruling, although in favour of Priscilla Rainey, does not entitle her to the full sum which she is suing for. She will have to plead her case in order to prove that the $10 million in damages that she is seeking is justified.
When talking to Bossip, Adam Horowitz the plaintiffs’ lawyer said, “my client was damaged by the sexual assault. She’s been in therapy. Now, she’s anxious to tell her story.”
The fact that the contestant was assaulted multiple times during the filming of the show, throws into question just what the fuck all the crew were doing when they witnessed this taking place numerous times during the course of the night. Not to take away anything from what The Game did, but holy shit, it takes a lot of people to film a segment and have all of them choose to turn a blind eye to something so heinous. Maybe VH1 can chip in towards that $10 million, they definitely deserve to.
This isn’t the first time the Compton rapper has been brought up on charges against a woman. In 2014 his ex-partner, Tiffney Cambridge filed for a restraining order and sued him for assault against her during a fight at their home.
Hopefully in between releasing emoji lines and defending Bill Cosby, The Game will find the time to address why he found it appropriate to miss such an important court date.
Emojis. They are in indispensable part of our keyboard lexicon. Without them, we’d be lost. That passive aggressive text telling your roommate to clean up his dishes would look a lot sassier if it were not tempered by a smiley face.
Considering that 75 percent of information is communicated by non-verbal cues, its no secret why celebrities would want their own brand of emojis. The latest person be immortalised in text? Why none other than The Game.
Following in the footsteps of other rappers Lil B and Cam’ron, the Compton emcee has partnered up with Moji Keyboard App for iOS to release 100 custom emojis he helped design. He’s been busily posting away some of the emoji designs on his Instagram.
The collection includes a woman pole-dancing, a tribute to his hometown Compton, and even an emoji of infamous drug lord El Chapo on the run.
You can use the hand signs for ‘on fleek’ and ‘thot’, covers for The Game’s albums and disturbingly dogs having sex. Not sure if we’ll be using that one too often, though.
Also included are emojis of The Game’s manager beating the crap out of rapper Stitches, a not-to-obvious reference to their ongoing beef and the boxing match Stitches challenged him to.
Hell, there’s even an aubergine morphing into a penis in a reference to that photo of The Game getting his goods out (clothed in underwear of course) for the camera.
Taking candid to a whole new level. Image: hollywoodlife.com
The Documentary 2 rapper has hinted that other emoji companies may have turned him down initially, saying in his Instagram, “They don’t want me to have my own emOGi’s,” which also references one of DJ Khaled‘s many now incredibly popular (for some reason) catchphrases,
According to a press release from Moiji, “The Game’s new collection, available exclusively within the Moji Keyboard App for iOS, features nearly 100 custom emojis The Game helped design.”
“Throughout the creative process The Game made it a top priority to incorporate the L.A. culture which he grew up in. This new collection is a direct reflection of what The Game felt was missing from the existing emoji icons we have all become accustomed to using, with a bit of West Coast flavor added in.”
It’s the second time the company has collaborated with a major artist, partnering with Fabolous to release his YoungEmOGis collection.
Ever since Kim Kardashian launched her Kimoji has an entirely separate app, celebrities alike have been capitalising on the promotional value of their own personalised emoijis. At its peak popularity, Kim’s app was selling at 9000 downloads a second.
The Moji app is available to all iOS devices.
Image: rapbasement.com
The Game has joined Waka Flocka in being the latest rapper to add his opinion into the mix concerning the accusations directed at Bill Cosby.
The outspoken rapper, who has a relatively heavy social media presence, took to Instagram with a post headlined “Black Lives Splatter”, in which he laments on the fact that so many killers of African-Americans are free to ring in the New Year, while Bill Cosby is behind bars for his alleged sexual assaults as of December 30th 2015. Okay then.
“Darren Wilson, who killed Mike Brown on camera, is FREE. George Zimmerman, who killed Trayvon Martin, is FREE. Timothy Loehman, who killed Tamir Rice seconds after arriving on the scene.. on camera, is FREE. Officers who shot Keith Childress 19 times for holding a cellphone they thought was a gun, are FREE. Officers who arrested Sandra Bland & detained her until her mysterious death, are FREE. All of the officers who shot 50 rounds into Sean Bell’s car, on his wedding day, killing him, are FREE ! I could go on all day, but you get the point… & again, y’all put Dr. Huxtable in jail off of word of mouth.”
The Game goes on to say that he isn’t calling the alleged victims liars, but does question why it took them so long to come forward with the accusations (which is ridiculous) while simultaneously shaming social media users for making memes about the 78-year-old actor.
“I’m not here to say these women are liars or not because RAPE is a huge deal & I don’t wish that on any woman of any color… But whether or not he actually did anything, we won’t know because of the lack of evidence or proof & the duration from the point of the alleged assault to now…. Why did it take these women over 10 years to bring this to the light ? & while we out here laughing & making memes of a 70+ year old man who practically raised us all on tv as children….”
Perhaps most important of all, the Compton rapper doesn’t attempt to sway anyone with his post, simply stating that it’s his opinion and that people should make up their own minds about the situation.
“& who am I except a man with an opinion……. So I’m not here to ask anyone to do anything other than pay attention & govern yourself accordingly”
Contrary to the sexist take which Eddie Griffin presented, and the conspiracy ramblings of Waka Flocka, The Game appears to be posting more out of frustration over all of the previous year’s news stories regarding the non-indictment for the killers of Trayvon Martin, Mike Brown, Tamir Rice, Keith Childress and Sean Bell, rather than defending Bill Cosby.
It’s unfortunate that Bill Cosby has become an unintentional martyr for the injustices against African-Americans, with people seemingly unable to separate the issue of race from the gendered phenomenon of sexual assault.
On the fifth day of rap beef Stitches gave to me… The possibility of a boxing match with The Game. This is truly the gift that keeps on giving this holiday season, as we have been treated to yet another instalment of what is clearly the greatest rap beef of all time.
After Stitches released a diss track to celebrate the fact that he was knocked out by someone half his size, he has now issued a challenge to his bay area rival; a celebrity boxing match. The only true way to settle any disagreement.
No excuses . After this the problem is dead . Let’s give your fans and my fans something interesting to wAtch. @celebrityboxing A video posted by TMI GANG #FUCKAJOB (@stitches) on
Taking to Instagram (of course) and accompanied by his hilarious hashtags, The Game declared that he is more than happy to settle this feud with stitches, but he has a few conditions. Stitches must first go toe to toe with fellow rapper Nicky D, a battle which The Game lovingly dubbed #whiteboyvswhiteboy. If Stitches can beat Nicky, only then can he face The Game, on the condition that he cannot press charges or have the police involved at all. Surely that’s not an indication of what The Game has in store, right?
We can only imagine that The Game is just humouring Stitches at this point, even with the plethora of petty rap beef we have grown accustomed to during 2015. Drake and Meek Mill showed us that the art of the diss track is alive and well (and so are sly insults on Twitter), while Young Thug and Rich Homie Quan portrayed the ignorance and homophobia still rife within hip-hop.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7ccad-AVo4]
The Game is used to dealing with beef. He’s grown accustomed to it. The feuds with 50 Cent, a plethora of G-Unit drama, the list goes on. But you have to imagine that The Game currently wakes up in stitches (see what I did there?) when he has seen what his good old pal Stitches has been up to. We’ve documented the history between these two beefing rappers here, but someone clearly forgot to tell Stitches to quit while he’s ahead (or in this case, alive).
Less than a week after being knocked out in embarrassing fashion by The Game’s manager – a man seemingly half his size – Stitches is back in business with an all new diss track entitled Don’t Fear Death. How fitting.
Debuting the track on WorldStarHipHop (because let’s be honest, who else is going to house this garbage?) Stitches claims that he was sucker punched, and that his own squad set him up for the embarrassing confrontation. It seems that Stitches may have been hit a little too hard, and forgot that video of the incident exists in all its satisfying glory. It looks like less of a sucker punch and more of the consequences of spitting on someone’s car and walking up to a group of 30 people acting tough. But hey, each to their own, right?
It remains to be seen if The Game will even bother to respond, but being the hotheaded MC that he is, I’m sure he will not take lightly to the following threats and the sheer mention of his children. Things are getting a little more serious than Drake vs. Meek Mill:
“I’ma pull the thing out and watch the magnum revolve
That’s my revolver, my problem solver
And I’m sorry for your kids they gon’ lose their father”
“I walked up by myself and I ain’t even bring a gun. You a stupid nigga if you think this beef is done.”
We can only hope that this beef is done. PLEASE let it be done.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MnTIvBeLxk]