25 Facts You Probably Didn’t Know About The Game
Jayceon "The Game" Taylor may have the young ladies clamoring for his love and attention on VH1’s She’s Got Game but the Compton rapper has rap fans paying extra close attention to his music this month. He's delivered his feature-heavy sixth studio LP, The Documentary 2, a follow-up to his debut project The Documentary, which arrived 10 years ago. The Game also treated fans to another album, The Documentary 2.5, a collection of 18 songs solidifying a return to his roots.
A decade after his debut, Game remains one of the West Coast’s most far-reaching MCs of the millennium. In all truth, Los Angeles rappers had been experiencing a sort of drought for a number of years before he came along with his distinctive tone and intuitive street stories on the original Documentary. Through ups and downs with imprint heads -- notably 50 Cent -- and labels, the rapper is on his own these days, releasing his new projects independently through his own Blood Money Entertainment under eOne Music.
Although Game seemingly came into the rap industry with an axe to grind, a la 50 Cent, the 35-year-old has proven himself to be much more than the loud-talking, trouble-starting guy that hip-hop fans had grown accustomed to. In the years following his entry into the industry, Game opened his home to TV cameras and allowed us to look into his life as a daddy of three and a partner in Marrying The Game. He’s started fitness incentives and even saved a life. Thankfully, 10 years in, he’s still documenting it all. In case you’ve missed anything, we here at The Boombox have compiled a list of 25 facts you may not know about the Compton MC.
- 1
His third album, ‘LAX’ was dedicated to a beloved family member who passed away -- Shannon Johnson. “That's my cousin,” he shared with Westword.com. “She passed tragically, and I don't want to touch base on that.”
- 2
‘LAX’ also had Game dipping into his feelings in a much more aggressive way. “My Life” showcased the rapper’s true opinion of Rev. Jesse Jackson. “'Cause he's a f---ing hypocrite, and that is just what it is," he told Westword. "You can't be going around like you're the God Almighty Reverend and then turn around and you have kids out of wedlock. Just false preachers. I don't understand that, and I'm not an advocate of that, and I just don't respect it.”
- 3
The song “State of Emergency” made Game and collaborator Ice Cube fast friends. “Working with Ice Cube was real, real, real big for me, big for my career, big for my mental, big for my psyche,” he revealed to Westword. “He is the ultimate dude. I remember having my first bootleg, the Boyz N the Hoodtape, and watching it and being scared, you know Dough Boy. It was just crazy working with Ice Cube.”
- 4
In 2013, Esquire featured a story on the Seal Team Six member who shot Osama Bin Laden. Apparently, the shooter admitted to training while listening to Game's "Red Nation." Later, the magazine spoke with the MC about it. He had no idea. “I think that's the s---, man,” he enthused. “What's crazy about that is that bin Laden might have heard 'Red Nation' right before he died. That's pretty cool. 'Cause if you're thinking about the speakers, sometimes it bleeds out, you know? I feel real patriotic. I feel real American. I feel like I had -- 'cause what if he was listening to, like, John Mayer? Than he probably would've missed the shot or something. But I feel like 'Red Nation' had him on-point.”
- 5
The Game is a fan of the old-school, beyond what you’re probably thinking of. “The Beatles, man,” he shared with Westword. “I love them. It’s good, old-fashioned classic rock. That’s the kind of music that just makes you feel good.”
- 6
The rapper had a major hand in Los Angeles’ Drew League getting attention on a national platform. “ I was such a menace growing up,” he told ESPN in 2012. “I played basketball, but I had a bad vibe. I would fight or I would just get mad and play unruly when I was younger, so I promised Dino [Smiley] who's been running this league for 35 years -- longer than I've been alive, man -- that if he let me in the league, that I would take it from something that was regional to something that was recognized in all 50 states and even overseas. He gave me opportunity, I reached out to my NBA buddies, and we made it happen.”
- 7
Did you know that Game created his clothing line after being inspired by his son’s newfound interest in skater gear? He told ESPN, “[Money Gang] is a new urban street skateboard line that me and one of my buddies started. My son started getting into these graphic T-shirts, like DC and all these skater lines. So I just started my own.”
- 8
In 2012, Game told ESPN that ‘F.I.V.E.,’ was to be the name of his next album. Apparently, the idea didn’t stick. Clever though. “[It’s] is an acronym, which stands for 'Fear Is Victory's Evolution.'"
- 9
The Game started and finished the 29-track long ‘Purp & Patron’ mixtape in two weeks. He told BallerStatus.com, “I did all them tracks the first week. The second week, I started putting things together man.” Incredible.
- 10
For his “History” track on ‘Purp & Patron’ the pieces all sort of fell into place in regard to the featured artists. “I was in the studio, and I wanna say Doug E. Fresh had a show at the House of Blues," he told Baller Status. "I had just left KRS-One and I think Kane was at the House of Blues too. I had a n---- named Dougie D, who was cool with all them old school n-----, called Doug E. and told him I was in the studio. He said he was coming, so I called KRS-One, and told him to come since I knew Doug E. was on the way. When Doug E. came, he brought Big Daddy Kane. So I'm like, "S--- can we do some work?" I had my dude make a beat on the spot, and that was history. That's why we called it 'History.’”
- 11
Game counts Jim Jones, Jadakiss and Fabolous as his biggest supporters in New York City during his come-up. “The first time I ever been to New York, Jim Jones picked me up from the airport, and took me to the hotel,” he told Baller Status. “Then when it was time to go to the studio, Kiss picked me up from the hotel and took me to the studio. Then Kiss dropped me off, and took me to Brooklyn to meet up with Fab.”
- 12
In 2012, the rapper was heading home from a studio session when he spotted a man lying facedown under his bike, completely unable to move. The man was in the middle of the street and the rapper stopped his vehicle to help. He pulled over, called the paramedics and kept the cyclist company until help arrived.
- 13
By TMZ’s standards, there was something romantic going on between Khloe Kardashian and The Game, a few years back. All of this stemmed from one night at an L.A. club where the youngest Kardashian woman took to twerking on Jayceon’s front half. Still, he says that he’s known Khloe for a long time, “I have nothing but the utmost love and respect for her.”
- 14
The MC told Vlad TV that he totally disapproves of the rappers who choose to remain “in the closet.” “We gotta get into the seriousness of this. It ain’t cool to be in the closet. If you gay, just be gay.”
- 15
The Game is Ed Sheeran’s favorite rapper and apparently the respect goes both ways. “That was like really, really random,” Sheeran told Live 105.5." I’ve been a massive fan of The Game since the beginning and I was just tweeting about his new album at the time, just talking about it and he tweeted me back like,”Yo, man. Me and my guys play your album on the tour bus all the time and we blew the speakers out!”
- 16
More than two years ago, Game called the play in regards to Dr. Dre's ‘Detox’ album. He told Hit Up Media, “If [Dre’s] not 100 percent happy, then we’ll probably never end up hearing ‘Detox’... I’d say ‘never.’”
- 17
Game is also a fan of U.K. rapper Dizzee Rascal.
- 18
He met his former fiancee Tiffney Cambridge through a mutual friend. She told 'The Breakfast Club' in 2013 that on occasion, Game would place the blame on his alter ego for certain transgressions.
- 19
The Game says that he’s superior to Snoop Dogg on the basketball court and the OG is well-aware. “Aw. Snoop already know what’s up,” he told CampusSports.net, with a laugh. “I’m better than Snoop. Snoop had his time when it comes to being a basketball player. I’m about ten years younger and I’m more solid than him...”
- 20
His kids will play baseball above any other sports if it's up to the "Hate It or Love It" artist. “Baseball is where the money’s at,” he told CampusSports.net.
- 21
In 2013, Bay area MC Clyde Carson told DJ Skee that Runyon Canyon had turned into a club atmosphere, thanks to Game’s 60 Day Fitness Challenge.
- 22
His work ethic is highly respected by Raekwon. “I remember we broke day that day, getting it in, boom. I looked at him one time and it looked like he was sleeping. And I’ll never forget that.”
- 23
DJ Vlad got a little more attitude than he was probably expecting when he asked Memphis Bleek if he’d heard about Game naming the Brooklyn MC as one of his top 5 “wackest rappers.” “I’m not in the business of kicking people when they down. I met him for the one time he said my name and I had to greet ‘em to see if it was an issue. Wasn’t no issue," Bleek said of The Game.
- 24
When Game completed his first 60 Days of Fitness round in early 2013, he said that all of his goals were met and he’d lost 20 pounds of body fat.
- 25
On his debut LP, ‘The Documentary,’ Game says that the intro track was Dre’s idea. And it was the last to make the album. “We got the album done, sequenced, and Dr. Dre was like, ‘Now we need an intro,’” he told Complex. And I’m like, "An intro? I’m all rapped out!" And he was like, "Nah, I’m just going to find something that fits perfectly before ‘Westside Story.’ So he went searching. I thought that was going to be an easy process, but that s--- took a month. Dre went through like 30 different samples before he found the one he was comfortable with.”
- Bonus
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