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Life & Arts

Game over for Compton's young blood in 'Documentary'

Zach Lee

Hip-hop has often been referred to as a game, and it is a game that is oft-played and rarely chronicled. With that in mind, The Game's The Documentary at first looks like an attempt to make a record of hip-hop's history. There's nothing on the front cover but a run-of-the-mill thug sitting on some wheels with gold rims, and the back cover has Compton written out real big. Dr. Dre is even one of the album's executive producers, but the other one is 50 Cent. Yeah, and his name is still there the second time you read it. That's when you know that this album is anything but a record of the story of hip-hop.

Instead it's supposed to be the magic ingredient that resurrects the West's former glory. It's too bad it won't. Besides the pages of photos showing The Game playing gangsta dress-up, he's also a terrible lyricist. Where 50 Cent was lucky to have Eminem's name on his album, The Game is lucky to have 50's -- that's how bad it is.

One thing is important to point out: the production on the album is solid, but it's only because Game rode 50 and Dre enough to get access to their Rolodexes. Dre, Timbaland, Eminem, Hi-Tek, Kanye West, Just Blaze and Needlz make the production credits look like the red carpet at the BET Awards. Dre's "Westside Story" beat is like a bonus cut on The Chronic, and though Em's decision to appear at all on the album is questionable, his production of "We Ain't" is a solid track with a couple nice voice effects thrown in for good measure. 

For the most part, the only thing to be said is that each beat is a hit, but there is one song that misses entirely. Dre's beat for "Higher" sounds like a first-grader mashing a keyboard rhythmically for more than four minutes, and by the time it's over, that first-grader's future in music is over. Sorry, Dre, but it had to be said.

The Game himself is more of a Compton runway model than a second-generation Snoop. Most of his lyrical crimes are excused by the all-star lineup of producers that lowered themselves to his level, but in "Dreams," he makes one fatal mistake. In his hook, he explains why he writes, saying, "Cuz Marthin Luther King had a dream / Aaliyah had a dream / Left Eye had a dream." Wait -- what was that?

Yeah, this street prophet wants to group an assassinated civil rights activist with two entertainers who died in accidental crashes. Losing the lives and futures of two artists is devastating, but they don't deserve to be placed with King -- especially by a bottom-rung rapper who goes on to say -- in the same song -- everything is possible since 50 Cent had sex with Vivica Fox. 
 
 

The Game

The Documentary

Aftermath Records

Verdict: Don't buy it until the instrumentals come out.

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