A Game Of Two Halves

"I n totality, I’ve been rapping for three and a half years,” says 25-year-old The Game, known best to his mother as Jayceon Taylor, and within the hip hop community as Dr Dre’s protégé. “I’ve been signed for three years," he continues. “So you don’t need brains to figure out that I’ve gone from starting writing and rapping to getting signed within a six-month period. I went from a gangbanger, having his ass pumped full of bullets, to sitting in a studio opposite Dr fucking Dre in the space of six months! That has got to be some kind of record in hip hop.

“To top it all off,” he adds, “my album is only out a month and I’m already at the top of the hip hop chain. As far as hip hop is concerned The Game is a household name, and it’s something that everybody, including yourself, is going to have to live with.”
Needless to say, The Game is as cocky a 25-year-old as you’re likely to meet. He can afford to be so. His debut album, The Documentary, has been the most anticipated west coast hip hop debut since Snoop Dogg’s Doggy Style. The surrounding hype has eclipsed even that of Snoop’s 1993 release. It has seen Interscope records, The Game's chief label, embark on a multi million dollar marketing campaign the like of which has never before preceded a hip hop debut.
Over the last month promotional activities have taken him on a European tour with Snoop Dogg. It’s prior to their sell out show in The Point that we meet. With a shimmering gold watch adorning his left wrist and a huge gold chain around his neck, The Game looks every inch the gangsta rapper. His entourage scurry about the luxurious Four Seasons Hotel ensuring everything is to his liking. As I await our interview, in the hotel bar reserved exclusively for him, I overhear one of his entourage talking to a member of staff.
“Game likes to hear himself talk," he says flatly, “so keep this door shut, and please be silent coming in and out.”
Sitting down to our interview, a representative of Interscope seats himself next to me. He’s a minder of sorts, monitoring what The Game says. Frequently he interrupts our conversation saying: “Move on from that topic” or “Don’t answer that question.” Worse still is: “We don’t want to talk about that.”
“Who’s ‘we’?” I ask half way through.
“Move on,” says the Interscope guy. The Game sits motionless.
A native of the tough LA suburb of Compton, he’s used to watching what he says. Notorious for gang violence, the city is controlled by two ruthless gangs, the Bloods and the Crips.
“It’s one of the worst places to raise a child in the world,” he says. “There are kids, eleven or twelve years old, running around right at this moment with Glock 9mm’s that will blow your fuckin’ brains off your shoulders if you say something stupid. Our motto in Compton is ‘Kill or be Killed’. So to be sitting here, to have made it out of that shit, is a fuckin’ miracle in its own. A lot of people that don’t see a way out won’t ever get out.”
Drug dealing at ten, growing up in a broken home and running with gangs since his teens, The Game’s background is all too familiar to that of other gangsta rappers. It’s something of a cliché of the genre, though it’s also very real. Truth is, in Compton, the gang is the only social structure that functions. It’s nigh on impossible not to become involved, and even harder to get out.
In 2001 he escaped, though his exit came at a price. Shot five times by a rival gang, The Game spent three days in a coma and barely survived the attack. While recuperating, he did little but listen to hip hop, becoming so enamoured of the genre that he eventually decided to try his hand at rap.
A few months later, he found himself sitting opposite Dr Dre. The rest is history.
“Meeting Dre was the first turning point in my life," he says. “The second was the birth of my son. If my son was never born, then maybe I might have got dropped from Aftermath (Dre’s label) because I didn’t have the drive I was supposed to have. I didn’t know how to appreciate having a deal with Dr Dre. Rap was not something that I’d worked on all my life so I didn’t really take advantage of my opportunity first off. When my son was born, I realised that I’ve got to provide a future for my family. So I went into overdrive. Now I realise what a privileged position I’m in. Out of all the rappers out there, I’m the protégé of Dr Dre, the best hip hop producer in the history of the genre.”
Such an ease of passage to the top has prompted much criticism of The Game. Fuck them, he says.
“I got the talent. Just listen to the album. I’m not going anywhere. They can try to get rid of me but it ain’t gonna happen. I’m fresh air for the hip hop fans. I’ve only been rapping for three-and-a-half years. When I come to the five year mark, there’s no turning back, ain’t nobody in the world gonna be able to stop my movement. Hip hop needed me, so here I am, and I’m here to stay.” b

The Documentary is out now on Aftermath