Monday, September 27, 2004
The Game says he's turning his life around since he was shot three years ago.
By ROBERT HILBURN
LOS ANGELES TIMES
LOS ANGELES -- The Game, Dr. Dre's latest discovery, arrives on the hip-hop scene this fall with a r & eacute;sum & eacute; as scary as anything from "thug life" rappers Tupac Shakur and 50 Cent, who were shot more than a dozen times between them. That's why you'll probably be hearing almost as much about the Game's life story as his music, which chronicles his experiences growing up in foster homes, gangbanging and ending up with five bullet holes after a drug deal went wrong. ("Actually, seven bullet holes, but I don't count the ins and outs," he says.)
The Game, whose real name is Jayceon Taylor, looks as menacing as his history as he sits in a Los Angeles recording studio, where he has been putting the final touches on the debut album that is due in stores in December.
Tall and muscular, he's wearing a flashy gangsta rap medallion and his arms are covered with enough tattoos to remind you of the Illustrated Man. His expression tends to be hard and unrevealing.
But when asked how it feels to be two months away from likely stardom, he sighs. The tough-guy bravado fades.
"I'm just so happy to be doing something positive with my life," the Game, 24, says. "I've got a baby boy and I'm trying to make a good future for him. I know the music business can be rough, but I've gone through stuff 10 times worse than anything I will encounter. None of that can compare to my life story."
Too good to be true?
That story -- climaxing with the night, three years ago, that he was shot -- is so tailor-made for today's hard-core rap crowd that it's easy to wonder if it isn't too good to be true. One rapper's Web site accuses the Game of fabricating a "street thug" image.
The way the Game tells it, he changed his lifestyle after the shooting. Drawing inspiration from Compton gangsta rap pioneers N.W.A, he started rapping about his experiences. His demo tape got to N.W.A co-founder Dr. Dre, who responded to the raw energy of the Game's voice and stories.
Dre, rap's most honored producer, signed the Game in 2002 and has been carefully grooming him, producing four tracks on the album and putting him in the studio with Eminem and 50 Cent as well as producer Kanye West.
There are no guarantees in pop music (Dre's venture into R & amp;B with the female singer Truth Hurts in 2002 still hasn't caught fire), but the Game has the kind of supporting cast on his album that is the envy of every young rapper.
If the CD hits as big as expected, he will be the first giant West Coast rap star since another Dre find, Snoop Dogg, a decade ago. The just-released first single, "Westside Story," celebrates the history of West Coast rap, which has been overshadowed in recent years by East Coast and Southern performers.