Late Fall 2006; Interview by DJ Parallax; Photos by Lisette Torres

While putting the finishing touches on his album, The Doctor’s Advocate, slated for a mid-November release, we chopped it up with Jayceon Taylor, also known as The Game. The humble Compton native was energetic and outspoken, and he was more than willing to break down what happened with Dr. Dre, why he’s not worried about 50 Cent or Ras Kass, what he thinks about life and hip-hop, and why you should make your haters your motivators. Let me put you on the game.

SO WHAT’S REALLY THE DEAL WITH RAS KASS?
Ah, man! I feel like Muhammad Ali when he gave that last ass-whipping to (Joe) Frazier, like the Thrilla in Manila, I feel like that was the punch that was felt around the world. I do this rap stuff all day . . . beefing is a part of hip-hop- it’s always a competitive thing but when it gets violent is when it’s bad, I don’t actually feel too good about what happened with that dude. The situation arose when he made a record about me about a year and a half ago and he mentioned my son’s name. And that’s my kid, man! So I said (to myself) that if and whenever I saw him I was gonna speak to him about it. I tried to approach him on some grown man-to-man conversation. He tried to be slick at the mouth. So I cut his lights out.

WHO DID YOU WORK WITH ON THE ALBUM?
I got with the usual suspects- Just Blaze, Kanye West, Scott Storch, but the sleeper was Will I Am (of the Black Eyed Peas)- They called me to work with him and I was thinking like ‘Gangsta Rap and Black Eyed Peas’ (chuckles)? But I was sleeping! I went to the studio with my man and we ended up recording like three joints. He produced my favorite joint, which is a joint called ‘Compton’. Then I did my research and found out he used to be signed with Eazy-E and Ruthless Records before the Black eye Peas became a group. He puts in serious work. That dude is talented, and he got crazy too, doin’ all kinds of b-boy breaker moves in the studio. That dude is amazing. We got it in. I feel like Will I Am is the new dude in hip-hop. You need a Pharrell beat, a Timberland, (Dr.) Dre, whatever, Will got that, man.

I also worked with Swizz (Beatz) and I also went back in and worked with Timbaland again. Some (songs) stuck on this one, and some (songs) didn’t, but that’s just how it is. I got Snoop on the album. I also got a track with Nas and Marsha (Ambrosia) from Floetry- that’s like my second favorite joint on the album. It’s the last song on the album, and it’s about nine minutes long.

ARTISTS NEED TO BRING THAT BACK, THE LONG PLAY RECORD ON THE ALBUM . . .
Now that I think about it, I might have some other longer playing tracks like that. You never know what I might come up with.

DO YOU HAVE DR. DRE. ON THE ALBUM?
Do I have Dr. Dre on the album? No, and that’s the first time I’ve answered that questions straight up like that. See, on the first album critics and other people said Dre helped me throughout the entire thing. I got beats right now that I could play you that Dre gave me for this new project.

MOST PEOPLE WOULD JUMP AT USING A DR. DRE PRODUCED TRACK. WHY DID YOU JUST NOT PUT THEM ON THE ALBUM?
I just didn’t put them on the album for the sake of people saying that I couldn’t do it without Dr. Dre, and people saying that I couldn’t sell five million records without Dre, and some other people saying 50 Cent wrote my album. I DEFINITELY wasn’t fuckin’ with 50 on this record.

I decided to stray away from Dr. Dre’s beats. The last album I had eighteen tracks. People called my album a classic, and he only produced three songs. So, how much Dre (production) did I need in the first place? Although, I have nothing but respect and love for that dude. This time I wanted to have him take the training wheels off the bike and (I can) ride by myself on this album.

I don’t think the Dre presence is that important here. I think when people go out on November 14 to cop the album they’re gonna get my album. If you want Dre’s album then sit back and wait ’til he drops Detox. And if you wanna hear 50′s album sit back and drop that shit- his bullshit.

DID YOU FEEL LIKE YOU HAD TO TAKE DIFFERENT STEPS, LIKE YOU HAD A POINT TO PROVE?
I�m just out here grinding, man. I was between a rock and a hard place, a lotta hurdles and obstacles I had to overcome to get to this point to drop this record. There was a lotta political shit most rappers wouldn’t understand, from dealing with the label-switching and all that. I’m about to punish whoever doubted me. This next album is gonna make The Documentary sound like your worst rappers’ mixtape.

SO WHAT’S IN YOUR CD DECK RIGHT NOW?
Right now I’m listening to my first album to make sure nothing on this next album is anything sounding like the first one. I’m making sure that I don’t go too far away from who I was on the first album, because that’s what made me who I am today. Just weighing my options, preparing to tip the scale with the next album. At the earliest stages of making this new album I put it in the deck so I could get my head in the game to prepare to take that journey. To go get there physically you gotta take yourself there sometimes, or else you might find yourself doing what everyone else is doing. I wanna do me, so I’m listening to me right now.

YOUR RECORD ‘ONE BLOOD’ WAS ONE THE QUICKEST RECORDS TO BE ADDED TO RADIO ROTATION THIS ENTIRE YEAR. HOW DID YOU GET TOGETHER WITH JUNIOR REID?
My manager Jimmy Henchman knew him personally. We asked him to come down to the video shoot. He’s real cool, and he came through, dancin’ on the rooftop (at the shoot) doin some crazy rooster shit (laughs)!!! He’s very talented. Definitely look for me and him to do some joints in the future, like on that Shyne-Po/Barrington Levy vibe. You know when Shyne dropped that first joint, I remember being like ‘Damn!’. Everybody then was trying to get at Barrington Levy. So glad I got to do the record and sample Junior Reid, and I�m glad to get a chance to later work with him in person. I heard he’ recording with everybody and getting his money up- from Madonna to Jim Jones, I heard he was really doing his thing ever since. Having Junior Reid on that record was huge. When I first heard the sample I remembered hearing the original back in the day. Plus, he was saying ‘One Blood’, so you know that was a shoe-in for me. He’s a good dude.

I know I can’t wait to go to Jamaica to perform that song. I’ve been to Jamaica before, and when you go to Jamaica and perform your hip-hop songs they don’t be feeling your shit. But as soon as I did ‘Westside Story’ over a Bob Marley beat, I saw people react to it and I was like ‘Wow’. Stuff like that reminds me of how strong the Jamaican and West Indian influence is on hip-hop music.

YOU�VE ALWAYS SPOKEN ABOUT RESPECTING THE OLD SCHOOL, AND HIP-HOP DEFINITELY COMES FROM HEAVY REGGAE AND CARIBBEAN MUSICAL INFLUENCES.
You go down there, and they could almost play Bob Marley’s greatest hits all day, and not give a fuck about anything else on current radio. If they slide Sizzla or Beenie Man in there they’re lucky. It shows me a respect they have for their history. We need more of that with hip-hop.

IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO BRIDGE THE GAP BETWEEN THE OLD AND NEW SCHOOLS. MANY TIMES IT’S DONE WITH RAPPERS AND OTHER ARTISTS MENTORING THE RIGHT PEOPLE TO BE NEXT UP TO THE PLATE. TALK TO ME ABOUT BLACK WALL STREET AND YOUR ARTISTS.
Juice is the newest artist I’m working with on Black Wall Street. He is a modern-day D.O.C., dead up. He is definitely hungry! He’s from Phoenix, Arizona.

HOW DID YOU MEET HIM?
I met that nigga on MySpace.com (chuckles). You gotta accept your friend requests!!!! Then we did a show in Phoenix and Juice damn near beat up a bodyguard to get to me and give me his demo. He’s definitely on his grind. We’ve gotten questions about him and requests for him to appear wherever we go, especially with the mixtapes we’ve done.

Then there’s Nu Jerzey Devil and the other producers under him are very talented. I look forward to being able to display the talents within my crew. Black Wall Street is stronger than ever, and 2007 will be our year.

YOU’VE DEFINITELY PUT THE HAMMER DOWN SINCE THE BEGINNING OF YOUR CAREER WITH THE MIXTAPES AND VARIOUS FREESTYLES. WHAT’S YOUR PHILOSOPHY ABOUT HIP-HOP, AND WITH MIXTAPES SPECIFICALLY, RIGHT NOW?
We had to grass root it to the mixtapes. I always got to. The underground mixtape circuit is a way to keep the fans interested- it ain’t like it used to be. You know, back in the day, like ’96, Nas could drop an album and you had so many people dropping classics, you didn’t have to wait two or thee years for good shit because you’d get a 2Pac album or a Snoop album, and so on, in the midst of that.

These days there’s so much wack shit getting dropped that you gotta keep putting shit out to feed the fans and let them know you’re still potent. If you go too far away from the hip-hop fans for too long, the fans might forget about you. It’s just like the dope game- you stay away from the scene too long the fiends don’t wanna just buy it anymore, they wanna test it first. I think that Soundscan and record sales (for artists) are reflecting that.

It even got me a little leery about me dropping my album around the same time as Jay-Z. I think we drop at the same time. If not, may be he drops a week after me. But check the Soundscan and let the best man win. That’s why I’m going an Afro, so when I stick my neck out I can edge out the next nigga going through the tape (at the finish line).

YOU’RE VERY ENERGETIC AND HAVE A LOTTA PERSONALITY. BUT ON VIDEOS, ETC. YOUR PERSONA COMES OFF VERY DARK, BROODING. ARE THERE TWO SIDES TO YOU? WHICH SIDE IS THE REAL GAME?
Well, what you see in videos, on television, or in song is the real Game. You’re talking to Jayceon Taylor right now. One minute it could be a smile, the next minute it’s Ras Kass getting dragged outside the club. People that know me best will tell you that I wrestle with a lot of demons inside me. It comes from how I came up- no father, my mother wasn’t around. My father molested my sister at an early age, so I grew up in a foster home, sleeping on floors, eating whenever they fed us. I like to call it kiddie prison- not good memories. It definitely wasn’t a good part of my life, so I missed growing up getting love and learning those positive values that would’ve made me be a different type of guy, or (be) a happy black man.

Usually I do a pretty good job of keeping that wall up so that those demons don’t come out. But every once in a while, one of ‘em will climb that wall and be like, ‘Hey, muthafucka, I’m out!’. I think we all got buttons that are pushed sometimes. And sometimes maybe my buttons got pushed more so than yours. Sometimes I can control it and sometimes I can’t. It’s my life and I’m gonna do my best to live it the way I need to live it. At the end of the day no one’s gonna crawl in that corner and hold my hand and die at the exact same time. My whole focal point with my life and my career is to secure the future of my family financially. After that, fuck what happens to me.

IT SOUNDS AS THOUGH YOU’VE GOT A LOT ON YOUR MIND ALONG THE LINES OF DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES. DO YOU FEEL THAT YOU HAVE ANY SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND HAVE A YOUR PARLAYED THAT INTO YOUR MUSIC?
The two songs that I got the most response from on an inspirational or a spiritual level was ‘Hate It or love It’ and ‘Dreams’. I also had songs like ‘Like Father Like Son’ on my first record, which was about young black men and how we should learn to accept and appreciate our gifts from God. That responsibility is ultimately given to you and you can’t run from it. I have to- and you have to- accept it as an individual person, and as a young black entrepreneur, especially in this business. I’ve heard people around my way and other rappers say, ‘I ain’t no role model’ or ‘I’m not this or that’. Nah, it ain’t like that. You’re a role model, whether you like it or not. For the most part, I like to watch where I put my left foot so that when I place my right foot I don’t fall on my face. I try not to make the same mistake twice. Try is what I said. I definitely know and accept the responsibility of being a role model; I also accept the responsibility of the consequences of what I do. I’ve always tried to do what I could personally to shed light to the youth in my (actions) as far as giving back others. I’ve done a lotta things that I don’t need to go into to brandish me any type of limelight, but I’ve done a lot of things in my community and other communities to reflect that.

I GOT TO TOUCH ON THE WACK MUSIC AND WACK ARTISTS YOU MENTIONED EARLIER. IN ‘ONE BLOOD’ YOU MADE A PASSING REFERENCE TO ATLANTA AND RADIO AIRPLAY THAT SOME PEOPLE IN ATLANTA TOOK OFFENSE TO. WHAT DID YOU MEAN IN THAT VERSE IN ‘ONE BLOOD’ HOW DO YOU RESPOND TO THOSE PEOPLE WHO TOOK OFFENSE?
Those are the average cats that may not know how to listen to the music. I think what I said in the song was praising A-Town in that sense. I was telling other people that don’t know what they’re doing to follow what Atlanta’s doing right now if you’re trying to get radio airplay. Because currently, Atlanta, Georgia- by itself- is holding the whole Dirty South together, you know what I’m saying? Kicking New York’s (and the East Coast’s) ass and kicking (the West Coast’s) ass with radio play and record sales. That’s the statement I was trying to make. I wrote it more praising Atlanta for how they’ve put it down.
A lotta cats heard me say ‘Atlanta’ and ‘snap’, with me being from the West Coast, and might’ve automatically thought, ‘oh, he’s trying to dis’. But if they took it that way, they don’t know how to listen. I’m not in the habit of having to explaining myself, but if I could go knocking on people’s doors and get a cat like you who listens carefully to lyrics and what I’m talking about it would be all good. But we don’t live in a world like that. You gotta say fuck it and take the bitter with the sweet at the end of the day.
If you’re kicking lyrics- raw lyrics- I fuck with you no matter where you’re from. I’d love to sign a Dirty South dude to Black Wall Street- a raw dude, though. I need that Outkast, old Goodie Mob, whatever.

WHAT’S MORE IMPORTANT TO YOU, THE BEATS, OR THE LYRICS?
These days you gotta have an ear for the music. You gotta get a beat. This ain’t 1985 where you can just pick a break beat like you’re Kool G. Rap, Big Daddy Kane, MC Lyte, N.W.A. to pick a break beat and put a sample in it. You gotta have a bangin’ ass beat, and I think that solidifies everything else you’re trying to do, whether it’s trendy dance music or it is something good that’s lyrical. If you pick a good track it all balances itself out. I think a good beat goes a long way these days. I mean, ain’t nobody listening to no wack-assed beat.

I also definitely think women control a lot of what goes on in these record stores these days, because if women don’t like it, it’s garbage. If you’re not hot enough, cute enough- if you’re not spittin’- or they don’t like your voice- then they’re not gonna encourage the guy they’re sleeping with at night to go buy that album the next day. There’s a lotta dudes out there who try to hate on me or on other rappers, but their girl is banging (my music) or some other rappers’ shit, when their girl is driving to work- or pickin’ their nigga up ’cause they ain’t got no car- and the dude hears it so much that they eventually start liking the shit their girl is listening to. Plus, the ladies will tend to go the stores and support a little more than the fellas- sometimes. I know brothas still buy records, too though. No matter who you are. However you get it, I appreciate if you just support the movement.

WELL YOU KNOW URBAN RADIO’S PRIMARY TARGET DEMOGRAPHIC IS WOMEN AGED 18-34. AND SO IF YOU’RE LOOKING FOR RADIO AIRPLAY YOU GOT TO SOMEHOW ANSWER TO THAT.
Yeah, you’re right- or lick your lips like LL or something. But I’ve successfully crossed over based on my hit singles. I’m gonna be who I am- a gangsta rapper. I’ve proven that I can be myself and do well. I can also be responsible too-somewhat, anyway- and still stick to my guns. But I’m not making any ‘I Believe I Can Fly’ type of records anytime soon.

There are a lotta artists out there who water their shit down or do just about anything except be themselves to get put on, period, let alone get on the radio.

WELL, IT IS SAID THE MARKET IS YOUTH-DRIVEN. SOME PEOPLE SAY THERE IS A DISCONNECT BETWEEN THE OLD AND NEW SCHOOL, ESPECIALLY WITH HIP-HOP. HOW DO WE CONNECT THE DOTS?
I think I was one of the newer artists that brought all that back- like how I reach out to the legends, and making sure you recognize those jerseys hanging in the raptors- like how I push Eazy E & N.W.A, etc. I think that a lotta these cats nowadays don’t pay homage to the old school. They’re not showing that respect. They’re selfish rappers, and again, they don’t recognize the old school. They’re not appreciating the cats that paved the way. I call these days the 106 & Park age- everybody’s fighting for number one. Personally, I don’t give a fuck if my videos ever get played on (BET’s) 106 & Park or (Rap City’s) the Basement. As long as I’m selling records, man, and I’m keeping milk in the refrigerator it’s all good.

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