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.