written by Low Key
Wake up, the west coast is back! From the depths of Compton’s mean streets comes Dr. Dre’s newest protégée The Game. Armed with a quick temper, rough demeanor and sharp tongue, The Game has been molded by the industry’s best to be the savior of the west coast. His debut release, The Documentary, is a fitting tribute to those that have paved the way before him and is an album that will certainly put the west back on the map.
Overall, The Documentary is a tale of two stories. On the one hand, Game’s debut release is one of the best-produced albums of the last three years. With a star-studded lineup of producers ranging from Dr. Dre to Kanye West and Just Blaze, Game’s beat selection is masterful. However, on the other hand, his lyrical performance fails to live up to the beats he is rhyming on. As a rookie emcee, Game stubbles throughout The Documentary with his one-dimensional rhymes and continuous name-dropping. There is not much creativity to Game’s lyrics and his flow is almost non-existent on every track. However, even worse is Game’s obsession with name-dropping, something that gets old very quickly. The constant mentioning of Dr. Dre, Eazy E, N.W.A., Biggie, 2pac and Nike Air Force One’s grows tiresome after the first couple of songs, let alone the entire album. Every verse on The Documentary follows this pattern of name-dropping, making it very clear that Game is an emcee with not much to say.