mickill
11-02-2006, 02:41 AM
Basically, it's like this: Game was abandoned by Dre. So he lied and told the media that Dre was still providing beats for this album. Then he tried to pick as many beats for this album that sounded like Dre beats as he could. Somewhere along the way I think he realized that he'd have to include production credit in the album sleeve notes and that people were going to eventually find out that those beats that sound so similar to Dre's beats aren't actually Dre's beats. So he decided to come clean. But he didn't change the name of the album.
That being said, from a musical standpoint, the album's not that bad at all. The beats are pretty much solid from start to finish. But beats haven't really ever been Game's weak point, anyway. And he's got just as many big names to lean on on this album as he did on his debut. Really, not a lot has changed other than the fact that Dre and 50 are nowhere to be found. Strangely, though, Game actually sounds identical to Dre on a lot of these songs. Then again, he also sounds like Nas on his collaboration with him on the closing track.
One major criticism people had about The Documentary was the abundance of name dropping that went on all over that shit. And though Game's definitely cut back on the dickriding, he still speaks fondly of his mentor. Which explains the whole not changing the title of the album thing. In fact, he pretty much shouts him out an average of 3 times per song. And to make matters worse, the entire duration of the title track is spent apologizing to Dre for "turning his back on him", which loosely translates as Game "doing so much stupid shit that it forced Dre to turn his back" on him. It's another one of those drunken crying songs. It's almost uncomfortable to listen to. Like, you get the feeling that he's probably left a hundred messages similar to these verses all over Dre's answering machine or something. It's borderline homoerotic. Busta rides shotgun and cosigns.
While Game's rapping has definitely improved, he still manages to come off as a fan on this album; as if he's still starstruck. Which was fine on his first album, I guess. Not really, though. It's just wrong, actually.
Those minor blemishes aside, the album's definitely worth checking out. It's pretty much The Documentary pt II with Dre understudies filling the voids. If you liked the first album, you'll probably dig this one too.
***1/2 out of ***** since most rap albums suck these days, anyway.
That being said, from a musical standpoint, the album's not that bad at all. The beats are pretty much solid from start to finish. But beats haven't really ever been Game's weak point, anyway. And he's got just as many big names to lean on on this album as he did on his debut. Really, not a lot has changed other than the fact that Dre and 50 are nowhere to be found. Strangely, though, Game actually sounds identical to Dre on a lot of these songs. Then again, he also sounds like Nas on his collaboration with him on the closing track.
One major criticism people had about The Documentary was the abundance of name dropping that went on all over that shit. And though Game's definitely cut back on the dickriding, he still speaks fondly of his mentor. Which explains the whole not changing the title of the album thing. In fact, he pretty much shouts him out an average of 3 times per song. And to make matters worse, the entire duration of the title track is spent apologizing to Dre for "turning his back on him", which loosely translates as Game "doing so much stupid shit that it forced Dre to turn his back" on him. It's another one of those drunken crying songs. It's almost uncomfortable to listen to. Like, you get the feeling that he's probably left a hundred messages similar to these verses all over Dre's answering machine or something. It's borderline homoerotic. Busta rides shotgun and cosigns.
While Game's rapping has definitely improved, he still manages to come off as a fan on this album; as if he's still starstruck. Which was fine on his first album, I guess. Not really, though. It's just wrong, actually.
Those minor blemishes aside, the album's definitely worth checking out. It's pretty much The Documentary pt II with Dre understudies filling the voids. If you liked the first album, you'll probably dig this one too.
***1/2 out of ***** since most rap albums suck these days, anyway.