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The Game
The Game, born Jayceon Taylor in Compton, California, is most famous for his work with Aftermath Entertainment. Given his nickname by his grandmother, he is always ‘game’ for anything. The Game had to deal with many hardships growing up, including the death of his brother. He got into his fair share of trouble and was even a member of the Cedar Block Piru Bloods, while living in a notorious Crip neighborhood. He starred on his high school’s basketball team and was awarded a scholarship to play at Washington State University. Unfortunately, he was dismissed from the team during his freshman year for drug allegations. He continued to be involved in drug sales and car theft, until he was shot five times during a home invasion in October of 2001. While recovering in the hospital, he decided to change his life, and focus on his interest in hip hop. Soon thereafter he was discovered by Dr. Dre and has been taking the hip hop world by storm ever since. He’s since inked a deal with Reebok to promote a trademark shoe, The Hurricane.
Albums
"LAX” his third LP due out June of 2008, will be his final, which was confirmed on December 31st, 2007 at Nas’ New Year's Eve party. The artist also announced that he will be teaming up with his former companion Dr. Dre to produce the final album. The only confirmed track thus far is entitled, “Street Ryders” featuring Akon and Nas, produced by Dr. Dre.
“Doctor’s Advocate,” was the second release by The Game through Geffen Records on November 14th, 2006 making it the first release by the artist not under the Aftermath Entertainment umbrella. The album hit #1 on the Billboard Top 200 on December 2nd, 2005 and proved his capability to succeed without the help of former partners Dr. Dre and 50 cent. The album did, however, feature a wide number of cameos from Snoop Dogg, Xzibit, Busta Rhymes, Nas, and many more artists from the West Coast hip hop scene. The Source gave the album a 4.5 rating, but it received mixed reviews from critics claiming that it was nothing more than an extinction of the success from the artist’s debut album.
“The Documentary,” The Game’s first album released with Dr. Dre’s Aftermath Entertainment through Interscope Records on January 18th, 2005 was one of the year’s best selling hip hop albums It featured Dr. Dre, Kanye West, Timbaland, Nate Dogg, Faith Evans, and guest vocals from future rival 50 Cent. The Documentary debuted at #1 on the Billboard Top 200 selling over 580,000 copies within the first week of release. It gave the artist credibility of being the first solo hip hop artist from the West Coast to go multi-platinum since Dr. Dre in 2001. The album presents a story of a West Coast hip hop artist’s life before fame. It deals with life of crime on the streets and Compton hardships through a different lens. The album received a high rating from The Source magazine and most other reviews, as well as being respected in the hip hop world under the wing of Aftermath productions.
Film Career
Along with several documentaries, The Game has been in Life in a Day: the DVD, and The Beef 3 and 4. The Game has had acting roles in films as well. The action film Waist Deep directed by Vondie Curtis-Hall in 2006 features The Game with one of the leading roles as “Big Meat.” This is an action, crime film based in California about a convict recently released from jail whose son is kidnapped during a carjacking. Fully equipped with action, guns and Los Angeles based violence of the drug world, The Game plays a well suited role in the film. Waist Deep grossed over $9 million from over one thousand theaters, having a very impressive average in its opening weekend for its genre film. In total, the movie made over $21 million.
Video Game Career
The Game was featured as a voice in the most anticipated videogame of 2004, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. The videogame is set in California and has a story back lining the crime and theft of automobiles. San Andreas received an IGN rating of 9.9/10, which is the highest rating for any Play Station 2 game ever and has sold over 20 million units world wide.
In the Media
The Game has done his time as a poster boy for the West Coast hip hop crime scene in the media many times, having disputes with 50 Cent and other hip hop artists. The Game grew up in Compton, fitting the stereotype of any West Coast rapper getting into trouble with the law even before his hip hop career began. It continued into his professional career with a dispute at a North Carolina shopping mall in 2005, where the artist was charged with disorderly conduct and resisted arrest. The Game was allegedly going through the mall with his entourage, wearing a Halloween mask and shouting obscenities to shoppers while filming their reactions. He refused to leave when asked, causing a scene between the mall officers and the people with him. He became violent when the mall officers used pepper spray on his crew. The Game was later sued by the officers for defamation.
In May of 2007 the WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) sued The Game for the likeness of the artists name to a WWE wrestler Triple H whose nickname was also The Game. The Litigation was never fully pursued.
In May of 2007 The Game had allegedly threatened someone with a gun at a South Los Angeles basketball game. The artist was arrested after a several-hour-long search through his house. He was released the next day on bail for $50,000 dollars. The artist now has a record for assault and weapon charges.
In 2006 on Jo Whiley’s BBC radio show The Game said many offensive comments on-air about homosexuals causing an uproar with the show, the station, and the town. The radio show host eventually made a public apology on the stations behalf for the artist’s statements.