Fighter: The Game
Trainer (Gym): STAT Quo, Cash Jones (Blood Money, eOne)
Cutmen: The Game, will.i.am., Boi-1da, Bongo ‘the Drum Gahd’, Cardo, Caviar, Cool & Dre, DJ Premier, Hit-Boy, Jahlil Beats, JProof, Jelly Roll, Johnny Juliano, Just BonaFide, The Mekanics, Mike WiLL Made-It, StreetRunner, Pops, Flippa, Sevn Thomas, Tarik Azzouz, The Alchemist, Mr. Bangladesh, Battlecat, Bongo ‘the Drum Gahd’, Skrillex, DJ Khalil, DJ Mustard, DJ Quik, Fredwreck, Mike & Keys, G Koop S1, Kevin Bivona, THX, Tone Mason, Travis Barker
Weight Class: Rap Heavyweight
Notable Fire: New York, New York, Magnus Carlsen (Feat. Anderson .Paak), Made In America (Feat. Mvrcus Blvck), On Me (Feat. Kendrick Lamar), The Ghetto (Feat. Nas & will.i.am)
Notable Trash: Hashtag (Feat. Jelly Roll), Don’t Trip (Feat. Ice Cube, Dr. Dre & will.i.am), From Adam (Feat. Lil Wayne)
Tale of the Tape: The two-part album touted as a follow-up to the homonymous debut album was closer to a bookend of left coast hip-hop history.
The Game dropped The Documentary in 2005 and with The Documentary 2 Chuck Taylor not only shows that he is still holding down the coast that he “brought back”, but also gave shine to many of the up and coming emcees from Cali, including Ty Dolla $ign, YG and Black Hippie (Kendrick Lamar, AB Soul, Jay Rock, Schoolboy Q), as well as the legends Dr. Dre, Nas and Ice Cube. The album was split into two parts named The Documentary 2 and The Documentary 2.5, released one week apart for some reason.
The Documentary 2 at times can feel very “now” but can switch up to a 2000’s or 1990’s vibe as well. Game jumps on tracks with just about every artists with the juice right now including Drake, Future and Dej Loaf. While sharing the spotlight with hip hop legends Nas, Lil Wayne, Kanye, Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, Diddy, Snoop, Scarface and E-40 to (not surprisingly) varying success.
The album starts off with “On Me” which features Kendrick Lamar who is one of the most respected and hottest rappers lyricists out. The consensus heir to the “king of the west” throne, Kendrick spit, “Documentary had identities of where I’m from/Therefore my energy had to make sure the better me won/It ain’t no better one son, it ain’t no tellin’ me nuttin’/ Nigga it’s Chuck, Doc Dre and K, the legacy’s done!”
Game enlists familiar producers to create the binary vibes throughout the album. Cool and Dre, Will.I.Am, Bongo ‘the Drum Gahd, DJ Mustard and Travis Barker all make their presences felt.
The Documentary 2.5 goes a bit harder with tracks like “My Flag”, “Moment of Violence” and “Crenshaw/80s and Cocaine” while still flipping between present day and an old school vibe. On “Gang Bang Anyway“, Game proceeded to drop knowledge: “Started out Black Panthers, everything power, everything pro-Black/Started off unified FBI know that/A little coke sprinkled on the tables but wasn’t no crack/ False imprisonment, Huey P, Geronimo Pratt” in reference to the historical origins of both the Crips and Bloods, and the scarring of Black America via the erosion of the Black Panther Party.
The two discs (or is files more correct these days?) serve to create a timeline of how the west coast rap scene has evolved over basically the past 30 years from the g-funk era, to gangsta rap, to present day.
Fight Night: Winner By Split Decision
The Documentary 2 and The Documentary 2.5 taken together as a whole is a solid project that could’ve probably been a really good, if bipolar, album. Many of the greats put out a double disc album, and in some ways this feels like Chuck Taylor was checking this off a list of needed accomplishments. The Documentary 2 and 2.5 both debuted in the top ten on the Billboard charts and at number one on the independent charts. Commercial success is nothing new for The Game; this is the seventh time he’s reached this status in the ten years since releasing The Documentary. The “Doctor’s Advocate” proved once again that even after a decade in the game he is able to do numbers and cemented his rap heavyweight status by achieving the daunting task of dropping two top ten albums in a week!
The lead single “100” featuring Drake kind of falls flat on top of a great outing by Taylor Gang producer Cardio. Dej Loaf and Q Tip were wasted on their features. “Mula” featuring Kanye leaves something to be desired. The pieces are all there but the chemistry is off. On the other hand, the songs with Black Hippie members on it shined, Snoop (Insert Animal Here) and the production on “LA” go together like khakis and plaid shirts. Game did his thing solo on “New York New York”, and with Nas on “The Ghetto” wherein Game fittingly closes out strong with, “Now I’ma end your career in two sixteens my niggas/ If he the God’s son then I must be the prophet/ And all this “King of L.A.” shit yall need to stop it.”