I knew this time was eventually coming for Game. It always comes for the bulk of MC's who have been around for a minute. What time am I talking about? That time when after you've shot too many bricks like Starks in game 7, you gotta name your new album after whatever was your best album and throw a "part 2" on it to get the fans hype about you again. We've seen it a million times with some of our favorite artists. After a couple of bricks Raekwon had to hit us up with "Only Built For Cuban Linx Part 2." Same with Mary J. & her "My Life Part 2." Nas hit us up with "Stillmatic" (well at least he kinda changed the title) and Ghost is hard at work on "Supreme Clientele Part 2" while AZ is in the lab cooking up "Doe or Die 2" and Diddy's working on "No Way Out 2." And 90% of the times these part 2's never even come close to the albums they're named after. And most of the time it's not just the title that hypes us up. These albums usually come with the promise of also reuniting the artists with the producers who were part of that classic album you're naming it after. (See, Nas getting back with Large Pro on "Stillmatic" and Rae getting back with RZA for "Cuban Linx 2") So of course when word got to ear that Game was gonna be linking back up with Dre, Just, Kanye, etc. from the 1st Documentary of course I was hype as hell. But hold tight cause I'm too old to be falling for the banana in the tail pipe with the hype. Ya'll remember when Ye was talking about him and Jay were in the studio with Primo and Pete for "Watch The Throne" only to find out that they didn't make the cut? So who knows who's REALLY gonna be behind the boards for "The Documentary 2" but, it's like I said earlier, these part 2's almost never live up to it's predecessor. So what percentage do ya'll think Game's "Documentary 2" will fall into? That's a real good question I wonder myself.
"The Documentary 2" sets off right where Ice Cube's "Jackin' 4 Beats" left off in '90 with the Kendrick Lamar assisted "On Me" which has Game & K Dot going back and forth over Erykah Badu's "On and On" while "Step Up" has Game going in over Gang Starr's "Step In The Arena." "Don't Trip" featuring Will I Am, Ice Cube & Dr. Dre isn't nearly as bad as it sounds like it would be and has them spittin' on the JB's "More Peas" break which everybody from Showbiz & AG to Naughty have rocked over and the jackin' continues on "Standing On Ferrari's" featuring Diddy and has game rocking over the Screaming Jay Hawkins "I Put A Spell On You" sample made famous from Big's "Kick In The Door." And even though I think it's blasphemous for anyone to reuse a Primo sample, I won't hold you, this jawns BANGS!
The Cool & Dre produced "Dollar And A Dream" featuring Ab Soul finally ends the "jackin' for beats" part of the album and flows perfectly into "Made In America." I don't mess with "Hashtags" featuring Jelly Roll and "B-tch You Ain't Sh-t" at all...straight duds. "Circles" featuring QTip has Game beefin' with his girl and is ill cause it breaks into an entirely different beat and freaks the song using the same Bobby Hutcherson sample Buckwild used for Royal Flush's "Makin' Moves" (guess the jackin for beats never really end on this album) and has Tip sounding like vintage ATCQ Tip and as much as I don't mess with Future and don't wanna mess with "Dedicated"...I can't front, I mess with it. The same could be said for the Mike Will Made It produced "Summertime" cause I've never been a Mike Will Made It dude but I can't even front on this song either. The Boi-1da produced "Mula" knocks and not only features Kanye West but also features Game doing his best Kanye impersonation over the whole track, the Primo produced "The Documentary 2" is beyond stupid for the sole reason that this sounds nothing like a Primo beat and when I tell you the StreetRunner produced "New York, New York" is bananas...trust me, it's BANANAS! "Just Another Day" is cool and "LA" featuring Snoop ends the album on a dope note but my fave jawn on the album is easily the Cardo produced "100" featuring Drake. I had no idea what this colabo would sound like, but bot these dude came with it on "100" for real.
Last week on The Writer's Bench me & Ev were going back and forth about had Common matured as a MC. I was saying that there was no doubt that Com had matured as a MC. He went from the "Das EFXish" style on "Dollar" to talking about abortion and life & death on "One Day" to where he is right now with "Nobody Smiling." But Ev was saying Com hadn't matured from a technical stand point of a MC while I was just looking at it as a fan. I tell that story because since I'm a producer, I'm always looking at the technical standpoint of the what the producer did with the beat, not necessarily if at the end of the day was the song dope. So ya'll know the producer in me hated hearing Game jackin' for beats for damn near half of the album. But while I had that look of disgust on my face like "are these dudes rhyming over Erykah's On and On?" I had to ask myself "but does the song bang?" And if the song bangs, who really cares about the technical part? And at the end of the day this whole album bangs which makes me wonder why I'm seeing so many folk on twitter and the new talking about it's a letdown and it's a disappointment. For me, once I got past the blantant beat jackin, I was real good with the album. Hell, even the songs I didn't wanna like...I ended up liking. Trust & believe I don't wanna my head bobbin' to nuthin' Will I Am is a part of but my head does what it does when "Don't Trip" comes on. And even though I'm not sure what the true definition of gettin' "turnt up" is (as I'm sure most folk 40 & over don't) I sure feel like turnin' up when "Dedicated" with Future comes on.
But after talking to my dude young bul Justice I do see why some folk are disappointed. See, Jus told me that the first "Documentary" was like the west coast "Illmatic" for him. So if you come from that line of thinking I totally get why this album would be a let down. But for me, the "Documentary" was a solid album but not a classic. Plus I never looked at Game as an ill lyricist so my expectations for Game dropping an incredible album in 2015 is about the same as my expectation of 90% of the players that come outta Duke and go to the league. And then I'm sure that there are cats who can't get past the technical make up of the production on this album and if you couple that with folk who don't think Game can really rhyme, then I get their side of disappointment too. But if you couple the fact that I was never that hip hop guy who in order for me to like you as a MC you had to be super lyrical along with the fact that I'm over being the "technical" guy when it comes to production, then maybe ya'll can understand why I think this album is so dope. But I'll tell you this, with Kendrick's "To Pimp A Butterfly", Dre's "Compton" and now Game's "Documentary 2" there's absolutely no question what coast is holding down hip hop in 2015. Maybe some of these east coast MC's should pay attention and try to cook up something dope themselves but then again, they probably won't...smdh. But for all the cats who aren't feeling the album, it's all good to each his own. But then I gotta ask, if ya'll don't like "The Documentary 2" then what do ya'll like?
4 outta 5 mics
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