LAX – The Game
I must give credit where it’s due, Game knows how to make palatable music. He knows how to deliver a rhyme, does a good job selecting his beats, and seems to have a good understanding about what general audiences will like. This probably comes from his numerous years as a fan of many of the artist who are now his peers. His days as a fan seem to have lead to an excessive number of guest appearances throughout his career and his latest LP, LAX is no different. Of the albums 16 full songs, 14 of them have guest appearances from other solo artist whether they be other rappers or popular R&B singers doing the hooks (I can’t help but wonder how that works out when those checks start getting cut). Another likely carry over from those fan days is that The Game is still a fan, a fact that I find somewhat annoying. There is absolutely nothing wrong with respecting the game, or paying homage to other artist but The Game takes it to a new level. At first I thought it was something he would grow out of after his first album but his verses are still dominated by name-dropping and occasionally mimicking other artist. I sometimes don’t understand how he can maintain his numerous “beefs” and disagreements with other rappers when he apparently likes everyone so much. At times he seems just to be in awe that these other rappers are his friends. For instance, “Never Can Say Goodbye” which is a solid song that I would give points for creativity and execution finds Game recounting first person that deaths of recently deceased rappers like B.I.G. and Eazy-E, but its almost like he isn’t aware that he didn’t know them nor have a record deal when those artist were alive. On second thought though, this probably makes perfect sense, since a guy that tattoos a butterfly on his face and then tattoos over it with the letters “LA” doesn’t’ give me the impression he’s too resolute (or maybe emotionally stable).
This isn’t to say that by any means LAX is a bad album. It’s actually fairly solid but I have to admit that at times something just doesn’t sit right with me about The Game as an artist. He just seems so contrived, manufactured, and phony or maybe I am picking up on him being a little bi-polar. In any case, as far as LAX goes I can say, the production is clean and fits. Most of the songs are well put together and although I feel there are way too many guest appearances many of them work well, such as “State of Emergency” (Ice Cube), “Bulletproof Diaries” (Raekwon), “Gentleman’s Affair” (Ne-Yo), “Ya Heard” (Ludacris), and “Letter to the King” (Nas). I
Lyrics: B- // Content: C // Production: B+ //
Creativity: C // Quality %: B // Bonus: N/A
Overall: B :Review by Eyecalone
