Controversy and corporate thuggin' can't stop The Game's stock from rising like yeast.

Yeah, that's all true. But, by the same token, his lack of participation could be seen as leaving your future in jeopardy, no?

The Game: I mean, but who knows if there's a lack of participation besides me and Dr. Dre, until the album drops?

You tell me.

The Game: I won't tell you, that's the thing.

Why is that?

The Game: Because, man, you always leave something for people to wonder. Giving that would be just giving them what they want. And I'm going to give them what they want-they just have to wait.

In raising your son, what's the most important thing that you want to instill in him?

The Game: Loyalty. Loyalty will take you a long way in life. Even if you're just living a semiwealthy, all-American life. It'll get you the two-story house with the minivan, the white picket fence, the dog, the wife, and the kids. If you're loyal to your parents, your teachers, your friends, your mate, your kids, your job, nobody could say you're a bad guy.

Is that why you've chosen to take the high road, in regards to the label drama?

The Game: Right. I stay loyal. It's like people trying to...just because people think Dre's not working on the album, or they feel like Dre turned his back, doesn't mean that I'm not going to stay loyal to the guy that has helped me turn my life around. For that, I will forever be in debt to Dr. Dre, no matter what he does. In my heart lies loyalty.

So what's been the toughest decision that you had to make since the last album dropped?

The Game: That would be...let me see...to do it on my own. Dre guided me so closely on the first album that in the beginning it was kinda rough. Like when Dre left Death Row. He had that machine. When you leave that, you're kinda on your own. He put out that Aftermath album and it didn't do so good. But then he put out 2001 and shit started rolling again, man.

Given that someone of his stature could have problems like that, are you concerned that you might stumble out the gate, too?

The Game: I'm saying that I'm not going to have those issues, because I recognize that I know what it is. Even if everybody in the world hated me, this album could fly. The quality of the music is just that great. That's just the reality of it, man-I've earned the right to say that. I was, six months ago, at a point in my life where I felt like I knew how it felt for a person to want to commit suicide. Life was just that bad.

How so?

The Game: I felt like I didn't get the props that I deserved, and that started fucking with me. And when you hear this album, you'll hear the conviction and the pain. You'll hear the motherfuckin' five-time-platinum gangsta rap artist from Compton that was sitting in a closet by himself with fuckin' tears running down my face, trying to figure out, How did I go from being one of the best rappers in the world and the most loved to being one of the most hated?

That was clearly the result of the chess game you and 50 have been playing.

The Game: And I'm Bobby Fischer.

Okay, so you tell me then, what's his  next move?

The Game: Bang the clock before I punch it, because the next time I punch the clock, the king's knocking all his pieces off the board.

Enough business, let's talk art. Do you keep your rhyme books?

The Game: I keep my rhymes in my Sidekick. They're all there, man, see? [Editor's note: points to list of song names in Sidekick] Just Blaze joint, Cool and Dre with Mary J...see that one there?

There it is.

The Game: Dre beat. [Laughs]

That's what it says. [Laughs] Do you have a computer?

The Game: I've got the new black iBook. It's dope. I keep all my rhymes and songs in there, and I can MySpace on the road.

How's that going?

The Game: MySpace is dope, man. I recently found my sister that I haven't seen since she was three years old on MySpace. Typed in her name, and the shit pops up.

So you check your own page?

The Game: I try to. I go on there sometimes, from time to time, and the emails with the crazy subjects, I read and respond to most of them, but there's no way I can fucking do all of them and maintain my fucking rap career.

You were with Mya-how's the celebrity dating thing?

The Game: It's cool, but that shit has got its ups and downs. The up is you kinda feel hot, the Jay-Z and Beyoncé thing. The downside is that you don't get to spend as much time with double celebrity shit. Then there's the thing that they be switching up-you take my girlfriend now, I'll take your boyfriend, and you know different couples with different muthafuckas, so I'm pretty much done at this point. I'll keep a regular bitch.

When did it end with Mya?

The Game: Umm...we still cool. We're good friends...

But romantically, it ended?

The Game: Umm, right.

Okay, so being that you're a rich rap star, how do you have a relationship with a regular girl?

The Game: I can because I don't have the mentality like a rich rap star. I'm not in Vines in the frozen food section with my chains on.

Dating regular chicks...have you seen A Bronx Tale?

The Game: I already know what you're gonna ask.

So do you have a test?

The Game: Nah, I'm a great judge of character. You gotta have that instinct or else you'll end up dead or in jail.

Do you have a main lady in Cali?

The Game: Yup. She's a good woman, and she trusts me to do me. For that I hold her down.

Is this your son's mother?

The Game: We'll leave it at a lady in Cali.

Because there are, like, five chicks who'll read this and think, "Oh, he's talking about me."

The Game: Could be a million, man. [Laughs]

Do you read any books?

The Game: I've read The 48 Laws of Power. I'm not really into books crazy like that-I've read The Isis Papers, if you're familiar with that.

Sure.

The Game: I read deep books. I read Black Wall Street so that when people ask me questions about the situation that happened in Tulsa, Oklahoma, I don't seem like the buffoon that doesn't know what he's pushing.

Do you watch TV?

The Game: I love TV, but I don't have time. There aren't enough hours in the day for me-being that everybody's pulling. I have to spend time with my son, my girl, the homies. Gotta spend time in the studio, on tour. I think that I'm going to probably quit rapping around 31. Home // CELEBRITIES // COVER STORY // The Game