The Game continues to honor Prince after his sudden death last month. In addition to eulogizing the legendary artist with the release of his song "Rest in Purple," the rapper also commissioned a large-scale painting of Prince from street artist Madsteez.
"I was sitting on the plane in Miami (was shooting reference photo of ex NFL player Darnell Dockett for a portrait painting) on the way home to LAX," Madsteez told Complex. "Prince had just passed and literally 10 minutes after Game texts me and says 'Lemme buy a Prince from you.'"
The Game has been very open about Prince since his death, and called him "a huge inspiration" on Instagram. He also recently revealed that the two had planned to work together, but Prince turned down the collaboration.
"The Game and I went back and forth with reference images on which on to use," Madsteez said. "I ended up using a still frame from the movie Purple Rain. As we hung the piece, we put Purple Rain on repeat."
The California-based artist is known for his large scale projects. In addition to working with brands like Stussy and Nike, he has created portraits of NBA stars like Shaq and John Wall. He previously worked with The Game on two other paintings, one of singer Sade and the other of Manny Pacquiao vs. Floyd Mayweather.
The colorful 6-by-8-foot painting took the artist around 100 hours to complete. It was made using a mixture of oil, acrylic, and spray paints and now hangs proudly in The Game's home. According to Madsteez, the rapper requested that his new Prince portrait be the only one, so they made a deal that no one else would have painting of the late musician made by him. According to TMZ, The Game dished out $65,000 for his one-of-a-kind piece.
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