The Game, who is set to release his ninth (and possibly final) album Born 2 Rap later this month, was a guest for Everyday Struggle’s special episode that took place at ComplexCon Long Beach. During his sit-down with hosts Nadeska Alexis, DJ Akademiks, and Wayno, the veteran Compton rapper shared his thoughts on his place in West Coast rap, a potential G-Unit reunion, 6ix9ine, and more. We rounded up the biggest moments from the interview, which you can view below.
The Game’s Born 2 Rap will be released Nov. 29.
The Game ranks himself as a top five West Coast rapper
DJ Akademiks asked the rapper who his top five rappers of the West Coast are, and after checking to see if he could include himself, Game was straightforward: “Then I’m No. 1, nigga.” He explained further that he looks at the ranking “like a motion picture, in order of appearance,” before he shared the full list.
“I gotta put myself No. 1. Not sleeping on Snoop [Dogg], but I’m talking about just being a lyrical motherfucker for as long as I’ve been. Snoop is my No. 1 rapper, so he would be No. 1. And then behind Snoop, as far as West Coast hip-hop is concerned, is me, and then it’s Kendrick [Lamar], and then I gotta give Ice Cube some shit, and then… it could be Nipsey, YG. It could be anybody. I don’t hate on my coast.”
He helped Nipsey early in his career
DJ Akademiks brought up a recent moment where The Game showed off his braided hair, which had some people connecting the new hairstyle to Nipsey’s signature look. It was the latest incident of critics claiming Game is trying to exploit Nipsey’s name, which doesn’t sit well with the Compton rapper.
“When Nipsey braided his hair, he was trying to be AI? When AI braided his, he trying to be Snoop? When Snoop braided his, he Harriet Tubman?”
This led to a breakdown of how he gave Nipsey an assist early in his career. “God bless my brother’s soul, but if he was here, Nipsey sit on this couch and he’ll tell you my contribution to his career. I rolled down my window for Nipsey and took his demo. With 20 Crips outside of my Range Rover, with a Glock on my lap. I didn’t know if them niggas was coming to shoot, or what they was on. When he handed out his demo, I asked him did he have his number on it. Brought him to the studio, I got on the song. It was ‘They Roll.’ And I took Nipsey and Kendrick around the world—like, 100 dates.”
He continued: “Everything that I’ve done, Nipsey anything: mention him, say something, post something. I’ve ran passed Blacc Sam, just out of respect. Not ’cause I have to, just because that’s Nipsey’s brother and that is the nigga who controls anything Nipsey. And when Blacc Sam tell me, ‘I love you, I know what you did, do your thing, blessings, the marathon continues,’ then fuck what anybody else gotta say.”
He’s open to a 50 Cent/G-Unit reunion
The topic of Game’s relationship with 50 Cent came up, with the one-time G-Unit member reminding people how serious their feud was (“I could have died in my beef with 50; 50 could have died. We was really shootin’ that shit,” and later adding, “I was flying 70 bloods to New York when I was beefing with 50 for no reason”) and sharing what was said last year when they reunited after squashing their beef (he recalled 50 saying, “‘Game, I don’t even know what happened.’ I was like, ‘Big cap’”).
Akademiks inquired about the possibility of Game reuniting with G-Unit, to which he replied, “I’m not opposed to anything in the future with G-Unit or nothing like that as long as it make sense financially. We’re a lot older now, and shit got to be split down the middle ‘cause there really ain’t no G-Unit tour without Game and ain’t no G-Unit tour without 50. And everybody else get mixed in where they mix in. [Lloyd] Banks is still one of my favorite MCs. We used to go bar-for-bar in the studio on who was going to get the second verse. I fuck with Banks, I hated the fuck out of [Tony] Yayo, but I’m 40 now, damn near. So there's animosity with him either. He should be passed that too.”
He has no plans to pay his sexual assault accuser
Those Kim Kardashian lyrics are old, and he’s not going to apologize for saying them
The Game is known to name-drop on his songs, and has ruffled feathers at times by taking it a step too far. That was the case earlier this year, when a preview of an unreleased song surfaced during a listening, with Game rapping, “I held Kim Kardashian by her throat, nigga/I made her swallow my kids until she choke, nigga/I should apologize cause ’Ye is my folks, nigga.” The lyrics received backlash over their violent and misogynistic message, and Game previously defended what he said.
In his interview with Everyday Struggle, he doubled down.
“When that snippet came out, that wasn’t how I currently felt. That song was like two years old," he explained. "But, my engineer was just playing shit and that came on, and I wasn’t gonna say, ‘Hey, oh shit, nigga turn that off.’ That’s not how I felt in that moment; that’s how I felt on that song, which was recorded two years before that. Once it hit, nigga, it is what it is, now I gotta stand up and stand behind it.”
“I’m not apologizing for that. I don’t think I need to apologize for doing something that I did that is done already.”
There’s sympathy in his heart for 6ix9ine
