The Game (rapper)

Jayceon Terrell Taylor (born November 29, 1979), better known by his stage name The Game (or simply Game), is an American rapper and actor. The Game is best known as a rapper in the West Coast hip hop scene and for being one of Dr. Dre's signers under Aftermath Records. Born in Los Angeles, California, he released his first mixtape "You Know What It Is Vol. 1" in 2002; shortly after, he was signed to Dr. Dre's Aftermath Entertainment label. He rose to fame in 2005 with the success of his major-label debut album "The Documentary" and found continued success with the 2006 follow-up "Doctor's Advocate". The Recording Industry Association of America certified "The Documentary" double platinum in March 2005.
A rising artist in the 2000s, The Game was considered to be a driving force in bringing back the West Coast hip hop scene into the mainstream and competing with many of his East Coast counterparts. The Game was placed into G-Unit by Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine. As a result of his disputes with 50 Cent, Game left Aftermath Entertainment and signed with Geffen Records, another label under Universal Music Group's Interscope-Geffen-A division, to terminate his contractual obligations with G-Unit in the summer of 2006. The Game's second major label album "Doctor's Advocate" was released on November 14, 2006 and it became his second straight album to debut at number one on the U.S. "Billboard" 200 chart. "Doctor's Advocate" did not feature any production from Dr. Dre. Pitchfork Media placed "The Documentary" at number 35 on their list of Top 50 Albums of 2005. The Game was nominated with a total of two nominations, including Grammy Award for Best Rap Song and Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group for the smash single "Hate It or Love It". "The New York Times" named "Doctor's Advocate" best hip-hop album of 2006.
His next album "LAX" was released in 2008. With his eighth studio album "The R.E.D. Album", The Game again debuted at number one on the "Billboard" 200. In addition to music, The Game has starred in motion pictures and founded The Black Wall Street Records. In September 2011, The Game started working on his ninth studio album, "Jesus Piece", which was released on December 11, 2012, his final album released by Interscope. After releasing a mixtape "OKE", on October 12, 2013, Birdman announced The Game had signed to Cash Money Records, which is distributed by Republic Records. However, The Game later refuted this claim. His latest album is 1992 was released on October 14, 2016 and spawned to official singles.
The Game was born Jayceon Terrell Taylor on November 29, 1979, in Los Angeles, California. He grew up in Compton, a low-income crime-ridden city in Los Angeles County, in a primarily Crip gang neighborhood known as Santana Blocc, although he grew up to become a member of the Bloods. In an October 2006 interview with MTV News correspondent Sway Calloway, The Game described his family as "dysfunctional".
Taylor endured many hardships in his adolescence. At the age of 7, he was placed in foster care. At 13, one of his older brothers, Jevon, was shot at a gas station and died soon thereafter. When he was 15, Taylor was removed from the foster care system and moved in with his mother, and he initially had a tumultuous relationship with her. Taylor attended Compton High School, where most students who were affiliated with gangs were Crips. However, his older half brother George Taylor III, known as Big Fase 100, attended Centennial High School and was the leader of the Cedar Block Piru Bloods.
In high school, Taylor was involved in sports including basketball and track. In 1999, Taylor claims that he enrolled in Washington State University on a basketball scholarship and was expelled after a short time when caught with drugs in his possession. However, the university's athletic department denies that Taylor was ever enrolled in their athletic program and denies the drug claims.
By the early 2000s, Taylor had become heavily involved in "street life", selling drugs and associating with gangs.
While recovering in the hospital from gunshot wounds he incurred in late 2001, Game told his brother to go out and buy all of the classic hip-hop albums. Over the course of five months, he studied all of the various influential rap albums and developed a strategy to turn himself into a rapper. With the help of his older brother Big Fase, they founded the label. It originally featured such artists as Glasses Malone, Vita, and Nu Jerzey Devil, along with Game himself. His stage name was coined by his grandmother, who was a huge fan of the 1997 blockbuster, "The Game". Game first gained prominence when he attended a hip-hop summit hosted by Russell Simmons and Louis Farrakhan. After he had fully recovered, Game and Big Fase made a mixtape together. He released his first mixtape "You Know What It Is Vol. 1" in 2002, and landed a record deal with the independent label Get Low Recordz owned by JT the Bigga Figga.
Game's mixtape reached the hands of Sean Combs, founder of Bad Boy Records, who originally was on the verge of signing him to his label. Five months later, he was discovered by Dr. Dre who listened to the mixtape that had been produced by his brother. Dr. Dre contacted Game and signed him to his Aftermath Entertainment label in 2003. In late 2003, Interscope Records CEO Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre decided to have Game work with 50 Cent and G-Unit in order to help build a growing buzz around Game which would also fuel interest in G-Unit. Game made his first cameo appearance in the music video for 50 Cent's "In da Club", where he is seen dancing with a girl. Since then, he has made numerous cameo appearances in music videos by 50 Cent, Lloyd Banks, Young Buck, and Fabolous. Game spent the next two and a half years working on his major label debut album and being mentored by Dr. Dre.
Not having dropped an album despite being signed onto Aftermath Entertainment and Interscope Records for a while, Game was still able to create hype around his image alone. He appeared in ads for Sean Combs's Sean John clothing company and had an endorsement deal with Boost Mobile, appearing in a commercial alongside Kanye West and Ludacris. Game also appeared heavily on the mixtape circuit and guest starred on mixtapes for DJ Green Lantern, The Diplomats, and G-Unit. The first single released with Game on it was "Certified Gangstas", which also featured Jim Jones and Cam'ron. Though the single wasn't considered to be mainstream, the buzz increased around the West Coast rapper.
On September 28, 2004, Game released his first promo single, "Westside Story", from his major label debut album. He had originally chosen to title the album "Nigga Wit' An Attitude Volume 1" (as heard in the lyrics to "Dreams"), but an injunction filed at the request of Eazy-E's widow prevented him from using N.W.A's name in the album title. Thus, the album was titled "The Documentary", which featured Dr. Dre and 50 Cent as executive producers. The album spawned the hit singles "How We Do" and "Hate It or Love It", the latter receiving two Grammy nominations. The album debuted at number one on the "Billboard" 200 and was the tenth best selling album of 2005 in the United States. It also debuted at number seven in the United Kingdom and sold over five million copies worldwide. In October 2004, he released "Untold Story" through Get Low Recordz, which sold over 82,000 copies within its first three months. The album featured artists like Sean T, Young Noble (of the Outlawz), and JT the Bigga Figga. Game also appeared on various mixtapes hosted by DJ's such as DJ Kayslay, DJ Whoo Kid, and DJ Clue. Game also released a second mixtape "You Know What It Is Vol. 2" through his own record label and appeared on the video game "NBA Live 2004" on a song produced by Fredwreck called "Can't Stop Me".
Later that year, the young rapper Lil Eazy-E, son of rapper the late Eazy-E, entered a feud with Game. The two used to be close associates and even recorded music together. Lil' Eazy-E has since directed numerous diss songs targeting the rapper and has expressed his anger over what he felt was Game misuse of his father's name. Game responded by claiming that Lil' Eazy-E was trying to establish himself off the success he had made since releasing "The Documentary". He released a song titled "120 Bars" where he claimed that Lil' Eazy-E does not write his own lyrics. However, on the same track, Game stated that he would rather not feud with Lil' Eazy-E due to the deep respect he has for Lil' Eazy-E's father. Lil' Eazy-E later responded with "They Know Me". On October 30, 2006, Game went on KDAY and said that he and Lil' Eazy-E had ended their feud.
Dr. Dre's nemesis, Suge Knight, also had an ongoing feud with Game that stemmed from Yukmouth's claim that Game had been slapped by Suge Knight. Game responded on his website, saying that if Suge Knight had ever touched him, he would be "six feet under". After the 2005 BET Awards show, associates of Death Row Records had their invitations to a party hosted by Ciara rescinded. Supposedly, a member of Death Row Records tried to steal Game's chain. Game stated on his website that he disliked Suge Knight because of "the lives he has endangered". In Miami for the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards, Suge Knight was shot and wounded at Kanye West's party by an unknown gunman. Game vigorously denied involvement in the shooting, but the incident renewed efforts to pacify hip hop feuds and Game has consequently been discouraged from attending certain events in hopes of averting retaliation. Later, Game and various representatives of California's rap cliques formed a West Coast "peace treaty" to end many rivalries between West Coast rappers. Although Suge Knight did not attend, he and Game declared their feud over.
In early 2005, Game entered a feud with G-Unit. Even before Game's major label debut was released and their feud became public, there was tension between Game and 50 Cent. Soon after "The Documentary"'s release, 50 Cent talked about an accident that occurred in the strip club by stating that he felt that the rapper's actions of not partnering with 50 Cent to react to Fat Joe and Jadakiss after the New York song written by Ja Rule were wrong and then booted Game out of G-Unit. 50 Cent also claimed that he was not getting his proper credit for the creation of the album, as he had written six of the songs, all of which Game denied. During that dispute, a member of Game's entourage was shot during a confrontation that occurred at the Hot 97 studio in New York City. After the situation between them escalated, 50 Cent and Game held a press conference to announce their reconciliation. Fans had mixed feelings as to whether the rappers created a publicity stunt to boost the sales of the two albums the pair had just released. Nevertheless, even after the situation had apparently deflated, G-Unit continued to feud with Game, denouncing his street credibility in the media and claimed that, without their support, he would not score a hit if he made a second album. Game responded during a performance at Summer Jam and launched a boycott of G-Unit called "G-Unot".
After the performance at Summer Jam, Game responded with a song titled "300 Barz and Running'", an extended "diss" aimed at G-Unit as well as members of Roc-A-Fella Records on the mixtape "You Know What It Is Vol. 3". The track is unique in that it is nearly 14 minutes long, in which Game criticizes all members of G-Unit, amongst many others. 50 Cent responded through his "Piggy Bank" music video, which features Game as a Mr. Potato Head doll and also parodies other rivals. Since then, both groups continued to attack each other. Game released two more mixtapes, "Ghost Unit" and a mixtape/DVD called "Stop Snitchin, Stop Lyin". 50 Cent's rebuttal was "Not Rich, Still Lyin'" where he mocks Game. In addition, G-Unit started to respond on numerous mixtapes and then-new G-Unit member Spider Loc began dissing Game. Game responded with "240 Bars (Spider Joke)", a song mainly aimed at Spider Loc, but also addressing Tony Yayo and rap group M.O.P., and on the song "The Funeral 100 Bars".
The feud between Game and Roc-A-Fella Records grew out of an earlier rivalry with Memphis Bleek over the name of his label (Get Low Records), which was similar to the one Game was previously signed to (Get Low Recordz). On the single "Westside Story", Game raps that "I don't do button-up shirts or drive Maybachs", which was perceived as being directed towards Jay-Z, though Game stated it was directed toward Ja Rule. Later Jay-Z performed a freestyle on Funkmaster Flex's radio show on Hot 97 and in it, he repeatedly used the word "game", which some hip-hop fans believed was directed towards Game. Game responded with 'My Bitch" in which the first verse is directed at G-Unit, the second verse is directed at Jay-Z and the third verse at Suge Knight.
Due to his disputes with 50 Cent, Game left Aftermath Entertainment and signed with Geffen Records another label under Universal Music Group's Interscope-Geffen-A division to terminate his contractual obligations with G-Unit in the summer of 2006. The rapper's second major-label album "Doctor's Advocate" was released on November 14, 2006. This album was set out by Game to prove that he was still able to make good music and be a successful artist without the help of Dr. Dre or 50 Cent. While Game originally claimed Dr. Dre would still do production on the album in the November issue of "XXL" magazine, he admitted in September after the "XXL" interview was conducted during an interview on radio station Power 105 that Dr. Dre would not be producing any tracks although four previously unreleased tracks produced by Dr. Dre were released on the internet, but no reason was given as to why they were not included on the album. The album debuted at number one on the "Billboard" 200, selling over 358,000 copies its first week.
In October 2006, Game extended a peace treaty to 50 Cent, which was not immediately replied to. However, a couple days later on Power 106, he stated that the treaty was only offered for one day. On Game's album "Doctor's Advocate", he says the feud is over on a few of the songs. The feud seemed to have gained steam after Tony Yayo allegedly slapped the fourteen-year-old son of Czar Entertainment CEO Jimmy Rosemond. Game responded with "Body Bags" on "You Know What It Is Vol. 4".
Since Young Buck was dismissed from G-Unit by 50 Cent, there have been interviews from both Game and Young Buck stating they never had a problem with each other. In an interview Young Buck said he was aware of Game's support and that Lloyd Banks and Tony Yayo did not reach out to him.
Game appeared on "106  Park" on May 16, where he confirmed "LAX" would be the last studio album he records. He had originally announced that Dr. Dre would be producing for the album, but neither Dr. Dre nor Aftermath Entertainment had confirmed. The album, went head to head with heavy metal band Slipknot's "All Hope Is Gone" on the "Billboard" 200 albums chart, seeing that both albums were released on August 22, 2008, therefore both albums were competing for the number one spot on the "Billboard" 200. "LAX" ended up debuting at number two on the "Billboard" 200, at first, it looked like "LAX" had debuted ahead of "All Hope Is Gone" by 13 copies, with such a close difference. Initially, "Billboard" published an article stating that The Game had secured the top spot with a margin of 13 units, in what was described as the "closest race for number one since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking Data in 1991". Slipknot's labels Warner Music Group and Roadrunner Records asked for a SoundScan recount, a historic first. Nielsen proceeded to the recount, which placed "LAX" at number two with 238,382 copies, and Slipknot in the first position with 239,516 copies scanned, a margin of 1,134 copies. After the recount 12 hours later, the article was rewritten and Slipknot was awarded the number one spot. "LAX" spawned four singles, "Game's Pain" with R singer Keyshia Cole, "Dope Boys" with Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker, "My Life" with rapper Lil Wayne and "Camera Phone" with R singer Ne-Yo. In the United States, the album has sold over 660,100 copies.
It was confirmed in May 2009, that Game began working on a new album title, "The R.E.D. Album" On June 26, 2009 Game released a song titled "Better on the Other Side" a Michael Jackson tribute, the day after Jackson's death. It features Diddy, Mario Winans, Chris Brown, Usher  Boyz II Men.