By: Martin Rand, III
Date: September 14, 2011
After a three year hiatus, Game is back with his latest release The R.E.D. Album. It debuted at number one in its first week. While the album may be three years in the making, the time spent doesn't show in the content of the album.
 |
| The R.E.D. Album Cover |
The R.E.D. Album is not necessarily a bad album. It just doesn't show any growth from the west coast veteran. This is his fourth album, yet he's rapping about the same things he was rapping about on his first album. The only thing he doesn't mention on this album from his first is 50 Cent.
On The R.E.D. Album, Game has a song called the "The Good, The Bad, The Ugly". So, I will break this album down using the same three categories.
The Good
"The City" is the first song on the LP. It's by far one of the best songs on the album. Game puts all his limited lyrical ability into this sampled track to deliver a song that shows where he's from and what he's been through in his career.
The next great song is "Ricky". It's another homage song. This time to the west coast classic movie "Boyz N Da Hood". The hook is centered around the moment when Ricky(Morris Chestnut), a star high-school football player who was on his way to college, gets shot two times and his friend Trey(Cuba Gooding, Jr.) yells out "RICKY!". Once again, Game shows some lyrical talent and weaves together a great song.
I could even throw the Chris Brown assisted "Pot Of Gold" in there as a highlight, despite Brown's attempt at singing.
The Bad
As I mentioned before, the worst thing about this album is there isn't anything new here. Through three albums, I've heard him rap about being from the west coast, being from the 'hood, being a gang member and conducting gang activities. However, he's 31 years old now, with three kids. He isn't doing any of those things any more, so why he is still rapping like he does. That content worked earlier in his career but it holds no weight here.
Also, whats the point of having Lil' Wayne being featured on two songs and only rapping the hooks? None whatsoever. He's suppose to be the best in the game but cant deliver a solid 16 bars for two songs. The hooks are good, but he should've done more.
The Ugly
The ugliest thing about this LP are the Dr. Dre skits. During them, Dr. Dre is telling background information about Game over an eerie sci-fi like beat. Dr. Dre does this as an intro, two more times during the album and again as an outro. They're kind of weird interludes that interrupt whatever flow the album seemed to be gaining.
Game trying to rap love songs. Enough said.
Conclusion
The R.E.D. Album will be a decent addition for any die-hard Game fan. However, if you're the type of person who likes to see an artist grow and mature within their music, then this will surely disappoint. He says numerous times, on the album, he's obligated by his contract to do one more album with Interscope Records. If his next album takes another three years to make, maybe the wait will help Game mature his music a little bit more.
| Tweet |
