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 Shady/ Aftermath/ G-Unit: The Family Stand
50 Cent & G-Unit: Expect The Unexpected
Eminem: Embattled But Not Embittered
Hyphy: Crunk, Northern California-Style
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-- by Shaheem Reid, with additional reporting by Curtis Waller and Sway Calloway
The Game knows it really doesn't matter who in the industry vouched for him. It could have been Eminem, Dr. Dre, 50 Cent, whoever. What's going to make him is the unconditional street love he's been given by kids from New York to Compton. And tonight, he has to maintain it.
On Sundays, Speed is the undisputed wildest club in New York, the place where the wolves and murder mamis come out and sweat all night. Grown and sexy is barred. Patrons come prepared to dance and howl and, since the quarters are so cramped, they will be pushed, stepped on and — if something breaks out — pounded out. On any given week you'll see anyone from Jay-Z to the LOX to Lil Jon to 50 Cent performing there. Tonight people start lining up at 8:45 p.m. just to see Game, who won't go on until 1:45 a.m. He recognizes the love and wants to give back ... everything.
"These new rap n---as ain't sh--," he yells about an hour into the set. "All n---as want is bitches, cars, money, weed, chains. That sh-- don't mean nothing to me, I'm a real n---a!
"F--- this coat," he continues, taking off his newly bought $1,000 leather Pelle Pelle jacket and throwing it into the crowd, which closes in like a pack of lions on a steak.
Game then does the unthinkable. He yells, "F--- this chain," and flings out not only that piece of gold jewelry, but also his gold N.W.A medallion attached to it — the same medallion we've seen him proudly sport like a badge of honor in all his publicity photos and at so many of his public appearances. The same $20,000 medallion given to him by his close friend Baron Davis of the New Orleans Hornets.
The next day on New York radio station Hot 97, Game, who literally left Speed topless after giving the shirt off his back to his fans, says his generosity was not some ultra-flossing stunt: He was baring his soul. He wanted to prove to people that he's in rap for the love, not for the riches.
In Compton, California, just days prior to the Speed show, he explained, "I'm so compelled and so compassionate when it comes to hip-hop now. I'm just now starting to develop a relationship, not only a relationship, but a love for hip-hop. Hip-hop is just not a rap form to express yourself. Hip-hop is a way of life. Black people, white people, Asians, Indians, green, blue, purple, you name it. Hip-hop is the biggest influence on the human life to date, believe that."
Game looks to pioneers like Kool G Rap, N.W.A, Jay-Z, Nas, Biggie, Tupac and Big Daddy Kane as the culture's most important and influential voices, and if the MC hopes to earn a spot alongside them some day, he's gotten off on the right foot. He was one of the most consistent and glorified artists on the mixtape circuit in 2004, and not even a full month into 2005 he's graduated to mainstream success. His album, The Documentary, sold more than 586,000 copies its first week, according to SoundScan, to debut at #1 on the Billboard albums chart.
"I think it's interesting to see how they'll embrace the record since he's coming from the West Coast," 50 Cent, who co-executive produced The Documentary, says about his G-Unit squad member. "What I been trying to do is diversify the perception and the vibe of G-Unit. This is another artist who speaks about another environment, being from Los Angeles, but he's aggressive also."
Aggressive and accepted. While his affiliation with the crew that sells the most records in the music industry has obviously gotten mainstream consumers to listen to him, he's accepted because they can feel every bit of anger in his tone, they believe him when he says he was selling rocks "when Master P was going 'ugh.' " The people on the streets see Game as a reflection of themselves. They know he's lived everything he's talking about, and they can literally see he has the scars to prove it.
"I got stabbed right here, I had to get 26 stitches," Game, sitting on his porch in Compton, says while displaying one of the battle scars on his bicep. "Then I got hit in the face with a baseball bat during a gang fight. I got like eight stitches right there [above my right eye]."
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Photo: Appio
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