My Opinion on The Times' Review of Doctor's Advocate

I agree with most of it, and by it I mean the review, not so much the Game bashing. The whole review was more of an attack on Game's character rather than focusing on the actual album. It seems almost as if the reviewer went into the whole process with a pre-conceived notion of what he thought the album would be, solely based on his opinions on The Game's personality. It's true though. The Game has some major complexes. He has this desperate need to be loved, and that's part of the reason why he drops so many names in his songs. But I feel that it is more than just name-dropping. You can obviously tell that The Game is one passionate dude. Throughout his short career, he has stressed the fact that he is a student of the game, and respects his elders very much. The dropping of names is clearly more than just wanting to be liked, which I think the reviewer did not understand before and came to understand through this record. It IS an obsession and he honestly believes everything he says about the rappers that he mentions in his songs. In Game's mind, he is simply expressing his thoughts and opinions about these other cats in the game to his fans and to whoever will listen. Because he himself is a fan, and he wants people to know who he's a fan of. You know why? Because he respects his own opinion. I can relate, because I respect my own opinion very much. That's not to say that he doesn't want to be loved. It's exactly that need to be loved, and his own love for rap music, which makes The Game so appealing to fans. He wears his heart on his sleeve, and that's both rare and admirable in hip-hop nowadays.

In terms of the music, I would say the reviewer is correct in some respects, but not in others. I honestly don't think he's heard some of Game's features on other artists' songs enough to realize that his flow really is "nimble." Nimble might be an understatement. If you want an example, listen to the remix of Boyz N' Da Hood's "Dem Boyz" or Nas's "MC Burial" Remix and then tell me if you don't think Game's flow is nimble. In terms of his word-play, I think the reviewer under-appreciates some of the subliminal jabs and metaphors that Game throws in, or maybe he simply doesn't understand them. Since The Game is a student of rap music, maybe the listener also has to be a student of rap music to actually understand some of his word-play. You have to both know what he's talking about and catch the word-play at the same time. Not always easy. Who would've thought rap music could be so complicated, huh? I do not exaggerate when I say that he keeps you on your toes. But on the other hand, I do agree with the fact that The Game likes to keep it simple at the same time. Simple with the rhyme scheme, and often times simple with the flow. Simplicity depends on the beat, the topic, etc. You have to dumb it down to sell records sometimes, no one knows that better than Jay-Z. But Game avoids dumbing it down as much as possible on this record, and each record could be a hit both commercially and in the underground mixtape circuit. He just knows the formula, he has a knack for it. Yet, I think simplicity is key when it comes to making great west coast music. And believe me, both this reviewer and I can agree that this record was strictly a left coast record. That was something that was missing on The Documentary. It is also something The Game corrected drastically on this record, bringing in the like's of Daz, Kurupt, Snoop Dogg, Xzibit, and Nate Dogg. In the end, I know why you hate the game, but I also know why you might love him. It all depends on your personality and what you appreciate in hip-hop. If you appreciate honesty and real emotion in rap music instead of only commercialized Young Joc/Dro/Jeezy style radio cuts, then you'll most likely appreciate The Game and his new record. If you don't care about that, then you probably will think Game is just trying to suck up to his predecessors and you will not like this record. One thing the New York Times review guy and I both have in common, we agree that this is by far the best record of the year, if not the best record in a long time. The review guy is clearly a Game hater and is weary of the 50-Cent beef yada yada, but he even had to give him his crazy mad props, which means go and cop it. You'll only be doing yourself a favor.

-Doc