Me and Common [click to read] – the song is called “Angel,” produced by Kanye West. Common just came off so crazy. I just let him go in. Kanye made a beat, and I had my boy J. West come in, this new R&B singer from Cali sing the hook. Common heard the hook [and said], “Oh, it’s about angels? I think about angels all the time.” We both just went in the studio and he just boppin’ his head like this, words started comin’ out, he was like “Shit!” He was in and out the booth in like five minutes. No doubles. No ad-libs. Just did his verse straight through.

Another person that I got on the album that I always wanted to call was Ice Cube [click to read], before he was done. I always wanted to make that happen, and I made that happen, and it’s like a classic, west coast, hood Ice Cube and Game, you know it should’ve been done a long time ago joint. It’s called “State of Emergency,” produced by J.R. [Rotem].

DX: Ice Cube doesn’t rap anymore, but he releases street albums for his longtime, core fans. You recently told Angie Martinez you prefer that movie money to record money, but can’t you do both, like Cube?
G: I can’t see that far right now, but I know what mind-state I’m in, I couldn’t say on what I would do in the rest of my life and career. I think that after three albums – and I’m pretty sure this one’s gonna go multi-platinum like the other ones; I think that three platinum albums are more than most of the Hip Hop artists [you and I] like, get. Nobody gives off three classics. Not to toot my own horn or sound cocky, but The Documentary [click to read] was a classic album. The Doctor’s Advocate [click to read] was a dope, classic album. This one, it’s gonna be a classic album.

My albums are what Dre’s albums would be if he gave them to you as frequently as I did. [If] you didn’t have to wait 10 years for a Dre album then it would be these albums. I think that when Dr. Dre hears this album, some or most of the songs, he’s gonna be like, “Damn, I could’ve used that on Detox, this is crazy,” but that’s because I’ve been there, I know what to do, I know how to make these movies - I know how to make these songs come to life and look like movies to your ears. That’s just what Dre taught me, and that’s one thing I always prided him and appreciated him for, if nothing else, was just teachin’ me the way to record music, and it’s just the way that I do it that nobody else can do it.

People don’t understand, or don’t care or don’t really get that my voice my changes sometimes, my style changes; I’m a man of many styles, man, and nobody ever notices, and if they do, they never said nothin’. Anybody – I could do your favorite rapper better than him. That’s why I’m The Game. That’s what I set out to do, and I think I’m damn near where I dreamed of being when I started.

DX: I read the XXL story; I saw The Source cover. Everybody is portraying you to be really vulnerable, whether or not you are. However, I do know that All Eyez On Me came out of vulnerability, Stillmatic came out of vulnerability, maybe Tha Carter III came out of vulnerability. If you feel vulnerable, how has that translated into L.A.X.?
G: It doesn’t, ‘cause my feelings and my vulnerability hasn’t really effected my vulnerability process. I set my mind on recording this album a certain way. No matter how I felt, when I got to the studio, all of those thoughts, all of those feelings, whatever I was up against was out the window when I was back, staying [close] to my album. I didn’t go outside the lines, I stayed in. I knew what I wanted to do, and I accomplished that.

Interscope don’t want me to retire; they want me to come back in February with another album, which is so far off my radar it’s ridiculous. Now, if you give me like five, 10 million dollars or something to do it…I’m the biggest thing in that building now, with the recent demise of G-Unit, and that’s just it, man.

The album is…it’s a good album. I don’t have to say shit, I got albums to back it up, I got a school of mixtape shits, people know what I’m capable of. Will there be name-dropping on this album? Yes. Will it be the same fuckin’ controversial shit that I always spit about, just different toilet? Yes. Will the beats be crazy? Y’all know my ear for beats is fuckin’ retarded – yes. The next single is gonna be fuckin’ crazy.

I get albums done on no money. Everybody’s paid after me. My album is a month [from releasing]; nobody has been paid. People just work with me ‘cause they want to work with me. I work with people ‘cause I want to work with them. It’s not about money, it’s about Hip Hop, and people need to understand that. When they understand that, then they’ll understand how to be successful in this business, and how to appreciate Hip Hop and how to sell multi-…how to sell a lot of fuckin’ records, like Lil Wayne is about to do, like Kanye does, like I do, like 50 once did, like [Eminem] does everytime he comes in – sellin’ records is what we’re here for, man. We’re not here to bullshit our time away, we’re here to coexist in Hip Hop with the other legends and people that are gonna be iconic. And I feel like after six years of my career, I’m one of those people. Continued on page 4 »