My Gut Reaction: The Game - Streets of Compton (June 17, 2016)

The year in between Jayceon “The Game” Taylor’s two-part sixth album The Documentary 2 / The Documentary 2.5 (I refuse to look at these as two separate projects even though their combined length would certainly qualify it as such) and his seventh, 1992, was a busy one for the man. Critique The Game all you want – his incessant need to drop the names of other famous rappers is long overdue for a tweak; he’s unable to ever keep his fucking mouth shut, which is the main reason why he’s been a part of so many hip hop beefs; his general proximity to more gang-related murders than one would think possible; his alleged predilection for, well, let’s just say underage girls – but one thing you have you admit about the man is that, between his proper albums, mixtape work, cameos, compilations, and whatnot, the guy is incredibly prolific behind the mic. Which goes back to how he’s unable to ever keep his fucking mouth shut, but whatever, that fucking mouth of his is the reason why we’ll be discussing Streets of Compton today.

Streets of Compton is, bizarrely, one of two altogether different compilation projects Game released on his Blood Money Entertainment imprint in 2016 before 1992 dropped. A companion piece to a documentary miniseries on A&E of the same name that Game apparently also produced (although locating any single person who has actually watched this series may be more difficult that procuring the Holy Grail), Streets of Compton could be seen as a concept album, in that its eleven tracks explore the different facets of gang life in the city of Compton, Game’s hometown. Of course, that description could be given to literally any of the other Game projects currently on the market, but the fact that the man pulled together eleven new tracks to help sell his miniseries speaks to the man’s entrepreneurial spirit, at least.

Streets of Compton features some of Game’s Compton peers in the rap game, although not nearly as many as one would expect from a dude with such a deep Rolodex. None of the bigger names from the city are represented, although at least one surprise that paid off later appears on the tracklist. The production is left to folks who already had a solid working relationship with Jayceon, which could go either way, to be honest – Game has an interesting ear for beats, and when the two elements click the end results can be fantastic, but when they don’t connect, well, then you end up with roughly eighty percent of the man’s discography. I said what I said.

1. SUPPORT COMPTON (FEAT. J3 & PAYSO)
Given the number of times the titular phrase is uttered throughout this opening track, “Support Compton” is really the only thing Jayceon could have ever thought to name it. And it isn’t a good song using any set of metrics, but I will commend our host for sticking with the theme throughout. Over a truly annoying Phonix soul loop that never fucking changes and may drive you mad, The Game unexcitedly repeats a mind-numbing chorus while fellow Compton rappers J3 and Payso (neither of whom were signed to Blood Money, curiously enough) promote their hometown by dropping specific references to both the city and to what life was like growing up within the pervasive-if-you-only-know-Compton-through-rap-music gang culture. Payso outright says, “…thank God my momma didn’t abort me,” which is oddly sweet in a way, while J3 brags about “fuck[ing] with K. Dot back when he had the waves” but only “supporting Game since the Aftermath chain”, which is kind of funny in its audacity, as one would assume Jayceon thinks so highly of himself that his pre-Dr. Dre output is unassailable in his eyes. Naturally Game steps in toward the end to make fools out of his so-called collaborators, providing a shorter verse but coming across as much more engaging with a combination of his gruff delivery and actual experience in this here rap shit, and if there’s one thing he’s good at, it’s dropping names (Dr. Dre, Junior Seau, Ice Cube, Tiny Lister’s character from Friday, Kendrick Lamar), but if there’s a second thing he’s nominally decent at, it’s talking about his life growing up in Compton, so.

2. ROPED OFF (FEAT. PROBLEM & BOOGIE)
The Game uses “Roped Off” as a warning to listeners who dare step foot in his city or, more accurately, his block, but while he could have easily left it at that with the violence implied, our host never implies what he can directly threaten, because subtlety has never been a part of his skill set. “Red dot on your head, n---a / Either you work at 7/11 or you dead, n---a,” he offers during his verse, which certainly isn’t the first time the dude’s been politically incorrect, but he delivers the lines with the same intensity as he does everything else in his catalog, so he seems to believe the words, I guess. The guest list on “Roped Off” is upgraded from two local artists to fellow Compton natives Problem and Boogie, the latter being a true get as this was recorded and released well before he signed his deal with Eminem’s Shady Records. Problem was already three years past his big hit song, “Like Whaaat”, and his flow sounds a little bit dated, as though he were trying to recapture that lightning in a bottle, but as he admits to not being in a gang, his detailing of his life experience in Compton (which just seems to involve selling drugs and sleeping with married women) at least provides a stark contrast to Jayceon’s. Boogie’s verse is a bit more off-putting, as the guy forces more syllables than physically possible into each bar, but he manages some good points while shouting out the late Mausberg, an artist on the verge who was killed in 2000 but lives on in the music of many of the younger rappers from the area. The League of Starz instrumental was instantly forgettable, as was this entire song, but good on Game for spotting talent early, right?

3. HIT THE NEWS
Jayceon seems to have gotten antsy, choosing to dominate “Hit the News” instead of sharing the spotlight as he had for the previous two tracks. The end result is fine, and by “fine” I mean, of course, “short” – “Hit the News” barely lasts for two verses and three iterations of the overly-wordy chorus. The instrumental, provided by Jay Nari of the League of Starz production team, is appropriately West Coast-y, if a bit generic, but to his credit The Game flexes over it fairly well, even if his boasts and threats are hollow and he still feels the need to compare himself to Kendrick Lamar, whose name is dropped yet again here. “Ain’t with that old Death Row shit / Been bangin’ since ’94, I ain’t never did no ho shit” – um, this is the same guy that constantly brings up Dr. Dre, the guy who co-founded Death Row Records and is also responsible for signing Game to his Aftermath label, thereby putting him on the path to success? I know Jayceon has a tendency to run his mouth, but maybe someone within the inner circle needed to kill that line, since who the fuck knows how you-know-who would take it.

4. BULLSHIT
I haven’t yet decided whether I think Jayceon sequenced Streets of Compton in the way he did because he was actively trying to deconstruct our idea of what a proper hip hop album should sound like, if he thought this would be funny, or, in what is likely the best answer, if he didn’t think about this at all. “Bullshit” sounds fucking exactly like “Hit the News”, and not just because both instrumentals come from the same producer – the beats literally sound almost identical. “Bullshit” has slightly more dramatic undertones than “Hit the News”, but it’s obvious these were cut from the same cloth and were likely recorded in the same session. Hell, both tracks even serve the exact same mission – to ensure the listener believes that The Game will fuck them up if it comes to that, or, rather, that he’s “with the bullshit”, as the inane, but still kind of catchy, hook goes. Hearing “Bullshit” played immediately after “Hit the News” is akin to listening to an alternate take of an artist’s song immediately following the released recording, in that you can pinpoint the similarities and where the adjustments took place, and there’s also that exciting-yet-nagging feeling that you’re listening to something that the artist had never intended for you to hear in the first place. I realize that isn’t the case in this situation, because Game put the fucking thing on an album intended to be sold or streamed, but you understand. I guess what I’m saying is, keeping both songs on the project would have been a really fucking stupid move had this not been a straight-up cash grab with zero artistic merit behind it in the first place, so who cares, am I right?

5. CAN’T WAIT
DNYC3, another member of the League of Starz production squad, hooks up “Can’t Wait” with a banging minimalist beat that feels like that moment where the protagonist contemplates their situation in a movie or a TV show right before they take action or try to chase after their ex in an airport or whatever. It sounds good, you two. And its tone obviously spoke to Jayceon, as he delivers his two verses (and hook) on “Can’t Wait” in a hushed tone that leaves all his combustible tendencies back at the ranch. Which is why it sucks that he uses this moment to talk about wanting to fuck his guns. Okay, I mean, he does actually say that, a lot, but “Can’t Wait” is a song-length metaphor not unlike Nas’s “I Gave You Power”, except, weirdly, The Game trusts that the listener will understand what’s really happening here, unlike Nas, who famously gave away the store right at the jump of his DJ Premier-produced track (one I never really liked, which I include in this write-up solely as a means to start fights). It isn’t a perfect one-to-one comparison, which leads to more than our host’s fair share of goofy bars (“She’s bi-sexual, we gon’ fuck a bitch together” – um, is he plotting the murder of a young woman?), and Game is honestly trying so hard to keep the metaphor from going stale that it’s almost admirable in its way. Never once does he slip, even during the second verse where he basically gives up and starts repeating himself instead of writing new ideas down. It just wasn’t that good of a performance to begin with, to be fair. But the beat is fucking flames, and you can quote me on that. Pity it wasn’t used for something a bit more sustainable.

6. GANG SIGNS
Producer De Uno provides musical backing during “Gang Signs” that I found frustrating to listen to at first – I was too focused on trying to decipher the distracting vocal sample in the mix. Once I got over myself and realized the sample was an instrument on its own, I found myself digging the beat – it wasn’t perfect, but it’s engaging and would likely sound pretty great blasting out of one’s car speakers and not through my earbuds as I sit at a desk to write this shit. Once again, however, the instrumental is kind of wasted on a Game who’s clearly not putting his all into his work. I will concede that the dude sticks to the theme throughout the entirety of “Gang Signs”, a basic primer on the realities of gang life – he even says at one point, “What the fuck can you do when you got on the wrong colors?” as though that weren’t an arbitrary distinction – and he even manages to dampen his enthusiastic name-dropping (which means he doesn’t directly mention any popular artists during the song, a fucking milagro coming from this guy). “Gang Signs” likely makes more sense within the context of the show Streets of Compton was released as the companion soundtrack for, but taken by itself, it’s merely a meh gangsta rap song with a better-than-average beat. Go fight with your therapist.

7. UNFOLLOW ME BITCH (FEAT. PROBLEM)
That title makes no actual sense attached to this track. You read “Unfollow Me Bitch” and you immediately believe this De Uno production is going to be an aggressive, antagonistic, and downright mean assault on, based on that title, bitches, am I right? Instead, this is some good-time party G-Funk in the vein of Tha Dogg Pound’s “Let’s Play House” or Snoop Doggy Dogg’s “Ain’t No Fun (If The Homies Can’t Have None)”, both of which are referenced in different ways on here. Game and guest star Problem are only concerned with having a good time and hooking up with chicks – the hook repeats the phrase, “Girl, you need a thig in your life” for a reason. “Unfollow Me Bitch” appears to be the result of nonexistent quality control standards over at Blood Money Entertainment, as this nonessential track could have been perfectly serviceable under another moniker. As is, it’s doomed to become a piece of Game trivia, but not in any way where people will actually seek it out in an effort to enjoy listening to it, because, again, title. This shit was dumb, but Game and Problem weren’t worried about anything except creating a vibe, which they do rather successfully here, so here’s that gold star you’ve been begging me for, Jayceon.

8. THE CHRONIC (FEAT. AD & AV)
That song title would appear to be the culmination of The Game’s career-spanning sucking up to Dr. Dre, which is why it’s downright shocking that “The Chronic” is a showcase for Compton unknowns AD and AV, with Jayceon only providing a hook. Perhaps even he felt this was a bit too on-the-nose for his brand. De Uno’s instrumental kind of bangs, its sound clearly auditioning for a spot on the soundtrack for a Compton-based knockoff of Nicolas Winding Refn’s Drive, but neither AD nor AV are halfway decent enough rappers to fully embrace it. The former straight-up sucks behind the mic, while the latter at least manages to take a potshot at, of all people, The Game (“I ain’t even gotta name-drop / Like I got an addiction,” he hilariously mentions after dropping a bunch of names). AV’s delivery is at least different, his triple-time flow sounding both fresh to the ear and really fucking abrasive overall, while AD can’t hold a candle to anybody else featured on this project thus far, including our host. Let’s all send a shout-out to producer De Uno for providing a beat that is much better than this album deserves.

9. LIKE ME
Tone Mason’s instrumental sounded pretty fucking good, apparently a running theme on Streets of Compton, but it stumbles out of the starting block in such a poor manner that you may just skip “Like Me” entirely, without ever getting a chance to hear just what it is I’m talking about. The song intro is that unsatisfactory, completely obscuring what Tone was even aiming for. Beyond that misstep which, to be fair, is quickly remedied in a fantabulously bonkers manner, Jayceon’s two verses of shit-talk are surprisingly effective on “Like Me” – there’s very little evidence that this is just a throwaway track on an inconsequential compilation, as it sounds more like a proper album leftover due to his engaging performance (complete with all of the name-drops that come standard with a Game song) and the Tone instrumental wrapped around like a house-made tortilla. The image of our host reading GQ while on the toilet is a pretty goofy one for him to have included on here, and his line about, who else, Dr. Dre is the textbook definition of “corny”, but overall “Like Me” is an undervalued gem. Aside from its beginning moments, of course, which are a fucking mess.

10. DEATH ROW CHAIN
The Game calls upon producer Jelly Roll for “Death Row Chain”, whose sinister creeping synths are offset by the rest of his instrumental, but not in a way that would cause me to recommend this track. I’m personally very fascinated by the history of Death Row Records – how it was formed, how it blew the fuck up almost immediately, and how it burned out nearly as quickly – so the concept of the track, where Jayceon runs through a quick history of the label from his perspective as a teenager at the time, is would have drawn me in regardless. I found myself unexpectedly agreeing with our host when he gets angry about the artists on the troubled imprint departing (“Felt Death Row ain’t give us enough,” he exclaims, and this bar follows, “I was forced to bang Biggie and Puff,”, which amused me), but, as expected whenever Jayceon tries to tell us about events that actually happened, he flubs the timeline and gets some of the facts blatantly wrong in service to his narrative. (I get what he was trying to do, introducing one character important to the formation of the label by briefly discussing their pre-Death Row activities, but the way this is written implies that N.W.A. was a part of the label and they certainly were not. 2Pac’s All Eyez On Me also didn’t drop prior to Tha Dogg Pound’s Dogg Food, although that could just be attributed to Game’s need to have his “bars” “rhyme”. Speaking of the Pound, the duo was not made up of “a couple Long Beach n----s” since Kurupt hails from Philadelphia, although he lived in Southern California for a good chunk of his life, so I get it, but semantically Game is completely in the wrong here.) So this ultimately didn’t work for me. Still, I always find it interesting how different people experience music, especially when it comes to what I consider to be some of the most important hip hop albums of all time (especially The Chronic and Doggystyle, although a generous Max is willing to throw in All Eyez On Me for its impact alone, if not for its actual content), so I can’t entirely hate this song, especially when part of the reason I started this fucking project to begin with was to facilitate discussion on how hip hop (or music in general) altered the course of your respective lives. Speaking of which: what rap albums do you hold near and dear because you associate them with your formative years? Let me know below.

11. FOR THE HOMIES (FEAT. MICAH & PAYSO)
If Streets of Compton is supposed to be a companion piece to a miniseries about the realities of living within the gang culture in Compton, it stands to reason that there would need to be a song on here about the other side of the lifestyle, coping with the loss of many friends and loved ones, and that’s the void “For The Homies” fills for the audience. Frequent Game collaborator Bongo’s instrumental, which is appropriately somber, anchors single verses from The Game and guest Payso, while crooner Micah handles the hook. This isn’t the type of song many rappers are able to approach from different perspectives to make it sound fresh and original – there are only so many ways one can pour out some for your homies, and, er, “For The Homies” is no outlier, as birth Game and Payso merely go through the motions as expected. I’m not discounting the emotions from either participant (although Game certainly has given us plenty of reasons to be skeptical throughout his career), but the track itself was rather generic and inoffensive. The music was pretty good, however.

THE LAST WORD: For absolutely no reason aside from possibly the flex factor, Streets of Compton features much better beats than a compilation of this nature should ever receive. If anything, this compilation proves Game’s ear as an executive producer, one whose closest rival within this specific field of mainstream hop could be Rick Ross himself. Lyrically, however, while our host manages to stick with his own self-imposed themes most of the time, something Ross could never accomplish even if you threatened to burn down all of his Wingstop franchises, that doesn’t mean he was overly excited about the assignment, as a lot of his performances are rather dull.

Jayceon’s style of rapping, his observant tone and storyteller’s eye for detail clashing with his starfucking and general need to show off to anybody within his vicinity, can only carry the man so far when he’s tasked with describing a life, not necessarily his life, growing up in Compton. His collaborators manage this balance a little bit better, as absolutely zero of them had ever (or will ever, let’s be real) achieved the success The Game managed to pull off, and, as a result, felt the need to prove themselves. You certainly will welcome each and every time a different voice pops in to offer their perspective on Streets of Compton, even if the performance itself is kind of ass (see: “The Chronic”).

For a project that Game likely threw together after brunch the night before the deadline, Streets of Compton has moments that work much better than expected. It isn’t a “perfect”, “good”, or even “decent” project, as there are many flaws that eventually tank the listening experience overall, but musically I found this surprisingly entertaining, even if the disc would have been better off promoting these instrumentals as the score to the miniseries. Good on Jayceon for keeping himself constantly busy, though.

-Max

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