My Gut Reaction: The Game - Block Wars (July 29, 2016)

You two may recall a previous post mentioning how Compton ambassador Jayceon “The Game” Taylor spent his busy 2016, releasing two quickie compilations, both of which were soundtracks to unrelated efforts, both of which doubled as the promotional lead-up for his eighth seventh proper full-length album, 1992. The first of those efforts, Streets of Compton, was a soundtrack to a documentary reality miniseries describing the gang lifestyle in, well, Compton, a miniseries that I’m not convinced anybody ever actually watched, but at least I can locate proof that it existed: the second of the two quickies and the subject of today's Gut Reaction post, Block Wars, is a companion piece to a mobile video game of the same name that remains unreleased, at least according to the Interweb, which, as we all know, is never wrong. Oh well, at least we'll always have this cover art.

Block Wars tosses together ten tracks onto another throwaway project, songs which would likely have ended up on a mixtape sooner or later, let’s be real, since The Game apparently never stops recording, as though living in the studio is the best way for him to avoid both physical and sexual assault charges along with allowing him to avoid the temptation of, well, let’s just say younger girls. Allegedly. My attorneys have informed me that I have to throw in an “allegedly” there. Unlike its spiritual cousin Streets of Compton, Block Wars has only one credited guest star and zero guest rappers – this is Game’s show through and through. There is a tiny bit of overlap on the production side, however, which mostly proves that the man tends to record his songs in batches with various beatmakers.

1. BLOCK WARS
Jayceon turns to frequent collaborator Bongo for the title song from his soundtrack for his mobile game, a sentence that reads more absurdly each time your eyes glaze over it. It’s predictably violent and unfocused, as our host is more interested in creating a menacing vibe than he is in creating an entertaining slice of gangsta rap, so “Block Wars” is a bust, although hearing the titular phrase whispered at various points during the hook is fucking hilarious. Speaking of that hook, it sure as shit ain’t performed by The Game, but the credits don’t reveal the performer’s identity, which only adds to the notion that Block Wars was rushed to market in order to capitalize on… something. Can’t be for the game itself, since it was never released, and it can’t be because The Game hadn’t released an album in a while at that point, because fucking Streets of Compton dropped just one month prior. So who knows? Bongo (who I’d put money on as being the mysterious guest on the chorus) provides a minimalist instrumental that sets up a suitably unsettling environment for Jayceon to murder people in, while our host, obviously, drops the most random names in pop culture into his two verses (DeMar DeRozan, Oprah Winfrey, and the late Stuart Scott all receive that accolade here, with a consolation prize awarded to the hip hop magazines Game works into an iffy metaphor during the first stanza). This one could have been better without the dumbass song intro from our host, but that still isn’t saying much.

2. FREEWAY
Jayceon is fond of throwing curveballs at his audience, and “Freeway” is yet another in a long line of them, as it is (a) an actual really fucking entertaining song (b) found on a throwaway compilation. GoodGuyDez’s instrumental sounds like the melody from an aged baby’s mobile before a distorted (and fucking hard) drum loop enters the picture, the two joining forces to deliver boom bap that is somehow nostalgic and modern all at once. The instrumental truly carries the song, but The Game is no slouch here, spitting what sounds like his take on that Saturday Night Live Californians sketch by listing a bunch of highways in the Golden State before turning on a dime and talking mad shit like he tends to do. (“Only Cali n---a with a beard like Freeway / Okay, James Harden too…” also made me laugh out loud, which counts for a little bit.) “Freeway” chugs along for two verses and a wordy hook that ultimately grew on me, which is the perfect length for this type of vague trash talk, Game sounding overconfident in his abilities because even he seemed to realize in the studio that he had just accomplished something good. I’d add this to a Game playlist without hesitation. No, seriously.

3. GET HIGH
The beginning of Jelly Roll’s instrumental gave me big Ministry “Everyday is Halloween” vibes – I mean, obviously he didn’t sample Ministry, instead utilized some generic synth notes, but the feel for me was undeniable. And then The Game’s actual performance kicks in, which shatters that illusion in order to make room for a positively bland exercise in name-dropping and bragging about how much weed our host smokes (which, for the record, cannot be anywhere near the many many pothead luminaries named on “Get High” – there’s no fucking way Jayceon smokes more than Snoop Dogg, for example). Our host is never able to pull “Get High” above water, drowning in generic descriptions, lazy comparisons, and obvious laziness, and Jelly Roll’s beat (save for the aforementioned synth notes) follows suit to help create a track that would get a newcomer laughed out of the music industry, but since it’s coming from The Game, it’s as though the mediocrity is not only tolerated, but par for the course. Le sigh.

4. ALAMEDA
More of a half-thought than an actual song even with the presence of a hook, and yet I enjoyed the fuck out of this one. Producer Sap’s instrumental fucking slaps, and Jayceon’s single-word chorus is as contagions as the latest COVID variant. (And yes, said single word is in the title.) The lone verse on “Alameda” consists of typical gangsta shit from our host, as he claims “Westside Compton” while threatening that “we don’t give a fuck fuck” (not a typo). “Alameda” is far too short for Jayceon to get off his litany of dropped names, which gives his performance a level of depth and realism that his somewhat cartoonish superthug persona doesn’t usually allow, and, again, the beat bangs and the hook is catchy as hell. Damn it Game, you got me again. Add this glorified interlude to your playlists post haste.

5. GUTTER
Apparently not the only song entitled “Gutter” in The Game’s extensive back catalog when you consider his prolific series of mixtapes. Anywho, this son of a bitch pulls another catchy tune out of his ass with “Gutter”, which isn’t quite as good as “Alameda” but follows the same general blueprint, especially with its hook, which mostly consists of the titular word until it doesn’t. GoodGuyDez’s instrumental is simple and in no way boom bap-esque, but it is hypnotic in its way, and Jayceon delivers two verses that rely sparingly on name-drops, thankfully, but are full of clever bars and a rhyme delivery that is much more intricate at times than many people would ever give The Game credit for. It helps that our host sounds engaged with his “day inside the dope spot” storytelling, a conceit dropped during the second verse seemingly because of how limiting it was. Damn it, this one was entertaining. What is even happening here?

6. UZIS AND GRENADES (FEAT. LORINE CHIA)
The only credited guest on Block Wars appears on “Uzis and Grenades” (although there are others who go sans acknowledgement, obviously), and it’s a curious choice for Game to have made, since vocalist Lorine Chia’s contribution on here is awful-adjacent, sounding as though Sia decided to tag along for the drive-by. I may have only thought of Sia specifically because Jayceon name-drops her during the first of his two verses here, but my point still stands: she sounds completely out of place here. Bongo’s instrumental is a far cry from the overall feel of the previous two tracks, which is a roundabout way of saying that it isn’t very good, and I swear there’s a snippet of the “All About The Benjamins” beat hidden underneath the mix at times, although that hardly helps matters any. Jayceon’s performance is standard-issue Game, gangbanging testimonials without remorse but delivered with just enough attention paid to inconsequential details to make the stories sound true enough. It’s probably best that we move on from this obvious throwaway.

7. LIGHTS GO OUT
Producer GoodGuyDez provides what can best be described as a Dr. Dre-Scott Storch knockoff for “Lights Go Out”, a track that features The Game cycling through different flows (similar to what he did on “Just Another Day”, his contribution to Dre’s Compton album) and talking exclusively about himself, which means it doesn’t fit whatever overall theme Block Wars was supposedly following, but it does mirror what Game tends to do on his projects, so in that respect it’s perfectly on brand for him. The Andre Young impersonation behind the boards isn’t bad, but Game’s vocals play as though this had originally been recorded as a reference track for Dre to jump on to, if not for him to perform all by himself with some minor tweaks: for example, I don’t think Dre would go around referring to himself as the “2015 MC Ren” when he actually knows the guy pretty well. (But not well enough to ever, I don't know, give him a beat or something.) Given the year referenced, it’s entirely possible this was intended for Compton before Dre made him write something else, which would then also make sense out of the multiple references to the good Doctor littered throughout the song (the best, by far, being, “Me and Dre bump heads ‘cause he give me advice / I never listen to that shit,” which describes their working relationship perfectly). Not bad, although the multiple voices can get distracting.

8. RUN IT
Another track that is barely a song, as Game’s verse consists of only a handful of bars delivered in an apathetic manner. Dude spends much more time with the hook, which takes up three times as much screen time on an audio track that isn’t even two-and-a-half minutes long. GoodGuyDez’s beat is more about vibe than functionality, and in that respect it’s fairly successful, as the melody is hypnotic in a haunted music box-kind of way, although the trap drums were a mistake. Maybe Jayceon felt that he had to rhyme over every single beat that he’s ever purchased because he wanted to justify his purchases, I don’t know, but that’s as good an origin story for “Run It” as any.

9. BULLET WITH YOUR NAME ON IT
Also barely a song, although this might have worked better as the first track on Block Wars, as it seems to set up an appropriate narrative by way of Game’s multiple interludes, which occur in lieu of actual verses, save for the one our host deemed worthy enough of hearing at the beginning of the track. While this is ultimately a waste of Sap’s instrumental, which isn’t bad, honestly, “Bullet With Your Name On It” does feature multiple laughs, which isn’t what one expects from a song about a block war, although every bit of humor is sucked out of the track once Game’s threats become more menacing. Which is too bad, as his performance is hilarious when read as a parody of the type of gangbanger he’s portraying here: “This my block, n---a / I don’t give a fuck who on this motherfucker / Grannies, kids, n---a old people, dogs, cats / … n---a. everybody moving” and “Anything can die, n---a / We killing motherfucking flowers… / We killing air, we’ll put bullet holes in clouds” – Game must be having a laugh, right? It’s too bad this is just an overlong skit set to music.

10. MURDER
The Game has released so many songs throughout his career that he probably can’t remember what titles he’s already used. “Murder”, not to be confused with his earlier collaboration with Kendrick Lamar and Scarface, ends Block Wars on a down note, not because GoodGuyDez’s synth-laden trap beat is depressing, but because this song sucks. Game runs through a checklist of gangsta rap cliches throughout “Murder” (although there’s virtually zero sex stuff on here, a weird choice given our host’s nature), with random pop culture figures thrown in because this is The Game we’re talking about here. This sounds exactly like the type of song an artist would add to a throwaway puff piece with no real value to their overall discography. It is what it is, and it is that.

THE LAST WORD: God fucking damnit, Block Wars, similar to Streets of Compton before it, actually ends up being more than just a throwaway cash grab. There are songs featured here that you will proudly place on your Game playlists without a second thought, songs where it’s clear that there was thought and effort put into the musical side of the equation, songs where it’s obvious that The Game took his writing assignment seriously. Thematically, most of the tracks present are exactly the same as all of his other work – when one is classified as a gangsta rapper, this is exactly what you’d expect. But Game is a good writer, he has an understanding of how hooks work (a trait likely taught to him by former boss 50 Cent), and, most importantly, he knows when to end a track and when to let the instrumental ride out. Block Wars isn’t a cohesive album, but it was never intended to be. As a collection of random Game tracks, one could certainly do much worse. If you consider yourself a fan of the guy, I’d recommend you give this quickie a spin, as it won’t take up too much of your day, and at least half of it is worth your time, a better ratio than I had ever expected. Now maybe I can move back to Jayceon’s proper album catalog?

-Max

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