Release Date: August 23, 2011
As his first effort in a number of years, The R.E.D. Album is meant to represent something of a comeback for gangster rapper Game, thanks to his renewed blessing from hip-hop heavyweight Dr. Dre. For the majority of his career, Game has relied on the premise that the good doctor had anointed him as the savior of West Coast hip-hop, despite the fact that Dre all but abandoned him after his debut LP, The Documentary.
Though it appears the two are back on good terms, Dre’s contributions are limited to a lackluster guest verse on the song “Drug Test” and a series of interludes in which he dictates the life and struggle of Game’s life-to-date. To put it simply, The R.E.D. Album is sorely missing Dre’s touch. Plenty of capable producers provide beats (including Pharrell Williams, DJ Premier and DJ Khalil, among them), but by and large, the album is musically indistinct.
Luckily, Game’s a pretty decent rapper—especially when he wants to be. The ferocity he shows on songs like “Ricky” and “Born in the Trap” is daunting, riding a dexterous flow and exploring the breadth of his lyrical capabilities.
The moments of prowess are fleeting, however. Unable to ride an entire album on his limited skills, Game enlists the help of radio rap’s all-star team, to decidedly diminished returns: Rick Ross and his typically boastful baws-ness appear on “Heavy Artillery”; Lil’ Wayne, who provides the hook for tracks “Martians Vs Goblins” and “R.E.D. Nation,” does what he does best and makes an appearance solely for the sake of making an appearance; and finally, Toronto’s golden boy Drake, whose popularity continues to defy his complete lack of skills as a rapper, as evident when he proclaims “I love your ass like Millhouse loves Lisa/I love your ass like the Ninja Turtles love pizza” on the song “Good Girls Gone Bad.”
Not all the cameos are worthless, however. Tyler, The Creator, head honcho of hip-hop’s perennial polemicists Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All, raps alongside Game on “Martians Vs Goblins,” which finds the two LA natives taking shots at such varied individuals as LeBron James, Bruno Mars, Tyler Perry and Captain America. Meanwhile, notable newcomer Kendrick Lamar hops on the opener “The City.” Perhaps it’s due to the simple fact that both Tyler and Lamar have yet to saturate the landscape of hip-hop, but amid all the usual suspects, their contributions feel inventive and, most of all, unsullied.
Still, “The R.E.D. Album” remains a lethargic and often tedious experience. Clocking in at 21 tracks and 73 minutes, nobody in their right mind would have the patience to sit through the whole thing, particularly when Game begins to repeat himself (the ballads “Hello” and “All The Way Gone,” for instance, are completely indiscernible). Moreover, the Chris Brown-aided “Pot of Gold” is perhaps the album’s most disingenuous track, trying to shine a light of positivity on an album filled with dark themes. Contradictory is nothing new in hip-hop, but by the time the track comes around, it elicits nothing more than exasperation.
Yet Game trudges on. For better or worse.
Game – The R.E.D. Album Tracklist:
- “Dr. Dre Intro”
- “The City”
- “Drug Test”
- “Martians Vs Goblins”
- “Red Nation”
- “Dr. Dre 1”
- “Good Girls Go Bad”
- “Ricky”
- “The Good, The Bad, The Ugly”
- “Heavy Artillery”
- “Paramedics”
- “Speakers On Blast”
- “Hello”
- “All The Way Gone”
- “Pot Of Gold”
- “Dr. Dre 2”
- “All I Know”
- “Born In The Trap”
- “Mama Knows”
- “California Dream”
- “Dr. Dre Outro”
