The Game - L.A.X.
MusicMash Rating: not rated yet
www.urb.com Rating: 0
The Game :: LAX Geffen Reviewed on Tuesday, August 19, 2008 by Brandon Perkins The Game loves hip-hop. The music fills him with joy and it overflows into his lyrics. Sure, it turns into some serious namedropping (almost always), but it’s also the reason why he’s three-for-three in the category of dope, dope records. And on LAX, even more than on The Documentary or Doctor’s Advocate, The Game pairs that unabashed love with swirling ideas and concepts that elevate the record to an easy contender for album of the year. Who else would bookend his album with spoken word from another MC?
The fact that DMX--in full-on prayer mode--is the MC makes this one of the best ideas in recent rap history. No hyperbole. It’s no mistake that Dark Man X’s character in Belly turned preacher and, on the intro and outro, his passionate pleas for protection, understanding and forgiveness are as genuine as they are powerful…perfectly setting the table for Jayceon Taylor’s mission. That mission’s climax happens near the end of LAX with “Never Can Say Goodbye.” Game breaks down the last 24 hours in the celebrated lives of Tupac Shakur, Notorious B.I.G. and Eazy-E over three verses whose execution lives up to the promise of the premise. Whether it’s ending his ode to Christopher Wallace’s murder on Wilshire Boulevard with the slain MC’s patented “Biggie!” or calling conspiracy theories on Eazy-E’s contraction of the AIDS virus, Game not only cares but he cares enough to do some research, too.
Elsewhere, “California Sunshine” is as breezy as its title suggests, with an 80-degree day bounce from producer Nottz. The Ne-Yo assisted “Gentleman’s Affair” is a sure-fire single that’ll certainly reach ubiquity and over-saturation, but is a hell of a lot of fun until then. Produced by JR Rotem, its piano twinkle and subtle whistle are slick enough to tickle the ladies’ fancy and gangster enough to keep dudes from rolling their eyes. “Letter to the King,” produced by Hi-Tek, hears Game out-rap Nas on a topic that he wouldn’t have had any business even attempting on his first two albums: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Maybe it’s because Nasir told URB that he was sick of hearing about Dr. King and then raps about the late civil rights leader for an entire verse, but it’s more likely that Game’s anger shines through in straight daggers when addressing the nasty slur that was supposed to be Nas’ last album title.
The other guest-appearances hear Game adopting...
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