“Since the west coast fell off, the streets been watching/The west coast never fell off, I was sleep in Compton”
11 years ago today, Jayceon “The Game” Taylor released his debut album The Documentary, which today is hailed as a classic. He dropped at a time where the West Coast was in a sort of rebuilding stage, and this album was a breath a fresh air for L.A. Having Dr. Dre and Eminem in your corner can sure lead to an array of good things. Just ask 50 Cent.
With Dre behind the boards, Jayceon was given a soundscape that made it easy to tell his story of gangbanging, growing up in LA, and trying to get his life together. Backed by the singles “How We Do It,” and “Hate It Or Love It” (both featuring Fif) the album also had crossover appeal, bringing Game’s music to a bigger audience. The producers on The Documentary included the Doctor Andre Young, Just Blaze, Kanye West, Havoc, Timbaland, Hi-Tek, and a ton of other a-list producers that provided Game with some absolute head bangers. The album featured Slim Shady, Curtis Jackson, Mary J. Blige, Nate Dogg, an unusually good verse from Tony Yayo, Faith Evans and Busta Rhymes. With all this star power behind him, there was no way that this album could flop.
Some of those features showed up and showed out on the album, making it that more special.
For instance, the late Nate Dogg singing on “Where I’m From” is impeccable, while Game rapped “Nigga I been banging since Mary J. made real love.” Nate then chimes with the classic “If you don’t know” call-out to make the cipher complete.
The album is home to an array of special moments like this, including Faith’s hook on “Don’t Need Your Love” or the album opener “Westside Story.” Game really dropped three verses full of gems on and 50 provided the perfect hook. Scott Storch and Dr. Dre on the beat? Nuts.
Released on January 18th, 2005 the album sold 600k its first week and that was it. The drought was over. The West Coast had a solid front runner again.
Also over shortly after, was the relationship of Fif and Jayceon, as Game split from G-Unit thanks to miscommunication and things spilling out into the public. The beef got uglier and uglier and questions arose of how much Dre produced, how much help 50 gave, and how much seemed to be handed to the Compton rapper to launch his career. All beef aside, The Documentary was one of the best albums of the 2000’s and will stand as a staple in Hip-Hop history. It will also go down as a personal favorite album over on this side, considering we still listen to it a lot today.
Now excuse us while we play “Church For Thugs” at ear blaring levels, and contemplate who was trying to heat Game up back in 2005. Shout out to the West Coast.
OS REWIND: The Game – Do It To You (feat. Trey Songz)
OS REWIND: The Game Announces ‘Documentary 2’ Tour