Jayceon Taylor, better known by his stage name, The Game, released his fifth studio album on Tuesday. The California king of rap has never been one to shy away from controversy and initiated quite the buzz in the rap community with “Jesus Piece.”
The deluxe edition album cover features a stained glass portrait of Jesus, who is captured wearing a red bandana and a “Jesus piece” necklace. Both the production of the album and The Game’s performance, however, are outstanding and work together to create a great album.
The feature-heavy album contains 12 tracks packed with guest appearances from artists such as Lil Wayne, Kanye West, Common, Rick Ross and Kendrick Lamar.
Right from the start, The Game jumps out and makes a statement. The intro track, “Scared Now” (featuring Meek Mill), begins with an eerie sounding instrumental and The Game immediately asks, “Who the f—‘s scared now?”
The Game also maintains a solid balance between being fun and serious on the album as he transitions from easy-going songs like “Ali Bomaye” and the title track “Jesus Piece” to his ode to women, “Pray.”
Of course, it wouldn’t be a Game album without the rapper discussing his place amongst rap’s all-time greats and paying homage to his hometown, Los Angeles. In “Can’t Get Right,” The Game raps, “Funny how you do your top 5’s and don’t mention me.” He also dedicates the Kendrick Lamar-assisted song “See No Evil” to L.A. and includes the line, “Compton streets raised me.”
The album has good structure that enables the listener to follow along and feel involved. On the tenth track, “Hallelujah,” the listener can begin to sense the album is finishing due to the mood set by the celebratory and climactic sounding instrumental.
Finally, Game leaves his listeners feeling good by wrapping things up with the radio-friendly “Celebration.” The fun-loving song includes features from Chris Brown, Tyga, Lil Wayne, and Wiz Khalifa.
“Jesus Piece” might be the best collective performance we’ve received from The Game in a long time and is a must-download for rap fans looking to stay current.
Grade: B+
