The Game is disrespectful -- well, almost. The Los-Angeles rapper says one of his big brothers in hip-hop, Busta Rhymes, once told him he's good at teasing those fine margins without going overboard.
"He [Busta Rhymes] says there's a line called disrespectful, and I'll run right up to it and urgghhh [screeching] right when I get to it," Game tells The BoomBox.
Though rough around the edges, peel back a few layers and you might just understand Jayceon Terrell Taylor's complexities. In his early teens, he lost one of his older brothers. He lost his grandmother at the end of high school, and many childhood friends shortly thereafter. He survived a three-day coma after being shot at five times.
Last year, Game became a Christian, and began looking to understand his newfound faith. He was working on an album called F.I.V.E. (Fear Is Victory's Evolution), but he scrapped it after Trey Songz released Chapter V. He took a track called "Jesus Piece," which he recorded with Common and Kanye West, and began to build the project around that title.
The result, Game's fifth album Jesus Piece, which he calls "a thin line between religion and street," is an album full of features from heavy hitters, including 2 Chainz, Rick Ross, Lil Wayne, Big Sean, and Meek Mill.
"I'm 30 years old now, getting a little older, and some days I have trouble trying to find a balance with my life, my family, my music, and religion," Game reveals. "I love God. I love Jesus."
The Game that goes to church and reads his Bible regularly admits that he is still his same troublesome self in many ways. "I like smoking weed, I like going to strip clubs, fried chicken. You might see me on Worldstar fighting sometimes. Doesn't mean that I don't love Jesus."
The album artwork adds to the controversy surrounding Jesus Piece. "There's little small pieces of the makeup of my life put on my album cover," he says of the original art, which featured a gang-affiliated Jesus in a stained glass window, but has since been replaced with an image of his deceased brother. "I knew it was going to be controversial, so I waited 'til I felt it was the right time, and I put it out on Sunday and pissed people off. My fans were like 'you can't change Game's artistic mind!'"
While his mind was ultimately changed, Game isn't looking to explain himself. "I'm trying to find my balance between life, religion, streets and my music. You can listen to me do it, or you can just leave the album on iTunes for someone else to download.
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Tina Brown, Rihanna: Daily Beast Honcho Calls Singer a "Big Fat Zero
It seems Rihanna showing up to support Chris Brown in court yesterday has set her back in the eyes of some influential folks.
Particularly Daily Beast Editor-In-Chief Tina Brown.
"[Y]ou are a big fat zero as a role model for girls," Tina Brown tweeted at Rihanna at 8 AM this morning (Feb. 7).
The extent of the relationship between Tina Brown and Rihanna -- if there is one -- is unknown. But from the look of things, Brown is no fan of the image the singer is putting forth for her fans, allowing them to think being a victim of domestic violence is okay.
Rihanna has not fired back at Brown yet, but knowing her capacity for being flippant through social media, we have no doubt that her retort is coming soon. Stay tuned
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In House With The Game: Rapper Talks 'Jesus Piece,' Strip Clubs, Weed & God
The Game is disrespectful -- well, almost. The Los-Angeles rapper says one of his big brothers in hip-hop, Busta Rhymes, once told him he's good at teasing those fine margins without going overboard.
"He [Busta Rhymes] says there's a line called disrespectful, and I'll run right up to it and urgghhh [screeching] right when I get to it," Game tells The BoomBox.
Though rough around the edges, peel back a few layers and you might just understand Jayceon Terrell Taylor's complexities. In his early teens, he lost one of his older brothers. He lost his grandmother at the end of high school, and many childhood friends shortly thereafter. He survived a three-day coma after being shot at five times.
Last year, Game became a Christian, and began looking to understand his newfound faith. He was working on an album called F.I.V.E. (Fear Is Victory's Evolution), but he scrapped it after Trey Songz released Chapter V. He took a track called "Jesus Piece," which he recorded with Common and Kanye West, and began to build the project around that title.
The result, Game's fifth album Jesus Piece, which he calls "a thin line between religion and street," is an album full of features from heavy hitters, including 2 Chainz, Rick Ross, Lil Wayne, Big Sean, and Meek Mill.
"I'm 30 years old now, getting a little older, and some days I have trouble trying to find a balance with my life, my family, my music, and religion," Game reveals. "I love God. I love Jesus."
The Game that goes to church and reads his Bible regularly admits that he is still his same troublesome self in many ways. "I like smoking weed, I like going to strip clubs, fried chicken. You might see me on Worldstar fighting sometimes. Doesn't mean that I don't love Jesus."
The album artwork adds to the controversy surrounding Jesus Piece. "There's little small pieces of the makeup of my life put on my album cover," he says of the original art, which featured a gang-affiliated Jesus in a stained glass window, but has since been replaced with an image of his deceased brother. "I knew it was going to be controversial, so I waited 'til I felt it was the right time, and I put it out on Sunday and pissed people off. My fans were like 'you can't change Game's artistic mind!'"
While his mind was ultimately changed, Game isn't looking to explain himself. "I'm trying to find my balance between life, religion, streets and my music. You can listen to me do it, or you can just leave the album on iTunes for someone else to download.
Reply
Ne-Yo Talks 'R.E.D.' Album, Fatherhood, Artists vs. Celebrities
It's so easy to be a celebrity nowadays," Ne-Yo tells The BoomBox, sitting down for an interview following his exclusive Sessions performance in our New York studio. "I feel like the essence of what it is to be an artist has been lost ... The work ethic of some of these younger artists that I'm coming across is embarrassing."
He's reminiscing about a time before showbiz shortcuts like Auto-Tune and viral YouTube videos. Still, as he releases his fifth studio album, 'R.E.D.,' out today (Nov. 6), the 30-year-old entertainer admits the effort is an attempt to make up for his own previous shortcomings.
"My last album [2010's Libra Scale] was not as commercially successful as my previous three and that's 100 percent my fault," he reveals, explaining the motive behind the decision to delay his 'R.E.D.' album release. "I didn't pay as much attention to the music as I normally do, and I feel like I let my fans down.
"So with this fifth album, I have to make sure that everything is as right as humanly possible before I put it out there. I don't want to say that this is my apology album, but to a degree it's like I got a little too cool for the room with the last one."
With the new LP, the singer-songwriter vows to "bring back" the Ne-Yo his fans know and love. Yet, the new album marks a lot of firsts for Ne-Yo, with this being his first release since moving from Def Jam to Motown Records and being appointed Senior Vice President of A&R at Motown. It's also his first LP since becoming a father to daughter Madilyn and son Mason.
Check out Ne-Yo's exclusive Sessions Q&A, performance and photo shoot below.
Your album title, R.E.D., is an acronym for "realizing every dream." You've accomplished a lot in your career, but what dreams haven't you realized yet?
Well, I'm a rather multifaceted person -- or at least I like to fashion myself as such -- so my dreams are multifaceted. For example, I had a dream of winning a Grammy, right. I've done that three times over. However, Stevie Wonder has done that in double digits, so, I got a little more work to do, you know what I mean. I dreamed of one day starring in a film. I've done that twice. Denzel Washington has done it countless times, so I still got some work to do. So with that being said, with every dream realized there's another piece to that dream that has yet to be realized. So, you know more growing to do, more learning to do, just more dreams to realize.
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Gospel Group Sues Rick Ross, Jay-Z, Dr. Dre
A Gospel group is suing Rick Ross, Jay-Z and Dr. Dre over their "vulgar" song "3 Kings," which allegedly samples one of the plaintiffs' songs. [AllHipHop]
Just when you thought this Meek Mill/Cassidy beef had bored itself to death, Meek goes ahead and mention's Cass's name in a new freestyle, rapping "When you was screaming 'Come to my hotel'/ Homey we was slinging work out the motel." C'mon son. [YouTube]
Surprise! Mystikal's working on new album, after spending most of the last decade in jail. The album's called Original, and is said to feature Rick Ross, Future and Lil Wayne. [AllHipHop]
In case you missed it, here's Prince's new morning sex anthem "Breakfast Can Wait." It's Prince. [YouTube]
Vanilla Ice is now selling his own line of chandeliers, courtesy of Vanilla Ice Lighting. "The transitional design and unique silk shades with crystal detail make the collection truly an original, just like Vanilla Ice himself," the description reads. Illuminating. Sorry. [NYDailyNews]
Universal Records has announced that it will be releasing classic hip-hop albums in cassette form again, for prison inmates. Amongst those re-released will be Biggy, Jay-Z, 50, Jeezy and more. Ill. [HipHopDX]
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