Link: Official Black Wall Street Records Site
The Inside Pulse:
The Game has declared war on 50 Cent and his G-Unit Crew. This isn’t exactly “breaking news”, since the two sides have been feuding almost since the moment that Game’s multi-platinum debut, The Documentary, dropped in early 2005. Oddly enough, The Game should have the momentum in this insipid intra-Interscope disagreement, as the public ignored several G-Unit releases on the shelves last year, handing the heretofore bulletproof 50 his first commercial flops. However, The Game is still fighting for credibility outside of Cali (in fact, he was lustily booed during his performance at the annual Summer Jam show last June at Giants Stadium in Jersey). To that end, Game has taken the offensive by breathing life into a beef that most fans have already had their fill of. Just after Christmas, Game dropped a low-budget, but shockingly successful DVD entitled Stop Snitchin’, Stop Lyin’. It’s moved over a million units with an anti-50 Cent message and bizarre “man-on-the-street” opinions on Curtis Jackson and his crew. The DVD spawned this like-titled soundtrack which, um…continues the theme.
Positives:
The Game has a natural charisma that has bought him a lot of time, while we wait for him to realize his undeniable potential. Over the beat to 50’s Hustler’s Ambition, Game shows just what might be on 120 Bars. He goes in a million different directions on a cut that runs over seven minutes long, mixing in shout outs to his friends with assault on his enemies. My Lowrider has been getting crazy play on the radio out here in Cali and deservedly so. Sure, it’s lacking in substance, but the sheer numbers of MCs (Game, Ice Cube, Crooked I, E-40, WC, among others) makes all the muted materialism work. Other strong tracks include Game’s 100 mph mic work on G-Unit Crip, while Charli Baltimore’s exhumed corpse holds her own on Bounce Back.
Negatives:
Charisma can’t save corny and that’s evident on several tracks where beats or hooks compromise the quality. Stop Talkin’ to the Cops uses the mediocre beat to 50’s flaccid Window Shopper cut, while more than half the “song” is some guy talking. Testify does all it can to ruin the beat from Kanye’s Touch the Sky, with one of the worst hooks of the year, while 1970 Somethin’ borrows almost the entirety of the same god-awful Biggie Smalls Duets track. We’re also deducting points for all the “Chicken Little” references, along with the sheer incessancy of shots at 50 Cent. Jesus, Game, we get it.
Cross-Breed:
An odd and, at times, effective amalgam of the best and worst of Game’s Documentary debut.
Reason to Buy:
If you’re a Game completionist, this one should be in your collection. The producers/hosts (DJ Clue, NJ Devil & DJ Skee) do a fine job of holding things together and Game, to his credit, isn’t mailing this one in.
