Over the past few years, we have witnessed the many ups and downs of Compton rapper, The Game. Despite parting ways with Aftermath Records and disassociating himself from his once mentor, Dr. Dre, The Game gave a very sold sophomore effort with, The Doctors Advocate. This being his third and supposedly final album, LAX is an album filled with big-name producers that provide beats that are either a hit or miss, tracks full of big guest spots; and let's not forget his infamous name-dropping habit. HHNLIVE.com writers, Maxine Ross & ShaBe Allah, sat down and composed quite an interesting review of LAX, giving incite on the shining moments of the album, to the disappointing. Maxine Ross provides the majority of the review, with additional comments by Shabe Allah, seen within the brackets.

L.A.X. Review
by Maxine Ross
additional words by ShaBe Allah

I was prepared to write something snarky about how ridiculous this album is because of Game's uncanny ability to mirror whatever featured artist he's working with at the time. Based on past records, imitating producers and other greats like Dr. Dre isn't that bad, but when I saw that Ne-Yo was on a track, I got worried. Nevertheless, [You have to respect Mr. Jayceon Taylor's bravery in enduring the industry's criticism and condemnation in order to save face after his dismissal and separation from G Unit, Dr. Dre, and Aftermath Records.] We've seen the released, "My Life" with Mr. F. Baby that I know, from experience, had therapists everywhere with our Blackberry's out ready to stage an intervention. Who, I will ask, put these two drastically addicted men, (Weezy, to whatever he likes, and Game, to the misery) on the same track much less the same video? The result, a dark, paranoid, and all too telling story lived by young Black men everyday.

Perhaps this is the point? I know some cats that will have The Chef (AKA, the "New York Dinosaur," check for "Bulletproof Diaries") any day of the week, regardless of the capacity. Ludacris, of course never disappoints with his verse on "Ya Heard", [which borrowed a sample from the 1983 Newcleus classic "Jam On It".] The very reason Game is successful today is the stellar production on the album.[The production overshadowed his lyricism by a longshot, with a bland flow that made every track sound like a mediocre demo from a Compton MC just looking for some shine instead of a well seasoned lyricist that he claims he is.]

I would be willing to bet Game could have tapped the lyrics to "House of Pain" in Morse Code and Toomp's production alone would lay naysayers to rest.

One of the major components of hate usually spoken of the Comptom MC is his predictable predictability. We know he'll always shout out Dre. On "Dope Boys" Game even speaks of "climbing through Dre's window." Funny, he's only kidding, right? [The album was a lackluster attempt to show that The Game can survive the industry that turned its back on him the same time that Dre did.] Come on, we have to question the Axis II diagnosis of anyone who not only starts but ends and album with DMX right? Right?

Kanye comes through with great beats but nothing surprising with the Common assisted "Angel." Game sounds good on this track, a perfect combination of Common's sweaty flow with his own ideas of Hip Hop fuckery.[The Game was unquestionably outshined by his peers(Ludacris, Ice Cube, Common), all the while namedropping over two dozen artists throughout the album, which seemed like a means to keep his listeners attentive during his less than satisfactory effort.] I wonder though, what cats would think if I, a female music writer started making references to "One More Chance" (Biggie) being my favorite song and because of that, wanting to fuck Jim Jones for the bass in his voice. If Game can metaphorically name drop with little to no connection, I can too damnit.

Lyrically, I have to give it to Jayceon, it can't be easy to recycle the same concepts with different words and sounds. He does it though, and damn if it doesn't sound good. [The oversaturation of special guests came off as more of a marketing ploy to get fans to purchase the album rather than just letting Mr. Chuck Taylor go for it dolo.] "Gentleman's Affair" with Ne-Yo was getting the evil eye from me in the beginning before I realized they are playing a JR Rotem directed version of Jekyll and Hyde. Sure affection is nice but really, we (women) just want you to beat it up. Thank you and goodnight.