Jayceon Terrell Taylor (born November 29, 1979), better known by his stage name The Game, is an American rapper signed to Geffen Records. He rose to fame in 2005 with the success of his debut album, The Documentary, and his two Grammy nominations. Since then, he is considered to be a driving force in bringing back the West Coast hip hop scene and competing with many of his East Coast counterparts.
Aside from releasing two albums that debuted at number one on the United World Chart and the Billboard 200, The Game has gained notoriety for the hip hop feuds he has taken part in. His music falls under the subgenre known as West Coast rap, a style of hip hop popularized in his hometown of Compton, California.
The Game was originally signed as an artist on Aftermath Entertainment, but Interscope Records CEO Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre decided to have The Game also work with 50 Cent and G-Unit. The arrangement was to help build a growing buzz around The Game which would also fuel interest in G-Unit. Since then, he made numerous cameo appearances in music videos by 50 Cent, Lloyd Banks, Young Buck, and Fabolous, first appearing on the music video of "In da Club", dancing with a girl. Even at this early stage in his career, he was embroiled in rap feuds associated with G-Unit, including those with Joe Budden, Ja Rule, and Memphis Bleek. His first appearance on a single was on Jim Jones' "Certified Gangstas", before his own single "Westside Story" was released in 2004.
The original title of the album was Nigga Wit' An Attitude Volume 1 (as heard in the lyrics to "Dreams"), but an injunction filed at the request of Eazy-E's widow prevented him from using N.W.A.'s name in the album title. Dr. Dre and 50 Cent were executive producers on The Game's major label debut album, The Documentary, which spawned the hit singles "How We Do" and "Hate It or Love It" (the latter receiving two Grammy nominations). The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and was the tenth best selling album of 2005 in the United States. It also debuted at number seven in the United Kingdom and sold over five million copies worldwide.
Due to his disputes with 50 Cent, The Game left Aftermath Entertainment and signed with Geffen Records to terminate his contractual obligations with G-Unit in the summer of 2006. The rapper's second album Doctor's Advocate was released on November 14, 2006. This album was set out by The Game to prove that he is able to make good music and be a successful artist without the help of Dr. Dre or 50 Cent. He is also working on getting his own label, The Black Wall Street Records, signed to a distribution label. While The Game originally claimed Dr. Dre would still do production on the album in the November issue of XXL magazine, he admitted in September (after the XXL interview was conducted) during an interview on radio station Power 105 that Dr. Dre would not be producing any tracks (although four previously unreleased tracks produced by Dr. Dre were released on the internet, but no reason was given as to why they were not included on the album). The album debuted at number one in the U.S., selling over 358,000 copies its first week.
In May 2007, The Game said while filming Beef IV that his third album, L.A.X., would be his last, explaining that three albums will be enough to have allowed him to "[get his] point across". "Big Dreams" was the album's first single.
