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CartGame "The R.E.D. Album" Review – 5 out of 5 stars
Tue, 16 Aug 2011 10:29:35
"This is what you've all been waiting for," declares Game midway through "The City". "I'm the lost angel knocking on Satan's door".
On his fourth offering, The R.E.D. Album, Game sounds so incendiary he could burn down the very door to Hell itself. This is Game's most definitive, deadly, and downright divine record to date. It's more cinematic and cohesive than his 2005 breakout debut, The Documentary, and somehow it's even more vicious than his last release, LAX. With an eerie choral sample and slow stomp, "The City" welcomes listeners into Game's West Coast, and he paves a path through the bullet-riddled South Central streets, while dropping in poignant religious imagery and industry vitriol with a gruff, gritty delivery. Kendrick Lamar matches the intensity as the beat drops, and words sear like cyanide.
Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg provide some classy "California" crush to "Drug Test", before hip hop's new royalty—Lil Wayne and Tyler, the Creator—joins Game for a trip to the darkest reaches of outer space on the otherworldly creep show that is "Martians Vs Goblins". Even for these three, the song brings rap to new realms, spitting about vampires, throwing Rihanna in front of a train, Bruno Mars "sucking dick", sniffing "an unemployment line of cocaine", and a "bonfire of Harry Potter books". DC and Marvel shouldn't "overlook" these sonic superheroes anymore if they know what's good for them. No one is spared as in the tradition of all timeless rap, but the spacey elements make it even more intriguing.
It's not all darkness though. "Red Nation" shows a community underlying everything with Game and Lil Wayne dropping some of their most vibrant verses. Then there's standout single, "Pot of Gold". It's a trip down memory lane, beautifully brought to the heavens on the wings of Chris Brown's one of a kind croon. Let's not forget the mind-blowing collaboration between Game and Nelly Furtado "Mama Knows".
Interspersed throughout, Dr. Dre narrates this tale. His words hit hard, especially after the finale track, "California Dream"—which chronicles a re-birth of sorts.
You've waited for another classic from Game. You got something more, The R.E.D. Album.
—Rick Florino
08.16.11
Are you excited to get The R.E.D. Album when it drops on August 23, 2011?
Watch our exclusive video interview with Game here!
See our exclusive interview Game here!
