Game vs. Kanye

I got a new recurring post segment. It's called "Favors". And it has nothing to do with that guy taken before Boogie in the draft who won't really be that good. All it is is me quickly detailing the collaborative efforts back and forth between artists. Today's opening example is Kanye and Game.

2005
Game - Dreams
Kanye West - Crack Music (feat. Game)
2006
Game - Wouldn't Get Far (feat. Kanye West)

The combination of the two, verging on parody territory, was actually joked on in their music video to the song "Wouldn't Get Far". The L.A.-native who claimed Blood and was a former G-Unit start-up paired up with the early Chicago backpacker who was famous for his sped-up soul sampling beats and colorful polos. But they actually managed to find a creative medium and make dope music together.

The first incarnation was "Dreams" produced by Ye, Game's biggest hit outside of his 50-assisted singles. It brought out the heavy, introspective material in Game's lyricism that let the car bragging and gun toting take a backseat to relating a heartfelt story. Then the two jumped from Game's debut to Kanye's sophomore effort on the track "Crack Music" where Game lent his vocals to highlight the anthemic chorus. Apparently there was supposed to be a guest verse as well, but money issues got in the way at the time of the album's release. The two finally got a full collaboration out on the aforementioned "Wouldn't Get Far" where they traded musings on the rap game's video vixens. As an added bonus, they collected their promo checks by jumping on a commercial with Luda for Boost Mobile. You prolly remember that one, now.



... and do the John Wall.

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Comeback #5: You'd Think They Hated Tofu

And it wasn't to cease. While Lloyd and Weezy had a monopoly on 106 & Park for like a year with their original incarnation of the Spandau Ballet-sampling "You", Andre decided he could one up everyone's new favorite guest emcee. With (barely any) help from Nas, a remix quickly became an epidemic on the blogosphere. Who knew that he had it in him? He'd just finished getting the streets up out their seats with "Walk It Out" and now he was talking smooth to the ladies outside of Whole Foods.

Lloyd - You (Remix feat. Andre 3000 & Nas)

I said, "What time you get off?"
She said, "When you get me off"
I kinda laughed but it turned into a cough
Cuz I swallowed down the wrong pipe
Whatever that means, you know old people say it so it sounds right
So I'm standin there embarrassed. If we were both in Paris
I would have grabbed her by the waist and kissed her, but
We in the middle of Whole Foods, and those foods
Ain't supposed to beef, but you'd think they hated tofu
Check-in line got rowdy, my vision got cloudy
I started seein circles like some audi
Emblem, I'm hearing them say, come on man
Do this own your own time, get the hell on, man
I walked out. (Hm) I got bout
Half-way to my car when I heard shawty shout
"3000, forgot your credit card. Smart move
And by the way, my little sister loves your cartoon"
Well, here's my name and numb ...
If I ain't the one, lose it, if I am, use it
If a man chooses, and he can, lose it
And he don't, don't take it personal, he might be might be swamped
With makin mozzarella, no, makin worlds bettter
Cheese will come. Believe me, I'm, never focused on the cash
Ask Mel Gibson. Jesus Christ, I'm bout the pass ... ion

How could you not love it? Not only did he prove he was eternally street savvy, he proved he could crush any R&B joint like Luda and Fabo wish they could. But all we had to do now was wait on an almost weekly basis. There was another summer jam waiting in the wings that needed to be twerked from annoyingness to having the renewed dopest emcee in the game on it ...

... but do take my word for it.

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Snippet #2: Obamamania?

Question: Everyone knows that every rapper and their momma hopped on the Obama bandwagon come election time, but do you know the very first artist to lend bars in support of our current president?

Hint ... it's not will.i.am or Jigga or Crooked I or Ludacris or anyone who put out a mixtape tribute to the man recently. What if I told you it was all the way back in 2004?

"Why is Bush actin' like he tryinna get Osama?
Why don't we impeach him and elect Obama?"

That couplet is from Jadakiss' remix to his (only?) smash single "Why". And they come from Common. This was Com just months after Kanye single-handedly resuscitated his public perception with a feature on The College Dropout while Be was still just "under construction". How many people actually followed politics close enough in 2004 to know who the newly-nominated United States senator from Illinois was? Certainly not me. Barack didn't gain national steam until well into 2007. I just wanted to let you know who started the movement in case ya didn't already know. Hidden sneakily in between references to his ex-boo Erykah Badu, religious ponderings, and Britney Spears dissing while also in the mix of Jada, Styles P, Nas and Anthony Hamilton, it could have slipped by anybody.

Jadakiss - Why (Remix feat. Styles P, Common, Nas, & Anthony Hamilton)

... but do take my word for it.

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Do You Really?

I really tried to like it. Nah, more so tried to understand it. But it just wasn't believable to me.

Ludacris - I Do It for Hip Hop (feat. Nas & Jay-Z)

If it's your "daily devotion that verses stay deeper than the ocean," then why do you have to say it? And why aren't the verses actually deep then? And if you say you know you "do a little boastin' and braggin'," then why spend the rest of the time only boasting and bragging, only offering an opposition to that by continuing to only say you "don't do it for the cars and the fancy drops"? Sayin' it don't make it so. (c) Me

I just don't get it. I'm listening to every line and every beat scratch and just not enjoying this attempt at real hip hop trailed with two legends. And I understand how Jay and Nas' verses each come around relating that they are the best to do it, but ... I just really wish the lyrics could have spoken for themselves. This song to me, even if it did have good intentions, is a begging cry by Ludacris in a Dave Chappelle voice to "PLEASE BELIEVE ME!!!"

You can't make up for the tragedy of a sellout record that Release Therapy was by making a title-proclaimed "for hip hop" track. It's just too forced and Luda is so delved and immersed in the commercialism of his persona that I'm not sure if it's possible for him to do a straight track anymore. But that's just me. And I'm willing to take a "hater" tag for saying that. I haven't enjoyed a track yet that's leaked from Theater of the Mind. Maybe cuz the beats suck pretty hard, too.

Again, I wanted to like it. I haven't grabbed the DJ Premier-laced "MVP" track yet, but "I Do It for Hip Hop" was definitely begging for a Premo scratch. Wyldfyer, whoever that is, did nothing for me in the minute and a half outro. Don't believe the hype.

If you do it for hip hop, other people will say it for you. It coulda been so much more. Take it in the same vain vein as "Swagga Like Us". Oh, yes, I said "vain vein". I don't do it for the praise and the fancy tones, I do it for homophones. (c) Me [instantaneously!]

... and so concludes another masterpiece

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