S. Samuel
West Coast rapper Game has publicly spoken out on recent comments made about him and fellow Los Angeles emcee Kendrick Lamar courtesy of former Death Row Records owner Suge Knight.
Although on good terms with Knight, Game admitted Suge may have went too far by publicly discussing their contracts on television.
“He was saying, something I think about me and Kendrick’s contracts not being right,” Game said in an interview with Tim Westwood. “Suge is normally the homie but discussing other people’s business all on TV? It is what it is. Number one, no new artist comes in and gets the deal of a lifetime. Nah. Especially artists these days. When I came in, I met somebody, I signed to them because they had faith they could take me to Dre and then I got with Dre and Dre put me with 50. So it was what it was.” (“Tim Westwood TV”)
During an appearance on “Arsenio” earlier this winter, Suge discussed today’s record label politics and singled out Game.
“The deals are still messed up. I think it’s unfair if you really look at it, if you look at Interscope, the two guys from Compton–Game, Kendrick Lamar–got two of the worst deals in the industry. And when you look at it, it’s not so much the production company fault, but what people don’t realize is that if you’re on Universal, it’s the ship. Then Interscope get they cut, then Aftermath get they cut, then G-Unit get they cut. Then the guy who really has Game signed, it was another production company, then it came to Game. The reality is there’s more slavery now than ever.” (“Arsenio”)
Knight took things a step further by comparing the record contracts to slavery.
“When you were a slave you knew it was bad. When you was a slave, you was like ‘sh*t, it’s bad.’ But it’s worse when somebody make you be a celebrity and put you on a status and you thanking a person for stabbing you in the back.” (“Arsenio”)
Back in October, Suge said K. Dot embodied a lot of characteristics his former Death Row artists shared during their mid-1990’s run.
“Kendrick is a dude that’s an incredible artist. I’m not surprised because he’s from Compton. He grew up in Compton, that’s where he lived at, hung out at, and the guys he hangs with from his neighborhood, is p-folk. So there’s no way it wouldn’t rub off on him. There’s no way that his vision wouldn’t be aggressive or that he wouldn’t have the lyrics he has, if he didn’t grow up there. Kendrick know, anybody from Compton, that’s pretty much saying they’re a Death Row artist. That’s what they grew up to, that’s what they know, that was the people they’re involved with… they mimicked their stuff off of the blueprint I laid down. But Kendrick by far is one of them guys that they can’t f*ck with. They can’t f*ck with that boy lyrically and they better not sleep. Kendrick got a whole army behind him. He got real love out here.” (Medium)
Check out Game’s interview:
