S. Samuel
West Coast rapper Game recently discussed his past decision to go after rap mogul Jay-Z on his records and how he is certain Young Hov has taken subtly shots back at him.
In Game’s perspective, his one-time rap foe has shown him respect on numerous occasions.
“Yeah, you probably won’t ever see that. I pretty much f*cked that up in the beginning of my career,” Game said referring to dissing Jay-Z. “But I’m probably one of the only cats that ever, like, went at, you know, Jay-Z’s neck and still had a career after which is risky. I remember fighting, having a real argument — with the mother of my children because she was a Jay-Z fan. She was like, ‘You don’t know what you’re doing, he’s gonna come back and we’re not going to be able to survive.’ … I did it anyway, Jay never responded, number one he’s smart and I think he knows that I’m reckless and there’s nothing I can’t say but he’s got to be filtered because he’s more of a businessman and a little bit older and he’s doing all these business deals. So he can’t really go as reckless as I can but once I go, I’m going.” (VIBE TV)
He also discussed what it would mean if they ever got a chance to record music together.
“Plus, Jay, I think in his own right, respects me as a lyricist. He doesn’t have to do a song with me but I know that he listens and respects me and responds sometimes. Like on ‘One Blood,’ when I hit him with ‘You 38 and you still rapping, uhhh’ and then he came on Kingdom Come he said ‘I used to think rapping at 38 was ill, ’til last year I grossed about 38 mil.’ So he listens, he responds sometimes, that’s cool in it’s own right. Just having Jay’s ears and thinking I’m important enough for him to dig deep enough for him to respond is cool to me. If we don’t ever do a song, f*ck it. But if we ever did, it’d probably be some crazy sh*t because I would really go into my trick bag for that one.” (VIBE TV)
Last year, Game said a bad first encounter initially led to his issues with Hovi.
“I had it like that he was just a great dude. I grew up off of all Jay’s albums, and when I finally met him and he was just, I don’t know, he was overly cocky,” Game explained in an interview. “The way that he played fans – and I’m not saying it to say he’s the same person now, that was like seven years ago – this is my own personal experience, so it’s not to make anyone hate Jay-Z. It turned me left. Ever since then, I’ve been taking little potshots here and there, it’s nothing personal.” (Jam N 945)
The West Coast rapper also previously said Jay’s catchy name made him an easy target.
“‘Jay’ rhymes with a lot of words,” Game said in an interview. “So whenever you’re writing, it always pops in somehow or another. I shoot shots in the dark sometimes, but they ain’t to be taken personal…Certain people you know that ain’t gonna respond — I don’t think Hov is gonna respond, and if he does, it’ll be another shot in the dark subliminally or indirect, and I think that’s cool because Hov is a legend.” (MTV)
Check out Game’s interview:
