Personnel: The Game (rap vocals); Faith Evans, Mary J. Blige (vocals); Eminem, 50 Cent, Marsha, Nate Dogg, Tony Yayo, Busta Rhymes (rap vocals).

On his official debut, THE DOCUMENTARY, Los Angeles rapper the Game (born Jayceon Taylor) observes he "was an ol' G in the hood" before he was 22. The Game has truly packed a lifetime of fury, chaos, and crime into his first years of adulthood, living life with a reckless passion. After a gunshot wound sent him into a temporary coma, he decided to put his agile mind to better use in hip-hop, and his complex, ferocious raps swiftly became mixtape staples.

After many twists and turns, the Game finally dropped the highly anticipated THE DOCUMENTARY as the first major hip-hop release of 2005, and it's quite an opening salvo. On the Kanye West-produced "Dreams," he displays a dizzying intellect, subtly working an apt quote from Nas into an imagined bi-coastal conference between Jam Master Jay and Eazy-E. (The track also invokes political figures ranging from Ronald Reagan to Huey Newton.) The Game's clearly been immersed in the rap world from an early age, and he tips his hat to both past masters and his contemporaries, many of whom appear on the record (Eminem, 50 Cent, Busta Rhymes, and others). THE DOCUMENTARY heralds a stunning new voice in rap by living up to its overwhelming hype.

What the critics say...

Rolling Stone (No. 967, pp.77-8) - 3 stars out of 5 - "[The Game goes] for emotional impact rather than dazzling wordplay or laughs..."
Spin (p.92) - "He holds his own lyrically against 50 Cent and Eminem while holding down beats by Kanye, Just Blaze, and the good doctor." - Grade: B+
Entertainment Weekly (p.82) - "[W]ith the brightest hip-hop stars aligning for him, the Game may have willed himself a popular masterpiece." - Grade: B+
Uncut (p.98) - 3 stars out of 5 - "[T]he dense, propulsive semi-orchestral Dre arrangements, studded with self-conscious NWA and Tupac quotes, make for a mostly rich and involving experience."