With a tracklist of 30 songs, including a vicious diss track against Eminem, Compton rapper The Game is continuing to promote his latest studio album Drillmatic: Heart vs Mind. Produced entirely by Hit-Boy, the rapper has sat down with media outlets all over America to discuss his controversial project, which has polarised fans, stirred up social media and provoked heated online debates.
For his latest interview, the rapper teamed up with the album’s executive producer, Hit-Boy, for an in-depth sit-down with Billboard. The rapper began by speaking about his creative partnership with Hit-Boy, stating, “I don’t do no rapper stuff, but everything that I am and everything that I got going on now … rapping the way that I’m rapping, it’s all because of him.” The artist even divulged that, initially, he had no plans to make an album but had been inspired by multiple “conversations about life” and referenced tragic mass shootings as just one of many issues that were catalysts for the project.
During the interview, the rapper revealed the inspiration behind the album’s title was Nas as he proclaimed, “Illmatic is one of the illest hip-hop albums of all time, and drill music is what the new generation of rap is doing,” indicating that the album title was an amalgamation of the two.
As the interview progressed, the rapper was asked who his dream collaboration would be with. The rapper was given the option of them being dead or alive. To this, the rapper (real name Jayceon Taylor) responded, “Mine easy. Mine’s always gonna be Amy Winehouse…she’s hard as f*ck. Her voice, man… Her voice and my voice over some jazz music would be on some other sh*t.” Talking to his producer Hit-Boy, the rapper continued, “We probably gotta sample some Amy or something and put it over some trombones or something and go crazy!”
Winehouse, who died in 2011, worked with one rapper in her time, the creator of Illmatic, Nas. Nas released a song they worked on in 2012. Entitled ‘Cherry Wine,’ it is one of the many standouts from the Queensbridge legend’s highly-acclaimed Life Is Good album. Furthermore, Winehouse’s song ‘Me & Mr Jones’ is in reference to the rapper (real name Nasir Jones).
You can watch the full Billboard interview with The Game in the video below.
