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Over the past decade, The Game has rapidly descended into the lower tier of rappers. The culture has forgotten his former status as a member of G-Unit, and his decision to turn his back on 50 Cent and Dr Dre as a former artist on the Aftermath roster has made him a pariah within rap music.

With no formidable figure behind him, the change in his circumstances shows just how volatile the music industry has become over recent years. Listeners now have shorter attention spans and are unbelievably quick to relegate MCs if they’re inconsistent.

The Game is a prime example of this ruthlessness. In the mid-2000s, he could be spotted by the side of 50 Cent and Dr Dre. Still, since his breakaway, The Game has become a symbol of a bygone era rather than a contemporary artist.

By sparking feud after feud, fans grew impatient with the West Coast native, and following his departure from Aftermath, there was a sharp fall in the quality of his music. That said, it is hardly surprising. During the early stages of his career, the former G-Unit emcee was rapping over beats from Dr Dre. Still, when that was no longer viable, it seemed like the end of days for the lyricist.

Although he has retained fame, nobody can argue that he is anywhere near as popular as he was during the 2000s. That said, he still receives attention when he releases a new project and regularly speaks to publications about his musical journey.

Even though he’s spent his entire career feuding with other artists, as a man with N.W.A. and Tupac tattoos plastered all over his arms, he definitely has the notorious West Coast rebellious streak seen in the previously mentioned acts.

Following the release of his project, The R.E.D. Album in 2011, The Game sat down with Complex to discuss some of his favourite hip-hop artists and most cherished albums of all time. Although he had a rough split from Aftermath, during his interview, The Game admitted that growing up, he loved Dr Dre’s iconic debut, The Chronic. Heaping praise on the album, the Compton native exclaimed, “The Chronic was just an incredible fucking album, man. It was so well put together. It was actually more of a fucking Snoop album. Snoop was on every song on The Chronic and shit. It was like Snoop’s introduction to the world.”

He loved the album so much that the emcee recalled his desire to ask Dr. Dre everything about it. However, he never did so. Recounting this, he told Complex, “You think, ‘Damn, if I’m going to meet Dre, or I’m about to be signed to Dre, I’m going to ask him so many questions about the album.’ But I never had that conversation with him. Neither one of them, and I see them and talk to them all the time.”

Although The Game was born and raised on West Coast hip-hop, he admitted that there were two albums from the East Coast that blew his mind when he heard them for the first time.

The first was De La Soul’s third album, Buhloone Mindstate. Expressing his passion for the 1993 body of work, The Game declared, “That was fucking crazy, man. Their first two albums are two of the greatest albums ever in hip-hop. De La Soul was dope. Prince Paul was dope; he was producing for them.”

He even went as far as to compare them to Drake, stating, “They were like the early ’90s Drake—they had songs that were cool and still hip-hop, but they also had this smooth singing vibe to them.”

Although De La Soul’s first two albums are among the greatest hip-hop projects ever made, according to The Game, he also revealed that he loved A Tribe Called Quest’s 1991 sophomore effort, The Low End Theory.

The Game’s opinion no longer holds as much weight as it used to. However, it’s still incredibly interesting to work out how such a firebrand could have been inspired by the jazz-hop material produced by collectives such as De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest.

You can listen to De La Soul’s Buhloone Mindstate below.