The Name (formerly known as The Game): The Doctor’s Advocate Stats

Ever since those names reverberated in my head countless times a few years ago, I’ve had a love-to-hate relationship with The Game. There was something about him that I liked: West Coast on the come-up? A newbie with album potential (as opposed to a mixtape king)? Pulling at me with an even greater force, though, was what I hated. Ah, yes, The Game had me at Left Eye. When he mentions Left Eye in a song that carried no reason for her name drop, I felt my heart sink. Left Eye had a dream? No, way? What, to bring TLC back? Pffffff, get outta here! Was this, “Game”, for naught? I told myself he’d change, that he’d grow as an artist. But no and what made this annoyance spike was when 50 cent decided to start a fight and even more name drops ensued! But, alas, The Game’s “game” isn’t quite a game to me anymore; it is The Game’s worth and living testament. He’s got a problem and needs to own up to it and stop. The problem, you ask? Name dropping. Indeed, it is a sad case. Yet, most rappers, whether in a song or a freestyle, whorishly plug and use similes including other artists or proper nouns (i.e. products; e.g. Nike, Cristal or my fav, Bentleys). Young Jeezy was bold enough to plug his upcoming album on Ludacris’ new single, “Grew Up a Screw Up” that features Jeezy. And Luda paid him what, 50k for a plug at the end? So why am I nagging at The Game? I compiled statistics for his new album, the Doctor’s Advocate and it is clear: A name is The Game’s game.

NOTE: Download Full Statistic Attachment (on which I will speak on).

Game mentions Dr. Dre 46 times and he mentions himself only 35 times. Odd isn’t it? The album is about the Dr.’s Advocate, which is the Game, yet he speaks more about Dr. Dre than himself. He mentions both Dre and himself in 14 of his songs. Dre must hang heavy on his mind and he must need to reassure us that, in fact, we are listening to The Game. He even reaches back in time (11 mentions) to remind us of how great the Documentary, his old, 5 times platinum album, was. He displays his reverence of Snoop Dogg by mentioning him 11 times in 10 songs. That tells me one thing: Game feels obligated to mention Snoop because of his “high” status in the rap game. The anticipation, the Dr.’s Advocate, is here (we’re listening to it), so why do we hear this anticipation (16 times on 8 songs) on the actual album rather than the subject being left to a mixtape? The Messiah (Game) is talked about, in the third person, 25 times in 10 songs. Repeat phrases of how The Game is going to bring Hip-Hop back are prevalent throughout DA’s entirety. He boasts that he’ll be the one to bring the true form back on the West Coast; he IS the uniting spirit that we need. Speaking of his former and current beefs, Game, surprisingly, does not pay much mind. Beefs are used as a general term – no particulars (Yukmouth, Spider Loc or Ras Kass). He mentions label dealing quite a lot, as Aftermath (16 times, 8 songs), coupled with Dre, of course, goes hand in hand with the DA’s predictable trajectory of lyrical content. 50 cent is mentioned only 6 times and mostly in one song. I must say Game, nice with holding it in your frustration. And no mentions of G-Unit or G-Unot or any of its members (Yayo, er, Yoyo once). Cold turkey? Impressive. I ain’t done – no Blackwall Street either, touché.
Now the ridiculous occurs: 80 total names fill the gaps on the rest of the album. And mind you I did not count the total number of articles… You can look at all of the random drops but I’ll point out the most absurd. Wonder Woman? Game into comics too besides stripping? Kelis? C’mon, just cuz Nas is on a joint don’t mean Kelis comes with him! Rambo? Rakim? Don’t go there, you aren’t close. Godzilla? Jeezy? Will .i.am., 4 times on his beat? Excessive to say the least. Ken Griffey Jr.? What’s he done lately? Suck. I spoke too soon.
Name drops don’t just muddle Game’s lyrics; it’s his ardent affinity for the West Coast and its customs that grapple his tongue. I realize many artists whether on the East, West or the South will usually talk about the same topics and material was well – a great example is Houston rap, but The Game explains his daily routines on a song to song basis, is it this necessary? Can you talk about something else? The West Coast, California or L.A. is said the most of anything on the album: 53 times on 13 songs. That’s an average of 3 times a song, or once each verse. He refers to chronic in some form 37 times, which really doesn’t seem like much, but some of the choruses repeat such lyrical content multiple times, of which I did not count. West Coast g apparel, khakis and Chuck Taylor’s are mentioned in half of the songs combined. Game gives us notice of his car, specifically a “Six four” or a “Six tre”, 36 times on 10 of the songs. Chrome Dayton’s are said verbatim 10 times in 6 songs! And gang warfare is very detail oriented as in, “red rag hanging out the jeans”. 37 displays of bloods and crips isn’t exactly a uniting factor, Game. I thought you were trying to bring e’erbody together, holmes! In retrospect, as much as The Game talks about his regularities, artists of other “hoods” relay their eccentricities more often than The Game. I guess it just seems like overkill though; The Game like everyone else has nothing to rap about and thus has to rely on his hood attributes.
The main culprits are the singles and certain songs that are singled out, which are titled appropriately (Dr.’s Advocate, One Blood or Why they hate the Game). One Blood, the lead single, has 52 mentions alone, yet only 24 of those are different. On a track dedicated to groupies “Wouldn’t Get Far” has 24 mentions and 20 of them are single mentions. What does this tell me? Well, The Game creates songs based on certain lyrical content. Take One Blood for this example. He focuses on a few particular names/topics yet beats a dead horse with some of the topics, mentioning a few topics throughout the song’s entirety. It’s as if he cannot get away from what’s eating at him. Conversely, “Wouldn’t Get Far” was a track created explicitly for name dropping. All the verses ride over a soul beat from Kanye (he luckily he gets a verse from him too, and consist of merely the dropping of females names. We know the song is about groupies, but can you say anything elaborate on groupies and not just give us a vague list that includes Wonder Woman? Isn’t that why you’re a rapper and I am not?
I left out mentions of his son, guns and drugs partly because the latter two are so rampant throughout any rap song that it wasn’t imperative to track. I also left out mentions of the following because I didn’t think he’d name drop for products as much: Cristal, Nike, Puma, Chevy, Cadillac, Hummer, Bentleys and Hennessy.
What’s in a name? Nothing. No, nothing. Maybe insecurity, marketing (attaching yourself to the famous for familiarity) or is it that it fills space? For The Game, it may be all three. Because of his insecurity as a person and a rapper, he fills his rhymes with non-substantive, nonsensical and name dropping garbage. His weak lyrics are used for the marketing of an untalented, West Coast “protégé”.

Download The Game - Doctor's Advocate HERE