![\"The-Game-Issue-No25\"](\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/The-Game-Issue-No25.jpg\")
<\/h1>\n<\/h1>\nA chart-topping rapper takes on the concept of religion<\/b><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/b>\u201cI just feel free,\u201d says the Game. \u201cI\u2019ve got good friends, I\u2019m eating right, working out, doing my music. That\u2019s how I feel.\u201d That\u2019s pretty good for the Compton, Calif., native, who was nearly shot to death when a drug deal went awry in 2001. Even after being signed by Dr. Dre in 2003, the artist born Jayceon Taylor feuded with 50 Cent, Jay-Z and Dre, leaving the rapper alone to make his way in the hip-hop world\u2014which is exactly what he did, selling millions of records in the process. The Game\u2019s new concept album, Jesus Piece<\/i>, features Kanye West, Lil Wayne, Rick Ross and Jamie Foxx.<\/p>\n Why a concept album?<\/b><\/p>\n I had to scrap my initial album, F.I.V.E.<\/i>, after Trey Songz came out with Chapter V<\/i>. And the only song I really liked on it was \u201cJesus Piece\u201d with Kanye [West]. It just set the tone for the entire album, and it became the album\u2019s title. But the song itself isn\u2019t conceptual\u2014I brought up some heavy subjects, but I was just rappin\u2019.<\/p>\n What\u2019s the record\u2019s message?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n The overall message is this: I\u2019ve chosen a religion\u2014to be closer to God, Jesus, Buddha, Allah, whatever you call it. There\u2019s a higher power\u2014and I\u2019m grateful for it, I pray to it and I appreciate it. Just getting myself closer and better in my relationship with God. But that doesn\u2019t mean I want to stop smoking weed or kicking it with the homies.<\/p>\n What\u2019s your writing process?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n My writing process is pretty simple, man. I don\u2019t write, I just type it in my phone. You can ask any hip-hop artist you interview if I\u2019m the fastest when it comes to writing verse, and they\u2019ll tell you, \u201cYeah.\u201d It only takes me like 10 minutes to write a verse, 30 minutes to write the whole song. People ask me if I have some ingenious writing scheme,but it\u2019s not that.<\/p>\n Tell us about the song \u201cAli Bomaye.\u201d\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n I remember seeing Will Smith play Muhammad Ali in the movie, and thinking he did a great job. That\u2019s when I first heard the Ali Bomaye chant. When I was in the studio recording that track, I had the 2 Chainz verse and my verse, but I was looking for a hook. So I turned on HBO and Ali <\/i>was on with the kids running in the streets saying, \u201cAli Bomaye,\u201d and I was like \u201cOK, let\u2019s go.\u201d<\/p>\n What are your thoughts on East Coast-West Coast hip-hop rivalry?<\/b><\/p>\n I\u2019m a fan of all rap. I know I\u2019m from California and this is the West Coast, but I hate when people section off hip-hop. That right there is what killed Biggie and Tupac\u2014they made it an East Coast-West Coast thing. And they were just 24 and 25 when they died.<\/p>\n What other artists influence you?<\/b><\/p>\n Amy Winehouse. I just love her, man. Her untimely demise was so tragic. I was really rooting for her to get it together. I hate to call it a wasted talent, but damn it, that\u2019s what it is.<\/p>\n Who have you been listening to lately?<\/b><\/p>\n I\u2019ve been listening to Ed Sheeran. He\u2019s new, he\u2019s young and I like his voice. For anything musical, it starts with the voice. You love Erykah Badu\u2019s voice, Stevie Wonder\u2019s voice, Busta Rhymes\u2019 voice. Ed Sheeran has a good voice. I recently tweeted something about Jesus Piece<\/i> on Twitter and he retweeted it, then I sent him a message to let him know I\u2019ve been listening to his music, too. He was like, \u201cMan, I\u2019m a huge fan.\u201d But I\u2019m diggin\u2019 his music. And I\u2019m not afraid to say so.<\/p>\n \u2013Christopher Pilny<\/p>\n THE GAME A chart-topping rapper takes on the concept of religion \u00a0\u201cI just feel free,\u201d says the Game. \u201cI\u2019ve got good friends, I\u2019m eating right, working out, doing my music. That\u2019s how I feel.\u201d That\u2019s pretty good for the Compton, Calif., native, who was nearly shot to death when a drug deal went awry in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7],"tags":[6219,6218,6223,3308,4703,6221,6164,970,5372,6217,6222,6220],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9328"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9328"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9328\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9330,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9328\/revisions\/9330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"