Complex: So as far as The R.E.D. Album, you’ve had a lot of pushbacks. Is the August 24th release date definitely going to happen?
Game: I think I should stop saying when the album is gonna be released and just say “when it’s released, just pick it up,” man. And I think that no matter how long people wait, we’re not gonna get into a Detox situation and wait over 10 years for that. Whenever my album drops, people gonna appreciate it being pushed back as far as it’s been pushed back. Interscope be having different agendas and they want you to do the shit right. And I think people just need to understand that it’s not the artist, it has a lot to do with shipping, packaging, and getting artists the greatest look that they can get.
August 24th was real realistic to me until I started touring. Before I get really locked into it, when I get home on the 8th man…you know, it might still be the 24th once I talk to Jimmy Iovine. He’s overseas and he gets back when I get back so I’ma sit down with him and have a meeting and we’ll play everything I got. I think I’m missing my huge single like “My Life,” or “Hate It or Love It,” or “One Blood.” And I think I really need to find that.
I swear on my kids that this is the most incredible album that I’ve ever done in my life. If I’m lying man, may God take them away and I never see them again. You know I got everything from Dr. Dre on this album. Not just the beats—he’s on the album vocally. And as far as the new hip-hop is concerned, I got the biggest kid in hip-hop on this album, which is Drake, on a really great Cool & Dre track. I got Just Blaze, Swizz Beats, Kanye, all these dope producers on this album; this album is so classic that I don’t wanna throw it away.
My last album did like 270,000 the first week and it really had no buzz and it wasn’t pushed and we just threw it out. And “My Life” is what carried it over to platinum. I don’t want that to happen with this album. I think that if I threw my album out tomorrow, I got 300,000 fans that’ll go get my album first week. And that’s not shabby during this day and age. But I really wanna push for gold and try to top The Documentary’s numbers.
But I don’t think I can do that without a huge radio record. And I don’t want it to be so radio that it’s not street. Like I’m looking for a cross between “One Blood” and “Hate It or Love It.” And I think that it wouldn’t be successful or right for me if I put my album out before that. I’d be cheating myself and cheating my fans. So when I get back, I’ll have a meeting with the label and we’ll see what they say. I had a meeting with Steve Berman, the man under Jimmy Iovine, before I left, at a restaurant in Beverly Hills. He assured me that the label would not drop the ball with this album. They just want a hit record. Not saying that I don’t have one, but I wanna go in and play everything I got. ’Cause if I get a huge record out I’ll **** around and get Lil Weezy the first week.
