xxlmag.com

XXLMag.com: What’s going to be different about this album? 

Game: Well, overall I just feel like it’s my best work to date. I’ve sold millions of albums; I don’t really have anything to prove to anybody or anything so I’m not looking for that. But I think people will listen to The R.E.D. Album and see all of what I put into it. 

XXLMag.com: You have a lot of high profile guests lined up. Who were you most excited to work with?  

Game: Justin Timberlake. The song I did with him is probably going to be a single. It was amazing to get a chance to work with him. Jay [Electronica] came through and did a verse at the spur of the moment. We missed getting Nicki [Minaj] on there. Things just didn’t come together for that. I wanted her on there, though. 

XXLMag.com: How was it working with Dre and Pharrell in the studio together?  

Game: It works well. I worked with Dre on a few songs and Pharrell is the executive producer of the project. He did the bulk of the tracks. Cool & Dre is on there, too. They did “Shake.” You’re gonna get [Swizz Beatz], The Hitboyz, and Timbaland, too. 

XXLMag.com: How is it different working in the studio with Dre than Pharrell?  

Game: You just work and work and work with Dre. You don’t even know what you’re working on. (Laughs) But he’s a perfectionist and I respect his work ethic. He’s a legend. With Pharrell we laid back, ordering pizzas, chillin’, completely different but we still get shit done because he’s a beast, too. With them having my back, I can’t go wrong. 

XXLMag.com: How many songs did Dre produce on this album?  

Game: I have no idea. I’m not sure which songs will be on [The R.E.D. Album] yet. We just worked on a gang of shit. Altogether there were like a thousand songs recorded for this album. A thousand! I got songs for days. 

XXLMag.com: Yeah, like “400 Bars.” You went at a few people on there, too. What happened to having a drama free 2010?  

Game: Aw man the shit I said on “400 Bars” about 50 and G-Unit ain’t even like dissin’ to me. That’s nothing. That just is what it is. People too serious and uptight. Those were just jokes. It’s ongoing with them, though. 

XXLMag.com: But didn’t you have Twitter beef with Alchemist and Jay Rock, too?  

Game: People just hyping shit up. [Al] know what it is though and with Jay Rock, to be honest, I didn’t even know that that was Jay Rock that had even said the Cube thing. So when I said what I said on the track I wasn’t thinking about him specifically. 

XXLMag.com: What do you think about what Cube was saying like, basically that it’s not his responsibility to put anyone on? 

Game: I mean, do you think it’s his responsibility? Because I don’t think so. People have to pay their dues. I paid my dues and they gotta do the same. —Brooklyne Gipson