My R.E.D Album In Depth Review (Long Read). Track By Track Review Feature Review And Everything Else Related.

[R.E.Detox]

So yesterday the time came that all fans of Game had been waiting for, the final chapter of a saga we  have all been through together the leak/release of Games overly pushed back  R.E.D Album.

Over the course of three years we had been promised features ranging from Dre to Snoop, from Weezy to Wiz and production from heavy hit makers such as DJ Khalil, Dr. Dre, Mars (Of 1500 Or Nothin), and long time duo collaborators Cool & Dre, we got all of them and then some over the past 3 years in the form of some album quality  mixtapes from the man himself and hosted as ever by another long time industry friend DJ Skee. 

 

If my memory serves me correctly the first release date given to R.E.D was December the 1st 2009 (forgive me if I'm wrong and feel free to correct) we were given two street singles by Game for the first scratched release date, "Big  Money" Prod. by Cool & Dre and "Krazy" Ft. Gucci Mane and Timbaland Prod. By Timbo himself, on paper what could go wrong with these records? Not much you say but too me "Big Money" was a photocopy of  "Big Dreams" (probably my favourite Game street single) with a simple ass hook and lyrics we'd heard 101 times before, then came along "Krazy" which yet again on paper seemed like it could of been massive in the clubs/radio Gucci who was everywhere at the time dropping tape after tape and garnering so much attention didn't seem to buzz on the track like we may have hoped, was that due to a lackluster beat from Timbo who knows?

 

We by this time knew Game had been going heavy in the studio with Pharrel and the Neptunes and the first offering from the new combination of Game and Pharrel was the 'Super Mario' sounding Justin Timberlake crooned "Ain't No Doubt About It" which failed miserably due to Game seeming way out of his comfort zone, next came the scathing synthed "It Must Be Me" where Game sounded hungry as ever and Pharrell in my eyes blessed Game with some old school sounding funk and Game wen't the hell in, but for one reason or another the song never caught on, lack of promotion perhaps?

 

Moving on we had a couple more push backs in the December period and then we seemed to of had a concrete date in February 16th 2010 and the reason we were pushed back to this date was that Dre needed  more time to help wrap up the album (sure).  Then after another few push backs Game started hitting us with new and unheard material from left, right, and centre. He dropped the venemous "400 Bars" which showed to me how much Game had progressed lyrically as an MC. Shortly after this we got the first mixtape offering since YKWII4 in the form of "The RED Room" an odd mix of sorts but with some very high quality tracks as always from the 'Best from the West' we had scorchers in "Slangin Rocks", "Real Gangstas", "Gangs Of New York" and the Busta assisted "Lowrider" we as fans felt that this would of been enough to hold us over until the next promised release date of June 15th but yet again this date fell through. 

 

We then had another confirmed release date from Game of June 29th then July 6th but Game wanted to push this back to the 24th of August to coincide with Kobe Bryant. But as before all these dates unfortunately fell through, so Game then came with the hardest mixtape he had done in a hell of a long time in the form of Cool & Dre's heavily assisted "Break Lights" which had some of Games best tracks since the DA days in "Hustlin" "Blackout" and the very Eminem-esque "Stadium Music" again fans felt that this would feed the pain of longing for the R.E.D Album but without a date for a long while we were just wondering what the hell is going on? 

 

At the start of this year Game released arguably the best mixtape of his career in the form of "Purp And Patron" hosted by DJ Skee and Fatmaster "Dog Growling" Flex. With some HUGE features and MASSIVE production ranging from Dr. Dre to Rza and features from Su-Woo follower Weezy and heavy in the game Wiz Khalifa. Tracks like "I'm The King", "Dead", and "The Kill" were all heavily rotated by TIG'az and Game fans alike. A few days later Game decided to hit us with "The Hangover" another 15 tracks some of album quality and one track we had all longed for but felt let down when we finally heard it "White Soft Porn". And again we thought that this would hold us over but without a release date in site we once again grew angry, frustrated, and disillusioned as to whether we'd even hear the album at all.

 

Then came May where Game stated for the final time on Twitter that we were going to hear the long awaited album in August, as fans we became jubilated, finally we were going to hear the album, shortly after Game dropped the Weezy assisted Gang banging "RED Nation" which had the massive sample of Kernkraf 4000 "Zombie Nation", slightly under-performing on the charts and with lack of TV and radio play we as fans once again became worried, would another failed single mean a push back? But on June 22nd we had been told that POG was the next main single, with a dope video and a massive hook from Breezy it seemed like Game and R.E.D was coming.

 

Game at the start of the month has gone in heavy on radio, TV, and Twitter promotion to make sure that everyone know's about the album and as were just around the corner from the official in-store release I thought I'd break down the past 3 years and the album.

 

1. Dr. Dre Intro - Narration from Dre to me sets the tone of the album but comes off sounding ever so slightly forced from Dre but hey it's just some words. Production - N/A Feature N/A

 

2. The City Ft. Kendrick Lamar - One of the best tracks in Games whole career? I can see why InfraRED got scrapped for this because Game spits some of his hardest and deepest bars in a God damn minute, and Game gets the future King of the west on the album in Kendrick who also murders the hook and kills the accapella at the end spitting with his fast aggressive flow. Production by Cool & Dre was way above par and one of the best beats on the album, and as for features on this song you all know what K. Dot can do.

 

3.  Drug Test Ft. Dr. Dre & Snoop Dogg - This song is not what it could and not what it should be 3 West Coast legends on one track and you end up with some lackluster robotic ass flow from Game and Dre and less than 8 bars from Snoop, Khalils beat is ok but I would of expected more and as for the features Snoop might as well not even be listed and Dre is just horrible on this one for me it's a skip track, although I do like the way "The City" ends to flow in to this track.

 

4. Martians & Goblins Ft. Tyler & Weezy - Another knocking beat on the album which finds Game spitting some OFWGKTA shit by slamming on stars and taking the general piss out of people, the hook is pretty funky and Tylers verse is damn funny and he brings it nicely but I do think Game outshines Tyler and even ends up better than Tyler using his own flow.

 

5. RED Nation Ft. Weezy - I feel like this shouldn't have been on the album but fuck it, label decision perhaps?

 

6.  Dr. Dre Skit - Sets up for the next 3 tracks very nicely.

 

7. Good Girls Gone Bad Ft. Drake - Another highlight of the album Game brings his deep lyrics and gruff flow to rhyme some nice syllables and dedicate this to them ladies, Drake uses his charismatic charm to glow on the tracks but Game owns this one, and the production is top notch as always from Cool & Dre with a nice clap in the background.

 

8. Ricky - Another standout of the album with DJ Khalil sampling some Boyz N The Hood shit very fucking nicely, Game absolutely murks the beat and spits yet again some of his hardest bars to date. Khalil kills the beat and the sampling is so unreal.

 

9. The Good, The Bad, The Ugly - My personal favorite off the album, Games storytelling on this is crazy the beat is bananas and the lyrics are fucking insane.

 

10. Heavy Artillery Ft. Rick Ross & Beanie Sigel - Flows nicely from GBU and I really enjoy the hook on this one, Ross is hella nice, Game is somewhat forgettable and Beans brings the heat too, Streetrunner is someone to look out for in the future.

 

11. Paramedics Ft. Jeezy - Worst song of the album? By a 100 miles and gunning.

 

12. Speakers On Blast Ft Big Boi & E40 - A forgettable track and this is where the albums starts a small downward slope Game jocking that down South style again which I hate, and Big Boi an E40 are both mehh, and the beat sounds like it was made on Fruity Loops or some shit definitely a skip in my eyes.

 

13. Hello Ft Lloyd - Nice smooth joint Game has better bitch tracks though and Llyold is just annoying sounding like a girl, let's just leave it at that.

 

14. All The Way Gone Ft. Mario & Wale - Mehh.

 

15. POG - Ft Breezy - You know what it is.

 

16. Dr. Dre Skit - Unneeded.

 

17. All I Know Ft. Lu Breeze - Got a nice vibe to it Luu breeze is ok but could of had someone better, Game has some dope lyrics in this one and tells a nice story and the beat is a beast.

 

18. BITT - This is where the album picks up again for me Game murks the shit out of this Premier beat just like he said he would and Premier blesses him with a nice 90's sounding joint, hook is forgettable though.

 

19.  Mama Knows Ft. Nelly Furtado - DOPE DOPE DOPE, Game yet again kills this, and the beat from the Neptunes is smooth as mother, although Nelly Furtado sounds so bad it's untrue.

 

20. Cali Dream - Best way to end the album beat is amazing from Mars and I love how in depth Game goes in his lyrics and the voice recording at the end definitely another stand out track.

 

21. Dr. Dre Outro - Closes the album nicely and thats about it.

 

All in all I've listened to the album about 6-7 times now and I was way oveerhyped when I heard it and all in all this is not a classic it has classic material but the middle part of the album is piss poor filler tracks and he could of put a lot of other better tracks from his mixtapes on the album. Game has some of his best ever tracks on this album but he has just missed out on a classic all due to 3 tracks. Overall the album is a solid 8 out of 10.

 

Hope you enjoyed don't hate just my opinion.

 

R.E.Detox Your TIG Mod and LOYAL Game Fan. 

[TheDream]

Nice review agree with most of it really, I think Lloyd was good on the hook of 'hello' and luu breeze was nice too on 'all I know', paramedics not the worst on the album tho, SOB and All the way gone are the worst.

[R.E.Detox]

Props man was just keeping it real and yeah all the way gone was poor and SOB I just heavil disliked Paramedics that's all though haha.

Thanks for reading and being honest!

[Rikkid Germano]

Yeah you're right.....we were all overhyped when the album leaked but reading your review as a critical fan, I mostly agree with U.  Overall the album deserves mad sales compared 2 the bullshit that's thrown out there.

[Liam]

i dont really agree with this, think your sleepin on some tracks, you made it sound like rickys just ok when its unreal, and the 2 bitch tracks are dope tracks i think and deserve to be on the album, but paramedics and speakers on blast deffo should of been left off the album.. and all i know i think is a highlight but other than that its a good review

[Nas 10th Planet]

Its a damn shame Game and everyone else who worked on the album didn't realise this themselves. Sounds like Game was three tracks away from having a perfect LP.

[Keyser v Ricky]

Agree with most of it..hello is dope..mario track is too..luu breeze done good on the hook..nothing wrong with that..drug test is dope..for me it's just paramedics and SOB not album material..should have put west coast sounding tracks on..the album did lack the west vibe IMO..

[R.E.Detox]

@Lee fair enough bro just my opinion I do love Ricky its my second Fav track haha.

And @Keyser Hello is dope don't get me wrong I was just saying I do think he has better bitch tracks is all.

And Nas you damn right Game as always too many yes men but I feel some of the tracks were a label decision.

[Lil Maweezy]

Can't disagree with anything you said man, well spoken
Saying what we have all been thinking
Although I quite like the hello track and can see it changing people's minds after a few listens
Children's story would fit in nicely either before gbu or after heavy artillery, if they mastered it an shit
I thought it was stupid to put the mastered versions of mimh and rough in hoodmorning, they were quality tracks that would have fit in perfectly
I think it's about the sequence too, the strongest track are at the beggining and the end
But hey, I love this album, and everytime I listen to it, I can't believe I'm listening to THE red album, the one and only, the one we all anticipated for years, after the doubt and the anger, the disappointment and the fake tracklists haha 

[aftermathbws]

Exactly what my review would b bro... Good shit couldn't hav put it better myself!! It's the mid part of the album that's week but the rest is fire!!

[Nas 10th Planet]

Not long mate, we nearly at the promise land.

[R.E.Detox]

Haha props Jbo you my dude and respect for not listening believe me you will not be dissapointed.

[Nas 10th Planet]

The three tracks you don't like, can you see yourself changing your mind?

 

Also why does Game rap in other peoples voices? Game's voice is fucking dope, he shouldn't change it for some other rapper.