The Game has taken a step back from his past feuds with Jay-Z and Eminem, characterizing them as “competition” rather than genuine animosity. In a recent interview with VladTV, the Compton rapper clarified that his past jabs at both weren’t fueled by genuine malice.
“It was never really no malice, it was more hip hop thing. [Jay-Z] was the top dog, I tend to do that,” The Game said. “Even on my last album [Drillmatic] throwing shots at Eminem and beefing with Eminem, It was just me being upset with Dr. Dre. Dr. Dre can’t out-rap me so I just went at Em just because that’s how I get sometimes.”
He clarifies that the competitive banter doesn’t translate to real-life animosity, “It ain’t like Ima see Em and be like ‘what’s up now?’ It’s Em,” he says, then cracks a smile, calling the Detroit legend a “funny guy” after the recent diss on EZ Mil’s “Realest.”
Speaking on his 2012 track “My B****” where he dissed both Jay-Z, and 50 Cent, Game acknowledges, “I get real disrespectful when I’m beefing and Jay took all that shit to heart, and I don’t know if he’s forgiving it at this point. It’s been a long time.”
Jay-Z did clear 8 records for Game’s latest album “Drillmatic,” which Game notes as a sign of good faith. In a 2022 interview with the Rap Radar Podcast, the “One Blood” rapper admitted he wasn’t sure Jay-Z would be willing to clear the samples because of their “tricky past,” but says he was hopeful the Blueprint rapper would realize how much he has matured since then.
“I think at this point he knows that I have grown and I have matured,” Game said. “And also, of course, he has grown, I mean, he’s grown and been grown. And his wisdom, you know, just by far is…it’s Hov, man, you know what I’m saying? And I’m pretty sure from afar he sees my growth. We have mutual friends, Swizz, Tim, Pharrell. So he know what’s up. And I was hoping he cleared ‘em.”
As for Eminem, in the same interview with DJ Vlad (posted on Saturday, December 9), The Game admitted working with The Marshall Mathers LP creator on his chart-topping debut album was “one of the highlights” of his career.
“Watching Eminem record and his whole recording process,” he said. “That might’ve been one of the highlights of my career, because I don’t know if you want to call it weird or legendary or some Einstein type of shit, evil genius type of shit, but Em is a very, very complex and different individual in good ways.
“When he writes raps, he turns the paper around — he just writes in circles and turns it. When he reads it, he turns it back the opposite way and starts to read it … when we were using paper, I don’t know his recording process these days […] That process was dope. I’m forever grateful for being able to experience, y’know, prime Eminem in his essence in Detroit.”
