The Game Talks About Nas Co-signing The Album Title “Drillmatic” And Lil Durk Getting It First.
The Game raised a few eyebrows earlier this year when he said the name of his new album is Drillmatic: Heart vs. Mind. The title is a nod to Nas’ groundbreaking 1994 debut and the popular subgenre of Hip Hop that is more associated with Chicago, London, and New York than with his hometown of Compton.
But The Game told HipHopDX in a recent interview that he made sure both Nas and Chicago drill star Lil Durk liked the name before deciding on it.
“At first, I gave [the name] Drillmatic to Durk because he’s from the Chi and it sounds like a drill,” he said. “I texted Durk, ‘Yo, you should call your next album Drillmatic,'” he said. And he said, “Wow, that’s cool.” Then two years went by, and he didn’t call anything Drillmatic anymore, so I said, “I’m going to pull that back in.”
Dr. Dre helped The Game break into the mainstream in the middle of the 2000s. On Drillmatic: Heart vs. Mind, he works with Hit-Boy, a West Coast producer who has become Nas’ go-to partner in recent years. During an early Drillmatic session at Hit’s studio, Game ran into the Queensbridge MC and got his approval for his new album.
“Hit-Boy hit me on January 1, and he asked, ‘Whatchu doing?'” And I was like, ‘Shit, I’m smoking.’ “He said, “We should make an album,” he remembered. “So I drove up to his studio and we did three songs that day, three songs the next day, three songs the next day, and so on until we had nine songs. He says, “We need a name.” I thought, “That’s a drill.”
“The next day, on the fourth day, Nas was in the room making music with Hit. I told him about the title, and he liked it, so I went with it. Because I don’t want to step on anyone’s toes, especially when it comes to people I admire. So yeah, we got Nas’s approval, we started to run it, and then it took on a life of its own, and now we’re here.”
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The Game’s goal with Drillmatic, as the name suggests, is to bridge the gap between the Illmatic era of Hip Hop that he grew up with and the new sounds of the drill wave, while still adding his style to the mix.
“Now is a drill. All of these kids are drilling this and that, so I need to get their attention because I want the new school to know that my school and the new school can work together. “, he said. “Also, when you hear me on a drill beat, there will be a message in it.
“That’s why my album is called Drillmatic: Heart vs. Mind: sometimes when we wake up, we don’t care much about anything. We don’t always feel 100% when we wake up. Some days I wake up happy and in love with the world, and other days I’m very angry about what’s going on. Every single person on Earth faces a new challenge every single day.”
People still think of Illmatic as one of the best rap albums of all time, so naming an album after it comes with a lot of expectations. But The Game isn’t afraid of the pressure. He thinks Drillmatic will be the best album of the year, even though Kendrick Lamar, Pusha T, Vince Staples, and others have already put out great albums.
He said, “We’re about to release the best rap album in, I don’t know how long.” “I don’t care who’s putting out an album or who dropped, nothing will be better than this album… I put everything I am, including my heart, soul, and mind, into this album. This album took more work than The Documentary, The Doctor’s Advocate.
“Drillmatic won’t let you down at all, not even a little bit. And if it does, you’re just making it up. Stop listening to my crap, look in the mirror, and talk to yourself about how you feel about real rap music. It’s going to freak you out. You’ve never heard me rap like this before, and you might never hear me rap like this again.”
This year, Drillmatic: Heart vs. Mind will come out. Check out The Game’s chat with HipHopDX below.
