The Game Still Got It. The Documentary III Just Needed Somebody to Tell Him Enough.

I had this album at a 6.5 when I first went through it. Then I spent more time with it and moved it up to a 7.5. Not because every song suddenly became fire, but because I started noticing how much good music The Game had actually put on here. The problem is he put a whole lot of other shit around it too. The Documentary III is 24 tracks and about an hour and a half long. By the time you finish, the best records are fighting for space in your memory with songs that probably didn't need to be there.

And I’m not somebody who came into this wanting to shit on Game. I grew up with “Big Dreams,” “Letter to the King,” “Dope Boys,” “House of Pain,” “Cali Sunshine” and “My Life.” That era of his music is tied to actual memories for me. I liked Drillmatic too, so I know he can still make music worth listening to. But nostalgia can’t be the rating system. If somebody else put these same 24 songs together, I’d still be asking why they didn’t cut the album down.

That West Coast sound is still the reason I show up

“20 Deep” is exactly what I want from this version of Game. It’s got that LA energy without feeling like he’s forcing himself to sound like the newest rapper out. “Scary Times” works for a similar reason: it has character, momentum and the type of atmosphere that actually makes the record stick after it ends. “Nothing 2 Hide” gives the project another dimension because it feels like he’s got something to say beyond just reminding you he can rap. And I liked “BABY” too. When the sound and his delivery line up, the shit feels easy.

What I also appreciate is that he still sounds connected to the West. On a record like “The Part,” he’s bringing in different generations of California artists, including Lefty Gunplay and AZ Chike. I don’t need every collaboration to become one of my favorite songs to appreciate what he’s trying to build with that lineup. The guests make sense on paper, but putting a lot of recognizable names together is not the same as making every record essential.

Then we get to “Sticks,” “In The Way” with Tyga, “Party At Game’s” and “HELLA.” Those are the records where I start thinking about the skip button. That doesn’t mean there isn't talent on them. They just don't hit me the way the best songs do. I don't want to hear a solid record right after a great record and feel like the album lost its momentum just to give everybody another placement. When you call something The Documentary III, the name itself makes me expect some level of editing.

Somebody had to tell him 24 was too many

This is where people sometimes confuse a long tracklist with a generous album. I'm sure there's a listener who loves the songs I would take off, and that's cool. I'm talking about how the whole project plays. Twenty-four songs gives you room to show every side of yourself, but it also gives you twenty-four chances to mess up the pacing. On here I hear stretches that could've been tighter, more deliberate and a lot harder to criticize.

In my head there's an 18-track version of The Documentary III that probably gets an 8 out of 10 from me. Not a different album with different producers. Just this one with six choices made a little more carefully. If a track isn't adding something to the story, the energy or the replay value, it doesn't deserve to stay just because the artist recorded it.

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I'm leaving it at 7.5/10. Game can rap. Game still knows how to put that California feeling into a song. I don't need convincing on either one. I just wish somebody close to the project had loved the good records enough to make the hard cuts. The album didn't need more music. It needed more restraint.