The Game, born Jayceon Taylor, is from the birthplace of West Coast Rap, Compton, CA. A former gang member who turned to rap after being shot five times and left for dead, The Game is about peace, not war.

His 2005 debut album, “The Documentary” (Aftermath/G Unit/Interscope), was a close collaboration with heavy-hitter producers including Dr. Dre, Kanye West, 50 Cent. Spawning the hit singles "How We Do" and "Hate It or Love It" (the latter receiving two Grammy nominations), the album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and was the tenth best selling album of 2005 in the United States. It also debuted at number seven in the United Kingdom and sold over five million copies worldwide.

“The Documentary” Reviews: “… ‘The Documentary’ still shapes up as one of the best rap albums of the year ...” – Billboard magazine

“Amazingly solid.” – E! Online

“This CD is easy to enjoy because it's a triumph of production and persona over performance.” - Los Angeles Times

“Production biggies have brought some truly tasty heat rockets to the table, nearly rendering Game's well-studied, adaptable flow an afterthought.” - Entertainment Weekly

"A lot of rap today is bubblegum .. that says nothing and means nothing to anybody .." says The Game. "I'm not knocking anybody's hustle but I can't feel what's in hip-hop today. Everybody's rapping but they're not saying anything.”

What all three have in common is the guiding hand of Dr. Dre, Compton's own and one of the founding members of NWA. "The best moment I've had in rap was walking into his studio in 2002 and Dre saying he heard a mix tape of my freestyles and wanted to sign me," says Game. "Trying to act cool? I was frozen. I'm still star-struck with Dre. He's been almost 20 years at the top. That I get to soak up the game from a musical genius like him gives me a 20-year head start on everybody else. He's like the father I never had.

Game's beloved grandmother nicknamed him “Game” because he was always game for anything — basketball, running track, riding bikes, playing in the streets. Family problems related to his father caused him to be placed in a foster home from third grade to ninth grade. Soon after he was returned to his mother, one of his older brothers, Jevon, was shot and killed. The Game then started running behind another older brother, Big Fase 100, who had been taken in by the Cedar Block Piru Bloods, even though they grew up in a Crip neighborhood called Santana Block on Compton's East Side.

Fase tried to keep him away, once it became clear that Game was going to be there, his brother was determined to teach him how to survive on the streets. Then, after graduating high school in 1999, an older adopted brother, Charles, was shot and killed. "People don't know what type of toll that takes on your life," he says. "Especially being young and just fresh out in the world." A one-time star shooting guard for Compton High School who was offered college scholarships, the 6-foot-4 Game now started “gangbangin” — car thefts, drug dealing and shootings. Finding him too much to handle, his mother kicked him out of her house.

In 2000, Game and his brother moved into the projects in a nearby city and took over its drug trade. Their success attracted rivals. Late on the night of October 1, 2001, Game was alone in their apartment he became victim to a home invasion. "That was the biggest learning experience ever in my life. This sounds crazy but I appreciate that happening to me, because I'd probably be dead if it didn't. Anybody who gets shot and survives feels lucky. On the other hand I went through so much already that I felt somebody owed me. Now I could live out my dreams."

He sent his brother to buy new copies of all the classic rap albums, East Coast and West Coast — Dre's The Chronic, Big's Ready To Die, Jay-Z's Reasonable Doubt, Ice Cube's Death Certificate, Snoop's Doggystyle, 2Pac's All Eyez On Me, every Kool G Rap record, and anything from NWA. He studied them carefully over the next five months. In December 2001, he rapped for the first time. "I mixed everybody's style into one. That's why some people feel that I sound like I'm from the East Coast even though I rap about the West Coast."

He also hopes the purpose of the graphic nature of The Documentary doesn't get twisted. "I'm telling my story. I'm out to please no one but myself. I'm not telling anybody to sell drugs or pick up guns. When I sold drugs it was because it was my last resort, because I had four sisters and an older brother and we were eating Cheerios on Thanksgiving. When I picked up a gun it was because my life was threatened. If you don't want to hear that; then don't listen. I'm not glorifying the life I lived because I wouldn't wish that on anybody. I'm just one human being raised in the 'hood who wanted nothing more than to get out."

His sole regret is that his grandmother — the only person who ever believed he could make it out — passed away before she could see his success not just in rap but in life. In summer 2003, Game became a father for the first time with son Harlem Caron Taylor. Baron Davis, a basketball team mate in high school and current NBA all-star, was named Harlem's godfather. Game welcomed his second son, King Justice, on April 25, 2007.

The rapper's second album “Doctor's Advocate” (Geffen Records) was released on November 14, 2006. This album was set out by The Game to prove that he is able to make good music and be a successful artist without the help of Dr. Dre or 50 Cent. The album debuted at number one in the U.S., selling over 358,000 copies its first week.

On March 9, 2008, The Game was released from Twin Towers Correctional Facility in California, after serving eight days of a scheduled 60-day sentence for a felony charge of possession of a firearm in a school zone. The charge stemmed from a February 2007 incident in which prosecutors argued Game punched a bystander and threatened him with a gun during a pick-up basketball game at the Rita Walters Educational Learning Complex in Los Angeles. The rapper wasn't arrested for the incident until three months later, when police searched his home for three hours in connection with the incident.

In February of this year, Game pleaded no contest to the charge and was sentenced to prison and ordered to complete 150 hours of community service and serve three years' probation. "He is now on probation and will eagerly begin his court-ordered community service," his lawyer said.

There's more than anger in this next generation NWA. There's pride and even optimism for the future. "As humans we grow and the next album will be about how I'm living now — and I'm loving life." The Game has only just begun.