1 Intro: Sea of Sin A minute instrumental with strings and guitar with a small amount of Ed vocals. Feels pointless to me. 2 No Smoke Goes for the epic opener. Good but not great. As with a lot of this album, Game talks about his time in hip hop and what he has brought to the genre. "Bridge the gap between mumble rap and these killers / Bridge the gap between smokers and lean sippers." 3 Five Hundred Dollar Candles Begins with some beautiful keys with an interviewer asking a gang member why he is proud of being in a gang. From there, the song features a chill beat and Game raps largely about his come-up and gang life. "I went from broke, fantasizin' 'bout Christina Aguilera / To puttin' TVs in the dash of my mama's Xterra." 4 The Light The opening with 'Open Your Eyes' by Bobby Caldwell is great. While this has grown on me since the first listen, from the intro, it's a song packed with name dropping, Game just says nothing interesting and the beat isn't strong. 5 Carmen Electra One of my favourites. D'Angelo's 'Devil's Pie' sample makes the beat dope and helps with the nice flow on the hook. 6 Dead Homies The 'ain't all Suge' phrase he uses a few times throughout this album annoys me. Not the most cohesive song. Something about performing sexual acts with women for the ones we've lost. 7 Gold Daytonas "Bron-Bron." that he also uses a few times sounds like a pet name or something. It sounds weird coming from a 40 year old man. A song that isn't about much. The weakest so far I'd say. 8 West Side It surprised me to see this being received worse than the other single, 'Stainless'. This is much better. Lyrically it's general g-rap but there isn't any name dropping, the beat is dope and Game comes with aggression. Probably still my favourite from the album. I wish it had a third verse, but like a number of songs here, it's just two. 9 40 Ounce Love The beat doesn't really change between the verses and hook. Another brag rap tune, with other elements like people asking for shit from him, that doesn't have a focus. "You still got your hand out like I ain't did enough for you." 10 Gucci Flip Flops This is a lil' more introspective about retirement and death. The beat is nice, sampling something, but again there is no musical difference to distinguish the beat from the hook. 11 Born 2 Rap The hook is good where Game borrows from Geto Boys' 'Mind Playing Tricks on Me'. Lyrically, Game celebrates his come-up and success. One of the strongest. "I sit alone in my room in the zone writin' classics." 12 Welcome Home I haven't heard a lot of Nipsey but if this is how he usually raps and rhymes I don't see the fuss with him. He ends every bar with "nigga" on the hook which brings it done a notch. Good song though. Game raps well. 13 Interlude: Help Me Eh. Sly croons acapella. 14 I Didn't Wanna Write This Song Nipsey tribute song. "Stevie Wonder singin', he can't even see your coffin." It's heartfelt but it's kind of boring. Maybe it needed more in the hook. 15 The Code I like this one, but again, it's full of repetitive lyrics we've all heard before. Production is nice. 16 Stay Down A chick tune with Bryson taking over at times. 17 Hug the Block As Game normally has had on his albums, here is the personal track. Game directs this song at his brother. Another strong track. 18 Ask for Me Game's change of voice on the hook annoys me a bit but this is one of the best thanks to the fast keys. 19 Stainless Game says very little new or interesting here and it is full of name dropping. If people like this it's probably because of Paak's long chorus. 20 Gangstas Make the Girls Go Wild Sounds like the Chris Brown and Game featured Nas song 'Make The World Go Round'. I think they both sample 'People Make the World Go Round'. 21 Blood Thicker Than Water 22 Rewind II Game does his own version of the creative 'Rewind' from Nas' Stillmatic where he tells a story backwards. 23 One Life This sounds like something else as well. I'm thinking Nas' 'Stay' but it could be something else. About taking risks, living your life. "They told Dre not to sign that nigga and he a hot head" 24 Cross on Jesus Back Sounds like a beat that would be perfect for Kendrick. Vibey tune with a good hook, but I'm not sure how well all of the lyrics connect to it. 25 Roadside Apparently Ed Sheeran and Game were working on a project together a while back which might explain why he is here twice. Maybe they are from those sessions. Game gets conscious, touching on a number of topics from racism, losing loved ones, religion and XXX. It's alright. Not one I'll rush back to in the future. There's something about it including Game's vocals that sound different to the rest of the songs. Sounds lower Q. - I've been a fan of The Game since the days of 'The Documentary. I've eagerly anticipated each album and after a number of spins of this I'd say if this is the way he is gong out, he is going out with one of his worst albums. The main reason I say that is, be it, 'Westside Story', 'It's Okay (One Blood)', ' Letter to the King', 'Ricky', 'Blood Diamonds' and to a lesser degree, 'Step Up', almost all have had at least one track to go back to years later. There is nothing I find to be amazing here and there are 25 songs! I'd rather this than a 7 track album with 2 minute songs but if the success rate isn't high, it's very noticeable. Given he has said it's his last album, there are a number of songs that would have fitted as a closer, instead it feels like a collection of songs rather than a well-sequenced album. He has never been a brilliant songwriter but I feel this is a step down. I don't think he has a lot left to say. After all of the music he has dropped though, it isn't surprising. In terms of the beats, Game has had some of the best ears of any rapper. Most of the production is good here but there isn't much if anything that touches what he's had before. There are probably fewer bangers too, with more of a chill/vibey feel overall, which fits the theme of being his swansong, but makes for a worse album. I think a few not having much or anything to make the hook standout from the verses contributes to these feelings as well. When an artist gives you a lot of music, I'm generally of the opinion that you shouldn't be too critical when a few don't work if the high moments are high enough, but they're not here. Beats: ★★★☆ Rapping/Bars: ★★★ Hooks: ★★☆ Best Tracks: Five Hundred Dollar Candles, Carmen Electra, West Side, Born 2 Rap, Hug the Block, Ask for Me, Cross on Jesus Back.

Overall the general consensus seems to be that this is better to a lot better than disc one, but I don't know about that. It doesn't have as many below-average songs as disc one but there's less I love here. The argument for Game having so many features on his albums is more apparent here. The first two tracks feel like Anderson .Paak songs. [A better version of Magnus Carlsen - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kli_scuxZCU,Magnus Carlsen]. Wayne returns for another average hook, 'Intoxicated' is only Deion and feels like mostly an interlude, we have Game's son's lacklustre rapping and then the other average 'posse' tracks with 'My Flag / Da Homies' and 'Moment of Violence'. 'Quik's Groove' is one of the highlights here where Game does his best Suga Free impersonation on verse one. Best Tracks: The Ghetto, Gang Related, Last Time You Seen, Quik's Groove, Outside

With the first track 'Bigger Than Me', Game takes shots at the current generation of rappers. There are one or two questionable bars but it goes hard enough to be one I won't be unhappy to hear again. 'F.U.N' (Fuck U Niggas) is a similar type of gangsta rap song and the following 'Really' is good as well. Game gets Wayne for another hook, this time for 'Fuck Your Feelings'. This song's main problem is the lazy boring hook, and the second problem is Game over autotune. The strength of this album is the most socially conscious song, 'The Purge'. I don't know if fans would want a whole album of conscious hip hop from Game, but they are often effective when he makes them. From there it's mostly average. The array of features continues and there's nothing much after 'Trouble on My Mind' that comes close to being memorable. As I felt hearing the snippets, there is little enjoyment in the second portion of the project. A compilation nonetheless, but I think this is the least I have enjoyed a retail Game project. The beats, often a strength, are by far the most average he has had on any of his solo projects, with Game falling into the current trap trend too often. 2.5-2/5 Best Tracks: F.U.N, Really, The Purge

Some of These Beats!> With Game's fifth album he creates his first concept album described by Game as: "It's not a Christian album, it's not an album that's strictly about church or nothin'. It's just a constant battle with religion and street life and Hip Hop and lyricism and bitches and your wife and your kids and just the struggle." This also brings about Game's most concise album with the standard edition only containing 12 songs. Lyrically, Game doesn't really have the skills to make it feel like a concept album though. There are still numerous name drops and brand names like Gucci/Versace mentioned many times as expected, and it never feels very structured nor does it flow like a concept album needs to. However, Game has always been able to pick a good beat which probably comes from him being such a student of the game. This has always undoubtedly been his largest strength as an artist and that continues on this project with the production being mostly successful featuring some aspects I love in hip hop, such as choir/church influences to many songs. [i]What doesn't work[/i]: The opener 'Scared Now' ain't bad, but it doesn't quite bang enough, lyrically I'm not feeling Game a lot and Meek Mill is a rapper who has never impressed me. 'All That Lady' is more pop and while there isn't much pop rap featured, the pop doesn't work as well here just like it doesn't on 'R.E.D.' The production isn't bad with 'Lady' by D'Angelo being sampled, but I don't love any of the features on this song and it is the track that I've played the least. The penultimate track 'Freedom' again has a very recognisable sample and the main problem is where the track stops for Game to take a call from Birdman about 1:40 into the song. Game, we know that you've got a lot of famous friends... With the sample the beat feels unoriginal and it feels like a long song to me. 'Celebration' finishes the standard edition and again feels more pop and is passable at best. One of the bonus tracks, 'I Remember', features Game using autotune and is pretty catchy but is another weak track. [i]What Works[/i]: Pretty much everything else. The other bonus track 'Blood Diamonds' works on all levels for me, except that Game may be lamenting the bling culture, but then on so many other tracks he encourages materialism. I guess this is the struggle he was talking about. He isn't the first rapper who can be accused of hypocrisy though. From 'Ali Bomaye' to 'Church' and 'Heaven's Arms' to 'Hallelujah' the run of tracks are great. Remove 'That Lady' and that's nine fairly dope hip hop songs in a row. There are many features as there have always been on a Game album, but most fit the song that they are on, especially Pusha T who sounds great on the 'Name Me King' beat. I do feel though that Common's verse feels a bit out of place on 'Jesus Piece'. His rhyme pattern is so different to the rest of the song. Overall, there are catchy hooks, fine rapping-albeit Game's repetitive lyrics at times-and some awesome production. Beats: ★★★★☆ Bars: ★★★☆ Best Tracks: Ali Bomaye, Jesus Piece, Pray, Heaven's Arms, Name Me King, Can't Get Right, Blood Diamonds

I agree with many early reviews that this album is not great, but I like it. Yes, Game name drops a huge amount and a lot of his subject matter is repeated from other songs, but I can still listen to this album from start to end as The Game still entertains. On the production side of things, LAX is on the whole weaker than his past two albums and not as hard, but again, I like most of it ('House of Pain' is the one song that really doesn't fit what the rest of the album does). The 'a lot of guest appearances' complaint doesn't completely stack up as most of them are just on the chorus (which happens a great deal in the hip hop genre), or in Travis Barker's case, a drummer. If you like Game's past stuff and don't mind a hip hop album without some of the tracks taking you on a lyrical journey you will like this. The production is still more than solid. Best Tracks: Letter to the King, Dope Boys, Money, Game's Pain, Never Can Say Goodbye, My Life