Jesus Piece is a well-produced album that appeals to a huge audience as it’s chock-full of features. It cements Game’s place as one of the best modern-day rappers and marks 2012 as his comeback year.
Though he did fall off the map for a while, fans will remember 2012 as the year Game made his triumphant comeback. First, he released The R.E.D Album to critical acclaim and followed that up with the recent release of Jesus Piece – an album that could go down as one of Game’s best. From the eerie synth in the opening seconds of “Scared Now” to the last thought-provoking lyrics of “Blood Diamonds,” the album has you absolutely hooked. Game’s great ear for production is evident throughout the album, none more so than the opening two tracks with the production of “Scared Now” outdoing the strong verses laid down by Game and rising star Meek Mill; “Ali Bomaye” is great for its catchy hook courtesy of Game and his subsequent verse but Rick Ross and 2 Chainz can’t seem to match Game’s lyricism, a fault one doesn’t seem to notice as that hook and beat is so catchy that it’s the only thing stuck in your head. The next two tracks on the album are absolute classics with Kanye and Common hopping on “Jesus Piece” followed by a rare J.Cole feature on “Pray”, a track about past lovers and the practice of safe sex – it’s entertaining that the chorus consists of the rappers praying that they didn’t contract anything.
Game’s ability to get the right features for the right song is evident throughout the album as Lil Wayne, Big Sean, Fabolous, and Jeremih feature on “All That (Lady)” but despite the number of artists, it doesn’t sound clustered; he gets Pusha T to spit one of his best verses on easily the best track of the album in “Name Me King,” and then gets Kendrick Lamar to follow that up on “See No Evil.” The best part of these songs is that the verses from Game aren’t weak, he can hold up the track by himself, the features just support him and add an extra dimension to the song allowing them to thrive. This is best exemplified by “Hallelujah” on which Game pays tribute to the late George Jefferson and Jamie Foxx helps him out brilliantly on the chorus.
Throughout the album, the theme of church – going to it, taking people to it, or the struggle between living a certain lifestyle yet remaining religious – and doing good for society is prevalent. Lines of his revelations to do with his past as a blood, his new outlook on life, and general view on society creep up throughout each track as it seems to be the main topic of choice for the Compton native. His feeling of brotherhood and unjust in the world is evident on the last track of the album, “Blood Diamonds” on which Game speaks on the diamond conflict in Africa with aplomb. In years, Jesus Piece will go down as one of Game’s best albums along with The Documentary. Each track brings a different quality to the overall sound of the album and even though features litter the album, they help it be the giant it is by supplying Game with support and with the likes of Kendrick Lamar, Lil Wayne, and Kanye West on different tracks, the album appeals across a wide array of audiences. Even though he has the classic gangster tracks on it, Game dares to go outside his comfort zone and he leaves your head buzzing with thoughts and anticipating his next album eagerly.
