The Game

The Game rose to fame with help from Dr. Dre, who godfathered 2005's The Documentary, a smash that featured a cameo by 50 Cent. But a feud with Fiddy was followed by the sudden end of the Game's label deal — a split that indicates with whom Dre sided. As a result, the Game has something to prove on his first CD for Geffen. Too bad he spends so much time rationalizing the past instead of looking to the future. Plenty of production pros turn up here, and with Scott Storch, Swizz Beatz and (predictably) will.i.am on the payroll, the beats are mostly high-quality. Trouble is, the lyrics on cuts such as "It's Okay (One Blood)" compulsively return to the fact that Dre is out of the picture — a gambit that gets mighty monotonous mighty fast. On Advocate, the Game is reminiscent of a divorced man who can't stop talking about his ex-wife, even when he's on a date with someone else. Sounds like he could use a good doctor.