'Death Penatly' - The Game

As I was searching for this song, I stumbled upon results for a Californian ‘Death Penalty’ of a more literal sense. When I finally found our song; Death Penalty by The Game, I felt like I was strapped to an electric chair: An initial sense of anticipation, quickly followed by an impending doom that comes crashing down into a jumbled mess of rap verses that hold little musical ingenuity. The opening seconds promise us the world, the dance synth taking precedence here and constructing an aura of intrigue. But then the rap verses start, and it was all downhill from here.

I thought we left the ‘thugs for life’ era of hip-hop back in the 90’s, but apparently ‘The Game’ didn’t get the memo. It’s all about guns, drugs and prison; his AK47 ‘riding shotty’ as he cruises the ‘mean streets’. And forgive me for being insensitive, but hasn’t the whole ‘look where I came from’ angle been done to death by both rappers and now Hollywood, who transformed it into feature length films like Get Rich or Die Trying and Notorious? Lyrically, the song lacks depth; but that’s to be expected from a rap collaboration album. The slower tempo could have been incredibly effective, the deep, reverberating bass driving the songs tempo. But it is coupled by some seriously uninspired vocals, and the constant staccato chime of a hit hat hardly inspires excitement.

I give this a 1½ out of 5.