Twenty years ago today, on November 14, 2006, the Game released Doctor’s Advocate, his second studio album, through Geffen Records, per Wikipedia. It had one job: prove that Compton’s loudest new voice could win without Dr. Dre or 50 Cent in his corner.
The Backstory
The Game’s 2005 debut, The Documentary, came out through Aftermath, G-Unit and Interscope. Then the feud with 50 Cent exploded. Fif dismissed him from G-Unit on Hot 97, the diss records and mixtapes started flying, and in the summer of 2006 the Game left Aftermath and was moved over to Geffen, ending his contractual ties to G-Unit.
That meant no Dre beats on album two. The Game said as much on Power 105 that September. So he did the next best thing: he built a big-budget West Coast album and made Dre the subject of it. Dre’s name shows up on every song except “Wouldn’t Get Far.”
The Sound and the Standouts
The producer list was stacked: Kanye West, Just Blaze, Scott Storch, Hi-Tek, will.i.am, Swizz Beatz, J.R. Rotem, Nottz and more. Guests included Nas, Kanye, Busta Rhymes, Snoop Dogg, Nate Dogg, Tha Dogg Pound, Xzibit and Jamie Foxx.
The singles were “It’s Okay (One Blood)” with Junior Reid, which peaked at No. 71 on the Billboard Hot 100; “Let’s Ride,” which reached No. 46; and the Kanye-produced “Wouldn’t Get Far,” which hit No. 64. Deep cuts carried the album, though: the Just Blaze closer “Why You Hate the Game” with Nas and Marsha Ambrosius, the title track with Busta, and “California Vacation” with Snoop and Xzibit.
The Numbers
Doctor’s Advocate debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 358,000 copies in its first week, the Game’s second straight chart-topper. It also hit No. 1 on the R&B/Hip-Hop and Rap Albums charts and had sold 969,000 U.S. copies by October 2007, according to Nielsen SoundScan. It went gold in the U.K. and New Zealand, and critics were mostly kind, with a 73 on Metacritic. The New York Times named it one of the best albums of 2006.
The IAHHM Take
Twenty years later, Doctor’s Advocate plays like a breakup album aimed at a producer. That’s what makes it so 2006: a rap feud big enough to reshape label deals, and an artist turning that drama into his best work. The Game himself called it the best album of his career back in 2012.
It also kept West Coast gangsta rap on top of the charts during an era that belonged to the South and New York. If you’re in an anniversary mood this week, revisit our look back at Ghostface Killah’s Bulletproof Wallets. Better album: The Documentary or Doctor’s Advocate?
Source: Wikipedia
