"Put You on the Game" is a single by American rapper and

West Coast hip hop West Coast hip-hop is a regional genre of Hip-hop, hip-hop music that encompasses any artists or music that originated in the West Coast of the United States. West Coast hip-hop began to dominate from a radio play and sales standpoint during th ...

artist the Game, released as the final single from his debut album, ''

The Documentary ''The Documentary'' is the debut studio album by American rapper the Game. It was released on January 18, 2005, by Aftermath Entertainment, G-Unit Records, and Interscope Records. The record serves as his major-label debut, preceded by his i ...

''. Written by the Game himself and produced by both

Timbaland Timothy Zachery Mosley (born March 10, 1972), known professionally as Timbaland, is an American record producer and rapper. Born and raised in Norfolk, Virginia, he is widely acclaimed for his distinctive production work and "stuttering" rhythm ...

and co-produced by Danja, the song was the album's fifth official single, and it was released on August 30, 2005. This was the first single released by the Game after a beef with former fellow

G-Unit G-Unit (short for Guerilla-Unit). was an American hip hop group formed by longtime friends and East Coast rappers 50 Cent, Tony Yayo, and Lloyd Banks. After amassing a string of self-released mixtapes in the early 2000s, the group released ...

member

50 Cent Curtis James Jackson III (born July 6, 1975), known professionally as 50 Cent, is an American rapper, actor, and television producer. Born in Queens, a borough of New York City, Jackson began pursuing a musical career in 1996. In 1999–2000, ...

fell apart and after the Game released the mixtape titled ''You Know What It Is Vol. 3''. Also failing to match the popularity of his previous singles, and failing to chart on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, the song peaked at number 96 on the

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...

chart. The song was placed 44th on

About.com Dotdash Meredith (formerly The Mining Company, About.com and Dotdash) is an American digital media company based in New York City. The company publishes online articles and videos about various subjects across categories including health, hom ...

's Best Hip-Hop Songs of 2005. The Game refers to a number of artists, songs and albums in "Put You on the Game", including ''

The Chronic ''The Chronic'' is the debut studio album by American rapper and producer Dr. Dre. It was released on December 15, 1992, by his record label Death Row Records along with Interscope Records and distributed by Priority Records. The recording ses ...

'',

N.W.A N.W.A (an abbreviation for Niggaz Wit Attitudes) was an American hip-hop group formed in Compton, California in 1987. Among the earliest and most significant figures of the gangsta rap subgenre, the group is widely considered one of the great ...

, Makaveli,

the Notorious B.I.G. Christopher George Latore Wallace (May 21, 1972 – March 9, 1997), better known by his stage names the Notorious B.I.G., Biggie Smalls, or simply Biggie, was an American rapper. Rooted in the New York rap scene and gangsta rap tradi ...

Public Enemy Public Enemy is an American Hip-hop, hip hop group formed in Roosevelt, New York, in 1985 by Chuck D and Flavor Flav. The group rose to prominence for their political messages including subjects such as Racism in the United States, American r ...

Flavor Flav William Jonathan Drayton Jr. (born March 16, 1959), known by his stage name Flavor Flav ( ), is an American rapper and television personality. Known for his catchphrase "Yeah, boyeeeeee!" when performing, he is a founding member alongside Chuck ...

Dr. Dre Andre Romell Young (born February 18, 1965), known professionally as Dr. Dre, is an American rapper, record producer, record executive, and actor. He is the founder and CEO of Aftermath Entertainment and Beats Electronics, and co-founder of ...

and his song "

Let Me Ride "Let Me Ride" is a song by American rapper and producer Dr. Dre, released in August 1993 by Death Row, Interscope and Priority as the third and final single from his debut studio album, ''The Chronic'' (1992). It experienced moderate success on ...

Eve Eve is a figure in the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible. According to the origin story, "Creation myths are symbolic stories describing how the universe and its inhabitants came to be. Creation myths develop through oral traditions and there ...

, and

Snoop Dogg Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. ( ; born October 20, 1971), better known by his stage name Snoop Dogg (previously Snoop Doggy Dogg), is an American rapper, record producer, and actor. Rooted in West Coast hip-hop, he is widely regarded as one of t ...

. During the DVD ''

Stop Snitchin, Stop Lyin ''Stop Snitchin–Stop Lyin'' is the sixth mixtape album/DVD by rapper the Game. It features artists like Lil' Kim, Ice Cube, E-40, Chingy, WC, Paul Wall and others. Certification In 2006 the mixtape was certified platinum in Ireland Ir ...

'' the Game watches the video for this song pausing at specific spots in the video which shows a dead man on the ground blocked off by police tape. The Game then repeatedly states that he is wearing G-Unit sneakers, a diss at 50 Cent saying his career is dead.

Background and recording

The Game's management team were keen for him to work with Timbaland, as they felt ''The Documentary'' needed another potential single and wanted to take advantage of Timbaland's popularity at the time. Per

Aftermath Entertainment Aftermath Entertainment is an American record label founded by hip hop producer and rapper Dr. Dre in 1996. It operates as a subsidiary of Universal Music Group, and is distributed through Interscope Records. The label's roster includes artists ...

A&R Angelo Sanders, once the collaboration had been arranged Timbaland would frequently turn up to the recording studio at "two, three in the morning" having been out partying the night before, supposedly to give him a better idea of current music trends. This creative process eventually inspired him to create the instrumental of "Put You on the Game".

Lawsuit

Two years after its release a lawsuit was filed from a Major India Record Company Saregama India,

, co-producer Nate "Danja" Hills, the Game,

Interscope Records Interscope Records is an American record label based in Santa Monica, California, owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture ...

along with a few other Production companies were being sued for using an uncleared sample. The sample in question is from the Bollywood song "Baghon Mein Bahar Hai" from the 1969 soundtrack to the movie Aradhana.

Music video

The music video features the Game with many appearances by his current and former Black Wall Street affiliates. The video shows various places in

Los Angeles County Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles and sometimes abbreviated as LA County, is the most populous county in the United States, with 9,663,345 residents estimated in 2023. Its population is greater than that of 40 individua ...

, including

downtown Los Angeles Downtown Los Angeles (DTLA) is the central business district of the city of Los Angeles. It is part of the Central Los Angeles region and covers a area. As of 2020, it contains over 500,000 jobs and has a population of roughly 85,000 residents ...

and Compton. The video shows many Los Angeles landmarks such as

Staples Center Crypto.com Arena (originally and colloquially known as Staples Center) is a multi-purpose indoor arena in downtown Los Angeles. Opened on October 17, 1999, as Staples Center, it is located next to the Los Angeles Convention Center complex along F ...

, the

Watts Towers The Watts Towers, Towers of Simon Rodia, or ''Nuestro Pueblo'' ("our town" in Spanish) are a collection of 17 interconnected sculptural towers, architectural structures, and individual sculptural features and mosaics within the site of the arti ...

, and

LAX A lax is a salmon. LAX as an acronym most commonly refers to Los Angeles International Airport in Southern California, United States. LAX or Lax may also refer to: Places Within Los Angeles * Union Station (Los Angeles), Los Angeles' main tr ...

Remixes

* There is a remix of the song featuring

Fabolous John David Jackson (born November 18, 1977), known professionally as Fabolous, is an American rapper. Raised in Brooklyn, he first gained recognition for his ability upon performing live on DJ Clue's WQHT, Hot 97 radio show. Jackson then signed ...

and

Fat Joe Joseph Antonio Cartagena (born August 19, 1970), better known by his stage name Fat Joe, is an American rapper. He began recording as a member of Hip-hop, hip hop group D.I.T.C., Diggin' in the Crates Crew (D.I.T.C.) in 1992, and pursued a sol ...

. Another remix was made later with

Kanye West Ye ( ; born Kanye Omari West ; June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, singer and record producer. One of the most prominent figures in hip-hop, he is known for his varying musical style and polarizing cultural and political commentary. After ...

. A third remix was made featuring

Bun B Bernard James Freeman (born March 19, 1973), known professionally as Bun B, is an American rapper. He is best known as one half of the Southern rap duo UGK (Underground Kingz), a group he formed in 1987 alongside Pimp C. Aside from his work wi ...

Chamillionaire Hakeem Temidayo Seriki (born November 28, 1979), better known by his stage name Chamillionaire (), is an American rapper. He began his career in Houston's hip hop scene in the late 1990s. He was briefly signed with the local record label Swishah ...

and

Slim Thug Stayve Jerome Thomas (born September 8, 1979), better known by his stage name Slim Thug, is an American rapper. He gained mainstream attention for his guest performance alongside Paul Wall on Mike Jones' 2004 single "Still Tippin'". The followi ...

which can be heard on DJ Smallz' mixtape, ''Southern Smoke 21''. * Psychopathic Rydas used the beat on their album '' Duk Da Fuk Down''. The title of the song is "Killin' Shit" and it was released on Joe and Joey Records. *

and his brother Rasaq performed a freestyle using the beat which was on a DJ Obscene mixtape entitled "Houston We Have A Problem Vol. 1". *

Trae Trae is a given name. Notable people with the name "Trae" include * Trae Bell-Haynes (born 1995), Canadian basketball player * Trae Coyle (born 2001), English footballer * Trae Crowder (born 1986), American comedian * Trae Elston (born 1994), Am ...

and his group Assholes By Nature used the beat to make the song called I'm Asshole which can be heard on a DJ Drama mixtape. *There are also remixes done by Crooked I, off of his Hip Hop Weekly series, as well as by the Re-Up Gang, consisting of members Malice and Pusha, from the duo

Clipse Clipse, also known as the Clipse, is an American hip-hop, hip hop duo from Virginia Beach, Virginia. Formed in 1994, it consists of brothers No Malice, Gene "Malice" and Pusha T, Terrence "Pusha T" Thornton. Pusha T was known as Terrar during t ...

, and Ab Liva and Sandman. * Kanye West made a remix.

Track listing

Maxi single

#"Put You on the Game" #"Runnin'" #"Put You on the Game" (Instrumental) #"Put You on the Game" (Video)

Personnel

*Producer:

& Danja *Mixer: Timbaland, Jimmy Douglas & Bryan Thomas *Additional Vocals: Timbaland & Demacio "Demo" Castellon

Charts

References

External links

* {{The Game singles 2005 singles The Game (rapper) songs Song recordings produced by Danja (record producer) Song recordings produced by Timbaland Aftermath Entertainment singles Interscope Records singles Songs written by Danja (record producer) Songs written by Timbaland Gangsta rap songs Songs written by The Game (rapper) 2004 songs G-Unit Records singles East Coast–West Coast hip-hop rivalry