The Game admits he was shocked when the late, legendary Michael Jackson called the rapper to implore him to squash his beef with former archenemy 50 Cent more than a decade ago.
As most older hip-hop heads may recall, The Game and 50 Cent were at the height of their feud at that time. The Game, 40, admitted that he “wanted to kill” Fifty and that 50 Cent “probably had the same mutual feelings for me.”
The Thriller and Off the Wall singer called The Game — who was born Jayceon Terrell Taylor — and complimented him and Curtis Jackson, 44, on their careers and said he wanted both rappers to appear on his album as a way to reconcile their relationship.
“It would be a travesty if the world never got to hear you guys again,” The Game recalls MJ saying, according to HipHopDX. “Would you be open to having a conversation and squashing that beef and doing something for my album?”
The Game recalled that the call from Jackson came through to his people while he was tourng in Canada. He remembers feeling that MJ would be the unlikeliest of people to want to broker a peace treaty between two gangsta rappers.
“That was weird as f—,” The Game told HipHopDX. “It’s like, this ain’t how I wanna meet Michael Jackson or talk to Michael Jackson. I kinda felt like Mike was on some lame s—. Like, who sent you type s—, but at the same time it was like — you know that voice, Michael Jackson’s voice that you hear. Like, that n—- wasn’t talking like that. It was like, low-key deep. You could still tell it was Michael Jackson but it was more like … regular.”
The Game said he knew that the King of Pop was serious when Jackson quoted lyrics from songs off his debut rap album Documentary. But as much as he appreciated Jackson’s call — he referenced the MJ call on his 2009 song “Better on the Other Side” — The Game was in no mood whatsoever to squash his beef with Fifty. If anything, The Game wanted to take it to the next level.
“At that time I was so in it with Fifty I actually hated Fifty,” Game remembered. “I wanted to kill him at that time. He probably had the same mutual feelings for me. That’s where Mike lost me. In my head, I was just not open to doing that. I can’t remember how we ended the conversation or whatnot. I didn’t tell Mike ‘No,’ but it never came to fruition.”
Check out the interview in full on the next page:
