Game A Bad Boy? It Nearly Happened

"We called Puff and said, 'No hard feelings, no love lost, but we're going with Dre," Game said. As the stone-faced MC tells it, Diddy's attention was focused on Loon and Black Rob at the time he was trying to climb aboard. So when Game got the call from Dre around the same time Diddy was finally starting to come around, he signed to Aftermath instead.

"Me and Puff still been good friends since then, and I plan on working with Puff in the future outside of rap," Game said.

Since hooking up with mentor Dre, Game said he's been growing as an artist.

"Lyrically I've elevated so much," he said. "I think I did the best job I could of shedding light on the situation that I lived through the last 17 years on my CD. In no way, shape or form am I glorifying gangbanging, killing, drugs, any type of violence, Bloods, Crips — I'm just giving you my story so you can feel at one with the Game. Instead of prejudging me and thinking I'm just banging on wax, here's a joint called 'Like Father Like Son.' "

The track Game refers to is the last track on the album, and the song he holds closest to his heart. <> "[That's] a gangbanger, a real n---a from the 'hood telling you how much he appreciated the Lord Jesus Christ helping in the aid of the birth of my son," he said. "I left the camcorder in the car [when he was born. The listeners] know because I tell them. I went through Lamaze class; they know that because I tell them."

Busta Rhymes raps on the chorus, conveying the message that they want their kids to grow up and become great. Game's The Documentary drops Tuesday (January 18), and as he sees it, it's just the first of many future accomplishments.

"It's easy to stay in the mix if you apply yourself," he insisted. "If you look at people who are succeeding and who are not succeeding and wither out, the problems, the success and put them together, you can stay around in this rap game. I plan on being here for a long time."