- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
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Amazingly solid.
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Entertainment WeeklyProduction biggies have brought some truly tasty heat rockets to the table, nearly rendering Game's well-studied, adaptable flow an afterthought. [28 Jan 2005, p.82]
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The end result is a rich, triumphant sonic tapestry; you can hear every dollar that went into it.
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For something so obviously and deeply grounded in marketing, it’s still an outstandingly solid and enjoyable debut.
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SpinAlmost lives up to the hype. [Mar 2005, p.92]
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The most remarkable aspect of the Game is how he can be such a blatant product of gangsta rap (okay, let's say fanboy) and leave a mark so fast.
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It doesn't even matter much that he's a B minus rhyme spitter, or that he spends way too much studio time name dropping.
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While some songs don't click ("We Ain't" featuring Eminem), "The Documentary" still shapes up as one of the best rap albums of the year thus far.
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New Musical Express (NME)It's The Game's candour that is his unbridled strength. [29 Jan 2005, p.59]
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He's a self-conscious, malicious, nihilistic gangsta rapper with a heart and lyrical content.
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BlenderThe Documentary is like a hip-hop Jurassic Park: a big-budget homage to a place most of us thought was ancient history. [Apr 2005, p.118]
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Los Angeles TimesThis CD is easy to enjoy because it's a triumph of production and persona over performance. [23 Jan 2005]
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UncutA mostly rich and involving experience. [Apr 2005, p.98]
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Lots of great rappers draw inspiration from hip-hop classics, but The Game seems to be equally influenced by an almost obsessive-compulsive need to rattle off classic album titles.
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If you're going to be literal and heartfelt, you'd better have something to say, and that's where the twenty-five-year-old rapper often falls short.
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This album is legitimately well made, and despite his limitations as a rapper, The Game has skill enough to support his charisma.
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The overriding impression is that “The Documentary” could be the biggest fanboy album of all time... and that The Game, as much as he thinks he’s a player, is being played by others far more powerful than himself.
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This no-talent is masscult rock at its most brazen.
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A rep-building, played-out retread of gangbang reveries set to so-so def beats by this hiphop minute's latest multiplatinum matinee thug-idol for the girls-gone-wild set.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 110 out of 120
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Mixed: 5 out of 120
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Negative: 5 out of 120
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Feb 4, 2012
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May 23, 2017
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Apr 4, 2021A fantastic album from a fantastic rapper. Honestly underrated as an album!