One Night

The Game's weirdness might be the most dependable thing in the music business. We're all well aware of his prowess with proper nouns and compulsive bullshitting, but he still finds ways to surprise us every couple of months. I'm just guessing here, but "One Night" sounds like it was produced by Nottz as a straightforward groupie song. I mean, the chorus is, "I only fuck witchoo on two occasions/ When I'm drunk and I'm high/ I would be broke if I would be witchoo/ That, bitch, why it's for one night," and the piano melody screams anonymous romance. So what does Game do with it? Talks about the homies dipping in his pockets.

No big deal, most rappers talk about whatever they want on a track, but the Game clearly understands the dynamic here, re-orders it, and makes the chorus a much wittier punchline. Yes, I am giving the Game credit as a satirist. Instead of running with bros-before-ho-isms, he calls his homeboys "bitches" and claims heartbreak, talking about putting his friends in nice suits for awards shows and not getting anything in return. He even lent them his Bentley and didn't check the mileage! After his family gets shot at, his friends, instead of offering consolation, tell him to "keep it real." The Game answers, "Keep it real, my niggas?/ Last year alone I spent 1.5 mil on my niggas." And it's angles like these that make the Game, despite his incessant name-dropping and bizarre antics, one of the most fascinating figures in rap.