For those not familiar with The Game’s music, after listening to his new album, “The R.E.D. Album,” you may find yourself becoming fans. Unfortunately, “The R.E.D. Album” dropped a week before Lil Wayne’s “Tha Carter IV.” Any album released around this time has a good chance of being over-looked, which is a shame because this is a great album. The album is book ended by tracks from Dr. Dre and after listening to them, you may feel like you know The Game better than a lot of artists.

The second track, and first actual song, “The City,” is the perfect opening. The Game goes hard and you can feel the emotion in his verses. Perhaps more impressive, is Kendrick Lamar’s guest feature on this track. It serves as Lamar’s first real mainstream feature, and he definitely delivers, throwing down the chorus as well as an impressive verse to end the track.

Since this album dropped at such an unfortunate time, fans are going to be comparing it to “Tha Carter IV” somewhat. Lil Wayne even makes a couple of appearances on the album. To really emphasize how good the album is, you have to stack it up against an album that is undoubtedly way more anticipated but ultimately did not live up to some expectations. The Game seems to put his heart and soul into his effort, whereas with “Tha Carter IV,” Weezy was just going through the motions for the majority of it. The point is, maybe before you start drooling over “The Carter IV,” give “The R.E.D. Album” a shot.

The Game makes some wise collaborations on the album. Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg and Sly are a perfect combination on “Drug Test.” Weezy’s guest feature on “Red Nation” proves effective and Drake’s contribution to “Good Girls Go Bad” reminds me of Drake’s own “Fancy.” Chris Brown on any single means an instant success, and that’s what “Pot of Gold” feels like.

While The Game shows he can go hard, the album flourishes even when he slows it down for tracks like “Hello.” There’s not really a whole lot to dislike about this album if you’re a rap fan. The track listing ,at 21 tracks, might seem like a bit much for some, but to me, it just shows how much creativity was flowing through The Game’s head. Each track feels different, culminating in a memorable listen once you reach the end.