Jesus Piece (album)

Untitled

Jesus Piece is the fifth studio album by American West Coast hip hop recording artist The Game, released on December 11, 2012 and his last release on Interscope Records. Within a three-year gap between Game's third album, LAX (2008), and his follow-up, The R.E.D. Album (2011), before the latter was finally released in August 2011. The R.E.D. Album was a fall from his previous three released album sales, but became Game's third number one album on the US Billboard 200 chart. Shortly after the release of the long delayed album, Game announced he had begun work on his fifth studio album. The album was originally meant to be titled Soundtrack to Chaos, then was changed to F.I.V.E. (Fear is Victory's Evolution) and finally Jesus Piece becoming Game's first concept album.

Game explained the concept of Jesus Piece does not have a spiritual theme, but it would have a "Gangster" theme of enjoying life while also having faith in God. Jesus Piece was Game's first album since the multi-platinum selling and critically acclaimed The Documentary, to feature production from Dr. Dre. Game announced on social media that every Sunday leading up to the album that he would be dropping new music, which failed to make the album's final cut. Game compared the album's quality of production and high number of guests to his mentor Dr. Dre's The Chronic 2001.

"Celebration" was released as the album's lead single. The song features additional vocals from fellow rappers Lil Wayne, Chris Brown, Tyga and Wiz Khalifa. "Celebration" managed to attain chart success, debuting at number 82 on the Billboard Hot 100. "All That (Lady)" featuring Big Sean, Lil Wayne, Fabolous and Jeremih would be released as the second single and peaked at number 48 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. Other guest appearances on the album came from Meek Mill, 2 Chainz, Rick Ross, Kanye West, Common, J. Cole, JMSN, King Chip, Trey Songz, Pusha T, Kendrick Lamar, Tank, K. Roosevelt, Jamie Foxx, Elijah Blake, Future and Young Jeezy.

The controversial cover for the deluxe edition of the album portrays an African-American Jesus. On the standard edition cover, Game pays homage to one of his older brothers, Jevon Danell Taylor, who was shot and killed at the age of 21. Upon release, the album received generally positive reviews, with most critics praising the production and guests on the album. The album debuted at number six on the Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 86,000 copies in the United States. As of July 26, 2013, it has sold 281,000 copies according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Background and recording

The first glimpse seen of The Game's fifth studio album was through Twitter a couple of days before The R.E.D. Album was released. The Game posted a video of him in a studio session with 1500 or Nothin'. In the session, he titled the fifth LP Soundtrack to Chaos. The session showed them recording a song that was later released, called "Everywhere" which featured J. Black. To build hype, The Game released a mixtape called California Republic. The mixtape was released on April 6, 2012.

In early 2012, The Game changed the album's title to F.I.V.E.: Fear is Victory's Evolution. He also announced that Cool & Dre would be executive producing, while DJ Khaled was a co-executive producer. The Game changed the title of the album for the second time due to similarities with Trey Songz's Chapter V and 50 Cent's digital album. He told in an interview with DJ Skee that the album borrows its name from the title track featuring Kanye West, and it has a concept on enjoying life to the fullest while still believing in God. Jesus Piece stands as The Game's only concept record to date. He scrapped the years worth of material from the album sessions except for the song "Jesus Piece" and intended to change the whole album behind that one song. After this The Game had 60 days to re-record the entire album which included calling rappers that already recorded verses for the project (Lil Wayne and Rick Ross) having to come back in and re-record their verses to fit the album concept.

"You want to believe in God, but you don't want to be criticized and ridiculed by people who think that they're better than you," "I don't want to feel like I can't love God or appreciate Jesus and have to put down that blunt. I want to smoke, maybe shower up, then go to church. Get the word, walk out of church, maybe smoke again, maybe hit up a strip club or two and do me, but I don't want to be ridiculed."

Game describing the concept of the album

He said about the album; "It's not a Christian album, it's not an album that's strictly about church or nothin'. It's just a constant battle with religion and street life and Hip Hop and lyricism and bitches and your wife and your kids and just the struggle."

In an August 2012 interview with DJ Skee, The Game confirmed that Jesus Piece was scheduled for a release in the fourth quarter of 2012. He also hinted at another mixtape before the album releases and that he has more than 5,000 records on his computer that had yet to be released to the public.

Cover artwork

The Game released a controversial artwork of the album via Instagram on October 21, 2012 and also announced the release date will be December 11. The cover portrays a dark-skinned Jesus in a stained glass window with a teardrop tattoo, a red bandanna around his mouth, and he is wearing a Jesus piece. The stained glass-inspired image shows Jesus sitting on a throne adorned with gang-related symbols. In the artwork, Jesus is holding a gold "Jesus Piece" chain and pointing to a symbol on his breast plate. The red bandana over his mouth is a reference to the Cedar Block Piru Bloods gang, to which Game is allegedly a member. The artwork has a slightly altered logo on the top, which features on all of the previous Game's studio albums. The album's title Jesus Piece is stylized as Je5us Piece, depicting that it is Game's fifth studio album. Je5us Piece logo is styled after the iconic Louis Vuitton. The cover was designed by Vlad Sepetov. The religious imagery of the art has gained mixed reviews and the ire of some fans who deem the work as blasphemous. Several celebrities praised the artwork including, rap veteran Busta Rhymes, Mac Miller and Kevin Hart. The Game instead decided to make this cover for the deluxe edition after the Roman Catholic Church called Interscope Records and "it got real crazy." Complex Magazine named the album cover the fifteenth best cover of 2012.

On November 12, an alternative cover for the standard edition of the album was released. This cover paid homage to one of The Game's older brother, Jevon Danell Taylor, who was shot and killed at the age of 21.

Guests and production

On October 31, 2012, Game stated that Common, J. Cole, Rick Ross, Lil Wayne, Future and Young Jeezy would be guests on the album. He also confirmed on his official Twitter account that he had recorded a song with Rihanna. DJ Premier confirmed that he will be working on the album. Game told RapupTv that long time collaborator Lil Wayne will be featuring on the album on more than one record. On September 29, 2012, Game confirmed longstanding collaborator Lil Wayne will feature on the album in two songs and that Maroon 5 lead singer Adam Levine would appear on his album. Game said in a Rolling Stone interview, "When everybody hears the Adam Levine record, I think they gonna go crazy". However the song did not make the final track list. On October 18, 2012, Game confirmed, he has worked with Jamie Foxx on the album. In early November 2 Chainz and Meek Mill were also confirmed as featured artists and Game also called the album his 2012 version of Dr. Dre's The Chronic 2001 as related to the amount of features on the project. Dr. Dre and Dawaun Parker were also confirmed to have production while Kendrick Lamar confirmed to be featured on it.

The album features in total 24 guest appearances including skits performed by comedian Kevin Hart and rapper Stat Quo sprinkled throughout the album on tracks such as "Church" and "Freedom." Besides the prior names, other guests on the album include Big Sean, Fabolous, King Chip, Trey Songz, Pusha T, Tank and Jeremih. According to the original track listing released by The Game, features also included Wale, Trae tha Truth, Slim Thug, Paul Wall, Z-Ro and Scarface. However, the tracks these artists, "Stripper", "Rollin'" and "Murder" were cut from the final album due to sample clearance issues and were instead released as a part of Game's "Sunday Service" free music giveaway.

Promotion

Game performing at Supafest 2011

Game announced on Twitter that every Sunday leading up to the album that he would drop something new to hold the fans over. All the songs are from the recording sessions for Jesus Piece. On October 28, 2012 he released the highly anticipated remix to "Celebration" featuring Bone Thugs-N-Harmony. On November 4, Game released a leftover track from the album, entitled "Holy Water". On November 11, Game released a track titled, "I Remember" featuring Young Jeezy and Future. The song was released directly as a video and was leaked onto Tyga's mixtape, Well Done 3, but with Tyga's verse replacing Young Jeezy's verse. For the fourth edition on November 18, he released a song entitled "Black Jesus" produced by SAP. The same day he also released "HVN4AGNGSTA" featuring Master P, which was originally supposed to be on Jesus Piece. On November 25, Game released the fifth edition of the series, a song entitled "Stripper" featuring Wale, which did not make the album due to an uncleared sample. In celebration of his birthday, Game released the song, "Judas Closet" on November 30. The song features rapper Nipsey Hussle and production from Timbaland. On December 2, Game released another cut record originally recorded for Jesus Piece, "Rollin'", featuring Kanye West, Trae Tha Truth, Z-Ro, Paul Wall and Slim Thug. On the seventh and final edition of Sunday Service The Game leaked the song "Murder" which features Scarface and Kendrick Lamar. The song was originally to be featured on Jesus Piece however it was cut due to sample clearing problems.

On December 7, 2012, The Game premiered snippets of the album on Big Boi's Neighborhood on Power 106. The weekend before the album release The Game held an album listening session in front of approximately 100 tastemakers, artists, bloggers and writers. In attendance were Stat Quo, Nu Jerzey Devil, Ty$, Clyde Carson, King Chip, Dre of Cool & Dre, Elliott Wilson among others. On December 10, 2012 The Game went onto Howard Stern's radio show to promote the album. The next day he would appear on DJ Skee's radio show to promote the album.

Singles

"Celebration" is the album's lead single. It was produced by SAP and Cool and Dre. The song features additional vocals from fellow rappers Lil Wayne, Chris Brown, Tyga and Wiz Khalifa. "Celebration" received its first radio play on Los Angeles' Power 106 on August 22, 2012. The song samples Bone Thugs-n-Harmony's hit single "1st of tha Month". The music video, which was shot in Northridge, CA was released on September 18, 2012. "Celebration" managed to attain chart success, debuting at number 82 on the Billboard Hot 100, number 19 on US Rap chart and number 29 on Hiphop and R&B tracks. Game, Chris Brown, Tyga, Lil Wayne & Wiz Khalifa all appear in the video performing their part of the song. Game told MTV news that the video was inspired by mentor Dr. Dre's hit single "Nuthin' but a 'G' Thang" featuring Snoop Dogg. Lil Wayne's contribution earned him his 109th chart entry, surpassing Elvis Presley's record for the most chart entries. Game posted a picture on his Twitter showing the word bone structured with cannabis. Game later confirmed that he is working in the studio with Bone Thugs-n-Harmony on a remix for "Celebration". On October 28, 2012, an official remix, featuring all five members of Bone Thugs-N-Harmony was released by Game. It was positively received by the critics.

On October 26, 2012, Game announced the first promotional single from the album, entitled "I Remember". Game revealed that he's enlisted Young Jeezy and Future for guest features on the second single. He explained that the song was originally leaked on Tyga's recent Well Done 3 mixtape, but he plans to release it with a new verse from Young Jeezy attached. Game confirmed that "I Remember", is a street record. Game confirmed that the single will be directly released as a video, and the audio version will be released later. The video was released on November 11, 2012 as the third release in the Sunday Service series.

The week of the album's release the song "All That (Lady)" which features Lil Wayne, Big Sean, Fabolous and Jeremiah debuted at number 48 on the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. It had been rumored to be the second single. Then on February 19, 2013 the song was sent to radio as the second official single. The music video for "All That (Lady)" was released on November 1, 2013, Lil Wayne and Fabolous do not make appearances in the video.

In February 2013, The Game shot a music video for the song "Ali Bomaye" which features 2 Chainz and Rick Ross. The video was released on July 2, 2013. "Ali Bomaye" was featured on the soundtrack to the video game Grand Theft Auto 5. The song has since peaked at number 51 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs.

Commercial performance

In the United States, the album debuted at number five on the Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 86,000 copies. As of July 26, 2013, it has sold 281,000 copies.

Critical response

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	66/100
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllHipHop	8/10
AllMusic
Los Angeles Times
Pitchfork Media	6/10
Rolling Stone
San Francisco Chronicle	(favorable)
Spin
USA Today
Washington Post	(favorable)
XXL	(XL)

Upon release Jesus Piece received generally positive reviews from contemporary music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 66, which indicates "generally favorable reviews", based on 13 reviews.

Artistdirect editor, Rick Florino awarded Jesus Piece with a perfect 5 stars rating, describing it as "like any classic gangster flick where the protagonist contemplates faith—Mean Streets comes to mind—Jesus Piece relies on dichotomies. There's some vicious rhyming, illuminating how tight of an MC he truly is, but there are also some incredibly soulful hooks too, meant to stay stuck in your head. Ultimately, tempering bullet-ridden tales and redemptive prayers, Game unleashes his best work to date and a landmark for hip hop." The Michigan Daily gave the album an "A" saying "its a concept album, Jesus Piece is connected through a theme of religion, specifically Christianity, though it's far from being quoted by your neighborhood pastor in his next sermon." Jackson Howard went on to praise the production and guest features. Steve Jones of USA Today gave the album 3 and a half stars out of four saying "The Compton rapper wraps his street tales in spiritual themes to deliver one the year's most intriguing albums." XXL gave the album a "XL" rating, stating "The Game framed a praiseworthy album blessed with sterling features and production with the only disappointing point being the underwhelming title track with little input from Kanye West." Sarah Godfrey of the Washington Post said the album had "A few songs stray from the main concept, but for the most part, Game's latest effort sticks to its compelling theme and is an interesting look at the religious gray area that lies between wearing a diamond-studded gold Jesus piece around one's neck with little thought to its significance and sitting in church every Sunday." AllHipHop gave the album an 8 out of 10 and commended The Game delivering the type of music his fans clamor for, but shifting gears at the appropriate time to stretch his content and show diversity. Also saying Game manages to sneak in more substance and reflective lyrics in this album than he has in the past and the production and each of the (many) cameos in this instance add to the replay value of the LP.

Jayson Greene of Pitchfork Media gave the album a less stellar review putting down the album as nothing new from Game and only praising the production and guest list. However saying, "Jesus Piece is less all-over-the-place than The R.E.D. Album." He gave the album a 6 out of 10. Phillip Mlynar of Spin commented negatively of the guest features and claimed Game strays from his own concept too much going on to give the album a 5/10. David Jeffries of AllMusic rated the album 3.5 stars out of 5,saying "this feature-filled, somewhat messy effort is a welcome surprise, focusing in on its topic and then freeing it with the greatest of ease and making the previously maverick Game sound like a natural born ringleader." On December 7, 2012, Game uploaded a screenshot of text messages between him and Dr. Dre on Twitter, where Dr. Dre congratulated and commended Game for the album and specifically praised the song "All That (Lady)."

Accolades

Jesus Piece was also ranked third by The Source's annual list of the best rap albums for 2012, behind only Nas and Kendrick Lamar. It was also ranked at number 45 on a list of the 50 best albums of 2012 by Complex. Insanul Ahmed of Complex said, "the production is on point and Game is compelling when rapping about trying to balance the life as a thug who still believes in God. However, the songs aren't heavy-handed and definitely not preachy. Game works the religious theme into his rhymes effortlessly. Whereas on previous efforts, his occasional church, Bible, and Jesus references went unnoticed, here they add a common thread to the album."

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Scared Now" (featuring Meek Mill)	J. Taylor, B. Forest, R. Williams, M. Jordan	Black Metaphor	4:59
2.	"Ali Bomaye" (featuring 2 Chainz & Rick Ross)	J. Taylor, B. Forest, T. Epps, W. Roberts, M. Jordan, F. Welch, P. Epworth	Black Metaphor	6:12
3.	"Jesus Piece" (featuring Kanye West & Common)	J. Taylor, M. Samuels, S. Kozmeniuk, B. Ryan, K. West, L. Lynn	Stephen "Koz" Kozmeniuk, The Maven Boys	3:53
4.	"Pray" (featuring J. Cole & JMSN)	J. Taylor, A. Lyon, J. Cole, C. Berishaj, M. Valenzano	Cool & Dre	4:58
5.	"Church [*]" (featuring King Chip & Trey Songz)	J. Taylor, K.R. Moore, C. Worth, S. Benton, T. Neverson	K. Roosevelt	6:07
6.	"All That (Lady)" (featuring Lil Wayne, Big Sean, Fabolous & Jeremih)	J. Taylor, D. Carter, J. Jackson, S. Anderson, J. Felton, A. Lyon, M. Valenzano	Cool & Dre	3:34
7.	"Heaven's Arms"	J. Taylor, A. Lyon, M. Valenzano, S. Benton	Cool & Dre	4:05
8.	"Name Me King" (featuring Pusha T)	J. Taylor, J. King, T. Thornton S. Benton, F. Welch, L. Summers	SAP	4:01
9.	"See No Evil" (featuring Kendrick Lamar & Tank)	J. Taylor, D. Babbs, K. Lamar, M. Samuels, M. Burnett	Boi-1da, Matthew Burnett (co.)	4:44
10.	"Can't Get Right" (featuring K. Roosevelt)	J. Taylor, A. Lyon, M. Valenzano, K.R. Moore	Cool & Dre	4:57
11.	"Hallelujah" (featuring Jamie Foxx)	J. Taylor, J. Dutton, S. Jordan, S. Benton	Jake One	4:33
12.	"Freedom" (featuring Elijah Blake)	J. Taylor, A. Thompson, S. Benton, D. Crawford, C. Mann	Antwan "Amadeus" Thompson	5:46
13.	"Celebration" (featuring Chris Brown, Tyga, Wiz Khalifa & Lil Wayne)	J. Taylor, C. Brown, M. Stevenson, D. Carter, C. Thomaz, S. Jean & J. King	SAP, Cool & Dre (add.)	4:48
Total length:				56:30

Deluxe edition

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
14.	"I Remember" (featuring Young Jeezy & Future)	J. Taylor, B. Pickens, J. Jenkins, N. Wilburn, A. Lyon	Yung Ladd, Cool & Dre (add.)	4:41
15.	"Blood Diamonds"	J. Taylor, L. Griffin, J. Rhodes	S1, J Rhodes, Greg Fears Jr. (add.)	4:16
Total length:				71:34

iTunes Store bonus track

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
16.	"Dead People"	J. Taylor, A. Young	Dr. Dre	4:19

Best Buy bonus tracks

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
16.	"Blood of Christ"	J. Taylor, D. Parker	Dawaun Parker	5:06
17.	"Holy Water"	J. Taylor, J. King, M. Lawrence	SAP	3:22

Notes

• [*] - Denotes that the track is included in the deluxe edition only.
• "Ali Bomaye" & "Freedom" are shortened to 5:21 and 4:45 on the clean version of the album, respectively.

Sample credits

• "Ali Bomaye" contains a sample of "Seven Devils" by Florence + the Machine.
• "Pray" contains a sample of "I'm Not Human at All" by Sleep Party People.
• "All That (Lady)" contains a sample of "Lady" by D'Angelo.
• "Name Me King" contains a sample of "Breath of Life" by Florence + the Machine.
• "Hallelujah" contains samples of "We See God With the Eyes of Our Souls" by The Dynamic Reverend Maceo Woods & the Christian Tabernacle Choir.
• "Freedom" contains a sample of "Say You Love Me Too" by Charles Mann.
• "Celebration" contains a sample of "1st of tha Month" by Bone Thugs-n-Harmony.
• "Holy Water" contains a sample of "Changes" by Mala.

Personnel

• 2 Chainz - featured artist
• Frank Abraham - bass
• Jericho Adams - publicity
• Tunji Balogun - A&R
• Stacy Barthe - background vocals
• Steve Baughman - mixing
• Big Sean - featured artist
• Black Metaphor - producer
• Elijah Blake - featured artist
• Boi-1DA - producer
• Chris Brown - featured artist
• Matthew Burnett - producer
• Daphne Chen - violin
• King Chip - featured artist
• Lauren Chipman - viola
• Lincoln Cleary - piano
• Common - featured artist
• DJ Mormile - A&R
• Dr. Dre - producer
• Richard Dodd - cello
• Todd Douglas - music business affairs
• Fabolous - featured artist
• Jamie Foxx - featured artist
• BJ Frogozo - marketing
• Future - featured artist
• Game - executive producer, primary artist
• Brian "Big Bass" Gardner - mastering
• Geoff Gibbs - engineer
• Eric Gorfain - guitar, violin
• Alicia Graham - A&R
• Kevin Hart - skit
• Susan Hilderley - music business affairs
• Jake One - producer
• Jeremih - featured artist
• JMSN - featured artist, background vocals
• Sly Jordan - background vocals
• Rob Kinelski - engineer
• Stephen Kozmeniuk - producer
• Yung Ladd - producer
• Kendrick Lamar - featured artist
• Lil Wayne - featured artist
• Jonathan Mannion - photography
• Maven Boys - producer
• Meek Mill - featured artist
• Greg Miller - publicity
• Malachi Mott - post production
• Pusha T - featured artist
• Ruben Rivera - engineer, mixing assistant
• Blair Robinson - vocals
• Don Robinson - marketing
• Liz Rodrigues - vocals
• Rick Ross - featured artist
• S1 - producer
• J.Rhodes - producer
• Jason Sangerman - marketing
• Kam Sangha - producer
• Vlad Sepetov - cover art
• Stat Quo - executive producer, skit
• Shawn Suggs - A&R
• Brian Sumner - engineer
• Tank - featured artist
• Antwan "Amadeus" Thompson - producer
• Trey Songz - featured artist
• Tyga - featured artist
• Anna Ugarte - assistant engineer
• Andrew Van Meter - producer
• Kanye West - featured artist
• Wiz Khalifa - featured artist
• Young Jeezy - featured artist

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (2012)	Peak position
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)	158
Canadian Albums (Billboard)	16
US Billboard 200	5
US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)	1
US Top Rap Albums (Billboard)	1

Year-end charts

Chart (2013)	Position
US Billboard 200	123
US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums	24
US Top Rap Albums	16

Release history

Region	Date	Label(s)	Formats
Germany	December 11, 2012	Interscope	Digital download, CD
Australia
Ireland
United Kingdom
United States
Canada