Fresh off the release of Drillmatic — Heart vs. Mind, his eleventh solo studio album, The Game sat down with Billboard to discuss his new record, TikTok, his dream collaborators, and his creative process. Joined by Hit-Boy, the album’s Grammy-winning executive producer, the pair explained how they “decided it was time for a Game and Hit-Boy album.”
Drillmatic is The Game’s first album since 2019’s Born 2 Rap. “He motivated me, got me all the way out the house,” The Game said of his creative partnership with Hit-Boy. “I don’t do no rapper stuff, but everything that I am and everything that I got going on now … rapping the way that I’m rapping, it’s all because of him.” The Game went on to note that “conversations about life,” recent mass shootings, and other rappers dying inspired him to begin working on the record.
The Game also revealed that he titled the album Drillmatic because Nas’ “Illmatic is one of [his] illest hip-hop albums of all time, and drill music is what the new generation of rap is doing.” The “How We Do” rapper describe the name as a “mash-up of old school and new school.”
The new 30-track album features guest artists ranging from Kanye “Ye” West and Fivio Foreign to Chlöe and Chris Brown, but outside of R&B and hip-hop, The Game named Amy Winehouse his dream collaborator, while Hit-Boy chose Bad Bunny. “I’m manifesting that, I wanna see that,” said The Game.
The pair also dished on their favorite Drillmatic songs, with Hit-Boy hailing “Violence” as his top pick.
Although The Game has made waves for jokingly dancing on TikTok in recent months, he expressed his frustration with “labels making artists feel like they got to go viral on these apps.” His comment is the latest in a stream of artists speaking out about the promotional tactic. Nevertheless, the rapper joked about having “moves like Jagger” and showing them off on the app.
The Game has earned nine top 10 titles on the Billboard 200, three of which hit No. 1. The Grammy-nominated rapper has also scored a pair of top 10 singles on the Billboard Hot 100.
Watch The Game and Hit-Boy’s interview with Billboard News above.
