Jesus Piece is the fifth studio album by American rapper the Game, released on December 11, 2012, by Reservoir Records, DGC Records and Interscope Records, his last release on both labels as he parted ways a year following. The album is also the final DGC Records album to be released as the label became inactive in 2013, before being permanently merged into Interscope's division and Game's previous label, Geffen Records (a Universal Music sister label under Interscope Geffen A&M) in September 2021.
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 and final 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 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 20. 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.
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 (such as Lil Wayne and Rick Ross) having to come back in and re-record their verses to fit the album concept.
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.
The Game has also stated that the album was dedicated to rapper Lil JoJo, a Chicago rapper who was murdered on September 4, 2012.
Cover artwork
Deluxe edition cover and controversy
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, designed and illustrated by former Interscope art director Mike Saputo, portrays a dark-skinned Jesus in a stained glass window with a teardrop tattoo, a red bandanna around his mouth, and 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 Game's previous 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 religious imagery of the art has gained mixed reactions and the ire of some fans who deem the work as blasphemous. Several celebrities praised the artwork, including Busta Rhymes, Mac Miller and Kevin Hart.
Game, himself, also defended the cover in an interview with MTV News. He states, "I did the album cover the way I wanted to. It embodies part of my career, my life; it’s all in that cover. You know, I love God, Jesus Christ is my savior and I’m still out here thuggin'. I know that might sound weird and that’s an awkward balance, but it’s my balance. I think that right before that person that wants to make judgments or pass judgment on my album cover, I think right before they do that, they should stop and they should look in the mirror and look at their own life." However, the Game decided to use the cover exclusively for the deluxe edition after the Roman Catholic Church and various Christians complained to Jimmy Iovine, co-founder of Interscope Records about the cover via several emails and phone calls, which Game says “got really crazy”. Complex named the album cover the fifteenth best cover of 2012.
On October 24, two days after revealing the cover, Game claimed that Christian rapper Lecrae texted him "out of the blue" and critiqued the artwork. Lecrae was concerned about the cover, not sure of how it could work with the lyrical content on the album, considering Game's status as a gangster rapper. After a brief exchange, both rappers wished each other luck. In January 2013, in an interview with Vice Media's Noisey, Lecrae responded, claiming that Game did not accurately explain the situation to him and that he was in no way of intentions to criticize him. He also went on to state that he was "here to serve people. I'm not here to wave my finger in people’s faces and point out to them how terrible they are or what I hate about them or anything along those lines. That's not my place. I'm in no position to condemn anybody. There's things I don't condone, and I talk about that, but at the same time, I would never just reach out to somebody and be like, "Yo man, I don't appreciate that," if I never met you. That's not my thing."
Standard cover 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 brothers, Jevon Danell Taylor, who died from gunshot wounds on May 21, 1995 at the age of 20.
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 Rap-Up TV 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 be featured on two songs and Maroon 5 lead singer Adam Levine would also appear. 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 number 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 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 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.