The Game, a 37-year-old rapper from Compton, Los Angeles is one of the most popular rappers in today’s music not only because of how his music sounds but also what he says in his music and what he stands for. He recently showed the public the cover artwork for his newest album, “1992,” and viewers quickly realized the importance and power behind the artwork. The cover shows a number of different scenes that occurred in 1992, both in his personal life and in the US in general. Although almost all of the scenes seem very intense and horrific, The Game chose to make his artwork like this to show that today’s society in the US is not much different than it was 24 years ago; there is still police brutality, gang culture, riots, and more.

Los Angeles has a huge history of gang culture, rap culture, and being the victims of hosting some of the worst events in the US. The Gang was born and raised in Los Angeles and saw firsthand how young innocent kids get pulled into the gangs before they even fully understand what they are doing. The scene he uses to show this is in the bottom left where 12-year-old The Game is literally being pulled by members of the Crypts in blue and the Bloods in red, the two far most popular gangs in Los Angeles. What was most interesting and important about the scene was that the gang members made The Game drop his toy car while trying to bring him into their gangs. It shows that he acknowledges he was just an innocent boy who still played with toys but once the gangs came to him, he had to drop his childish lifestyle and immediately was exposed to the real world. The child’s face looks very unhappy and scared, and The Game knows that he was not the only one who had their childhood cut far too short because of gang culture; Compton, Los Angeles is still a huge gang hub, and it is far more difficult to make it out of their with no ties to a gang than it is to be in one.

The beating of Rodney King and the protests that followed it both in Los Angeles and the rest of the country was one event that is still widely spoken about when regarding police brutality. In the past few years especially, protests about police brutality against African Americans have become very popular as there have been many incidents where an innocent black man was shot. What is interesting about the relationship between the Rodney King beating and the incidents with cops and African Americans today is that a video going viral is how all of the protests for it began. The Rodney King video was one of the first incidents of police brutality that was actually caught on tape since technology was not nearly as advanced then, and that is the reason The Game chose it to be the scene in the top right of the cover. He wants to make a point to show that although many people think that in 24 years racism and police brutality has improved a lot but really, what is happening today is the same exact thing that was happening before. He also makes a point almost to insult cops by using the stereotypical chubby cop not doing anything eating a doughnut while two blonde cops beat King, showing his opposition to cops and police brutality. In the background of the artwork, there is a huge riot going on with people running and throwing things. That is in reference to the Rodney King protests that almost destroyed Los Angeles for a long time, and that protest is very similar to the ones that have been going on in places like Ferguson, Charlotte, Dallas and more. People are just fed up with what is going on and end up taking it out in a violent and unproductive manner, looting stores and setting things on fire. When looking back on how harsh the impacts of the Rodney King protest were for LA, most people thought that would not happen again but The Game is trying to show that history is repeating itself and the same exact types of protests are happening today.

To the left of the cops beating Rodney King is another scene featuring OJ Simpson in a car chase with the police with a pistol held against his head. Recently in the US, there have been a number of shootings, mostly with mentally ill people, that have left Americans feeling scared and uneasy about going about their normal lives. That is the same way people felt after the car chase was being watched around the nation. Whenever a wanted man is driving through one of the busiest highways in Los Angeles with a gun out the window, it is easy to feel uneasy; The Game wants to show the viewer that whether it is a football star or a mentally ill person who should not have had a weapon, there is never going to be total peace and security in the US.

The one scene that The Game puts in his artwork that does not have a negative connotation is in the bottom right where Eminem has his arm around Dr. Dre. Dr. Dre is a Compton legend and was the one who met Eminem and made him famous. Eminem was a man with barely enough money to make it from Detroit, Michigan to Compton and is now one of the most popular rappers of all time. The Game made Eminem huge in 1992 and did the same exact thing years later when he signed The Game to his record label, putting him into the headlines and making him famous.

Although “1992” has still not been released yet, it is safe to say that The Game will be rapping with much more meaning and purpose after seeing the artwork for the album. 