The Game is catching heat for a claim about Kendrick Lamar that many believe he made up.
During a recent appearance on Big Boy’s Neighborhood, The Game said he tried multiple times to sign Kendrick Lamar early in his career. According to him, their connection goes all the way back to a Compton youth program long before Kendrick joined TDE.
“First time I met Kendrick was a long time ago,” The Game said. He recalled seeing a young, charismatic Kendrick at the YET Center in Compton, adding: “I always knew… I knew what he was gon’ be.”
The Game claimed that while he was working with Top Dawg and helping Jay Rock build his early career, he repeatedly asked TDE’s founder to let him sign K Dot as an artist.
“I was always asking Top, ‘Yo, let me get Dot,’” he said. “He was like, ‘No.’ He knew what he was, I knew what he was.”
According to The Game, even when Kendrick was touring as Jay Rock’s hype man, he continued pushing for a deal. He said Top Dawg once floated the idea of combining TDE and Black Wall Street, but The Game declined, insisting he only wanted Kendrick as an artist under his brand.
However, not everyone is buying this narrative, including people from Top Dawg Entertainment.
In the comment section of an Instagram post covering the story, TDE head of security 2Teez called The Game out directly: “Blood faking he never wanted to sign Kendrick!!!!!”
Meanwhile, TDE engineer MixedByAli responded to Akademiks’ repost of the clip with laughing emojis, a not-so-subtle sign that he doesn’t take The Game’s story seriously either.
The Game and Kendrick Lamar’s track record together is small but impactful. Their most notable collaborations include “The City” from The R.E.D. Album, where Kendrick delivers a standout outro verse, and “On Me” from The Documentary 2, a gritty Compton-rooted track that showcases both rappers in their element.
