The Game responds to one of his biggest criticisms

The Compton rapper is known for name dropping everyone from Kim Kardashian to Barack Obama on his records. During an interview with the Rap Radar podcast, Game addressed the criticism.

“I think that if you listen to hip-hop, everybody and every album, that everybody name drops now,” he said while crediting himself for inspiring the name-dropping phenomenon. “And before I came, ni**as wasn’t doing it in the space that they are now.”

Game says it’s become a part of hip-hop culture, but he’s the one who gets knocked for it. “But every one name drops. It’s wordplay, it’s lyricism, it’s metaphors, and everybody has adapted to it,” he said. “I’m the one that gets all the flack for it, but I love it. I be saying ni**as’ names. I want you to know exactly what I’m talking about.”

The Game speaks on fans saying he NAME DROPS too much on the Rap Radar Podcast pic.twitter.com/fpANON2Rwh

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When he released his latest album Drillmatic last month, Game even joked about counting the name drops himself.

“When I put out the tracklisting, I was gonna literally count the name drops myself and put a disclaimer under,” he said. “Like just so you know, there are 377 name drops on this album.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Game revealed what he hates most about hip-hop.

“Some of these artists, they die before they get a chance to really grasp what it is that they need to in life,” he said before citing Biggie and Tupac. “It’s the untimely demises of Biggie and Pac… So to be snatching some of these hip-hop artists off the planet before they get a chance to mature…”

He’s grateful that he’s been able to age gracefully. “Me being 42 and looking at that, knowing it, seeing it, I look in the mirror myself and I feel totally blessed because that could have been me and 50 [Cent] easily.”