After releasing a song in response to the shooting of Michael Brown called “Don’t Shoot” featuring Rick Ross, Diddy, Wale, and more, Game spoke with Hot 93.7 in Hartford, Connecticut about the making of the track.
Explaining the motivation to release the track, Game compared the song to the 1990 anti-violence anthem “We’re All in the Same Gang.”
“One thing came to my mind when I heard about what happened, well two things,” Game said. “Number one, it was just a shock. It was wild, like, ‘Not again.’ I had the same reaction as everybody else in the world when they heard it, well most people. My second reaction was, I remember when I was young and we had so many deaths going around in Compton, L.A., Watts. So we had this ‘We’re All in the Same Gang’ song right?…I just thought, ‘Wow, I can do this.’ I got a lot of cool relationships with people. I think that I can reach out to every artist I know to see if they’ll be a part of this song. I wanted to make it to where you guys would still play it on the radio but get enough people on it so it was impactful and it looked like we were a group and doing it and representing Hip Hop. So I just started reaching out. I reached out to Diddy first because of course that’s like my big brother as far as him being a mentor and mogul and the direction I wanted to go with the song. I slid it past him, once he okayed it I hit Rozay, and Wale, 2 Chainz, and Yo Gotti. I was in the studio with Curren$y and asked him if he wanted to be a part of it. He was like, ‘Hell yes.’ It just came together organically man. I put that song together in three days. Everybody I asked to do it turned it right around. I couldn’t wait to put it out for the world to hear.”
Game also detailed putting the song together in as little as three days and feeling positive about all the verses he received in return.
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“Luckily nobody spit a verse that I was ashamed to put on there or went crazy,” he said. “The only person that went kind of a rebel for the cause on that one is Problem. But I think even his view was needed ‘cause some people do feel angry and really wanna protest and do things. Other people feel like maybe we shouldn’t loot or riot or something like that. It’s mixed emotions so I’m definitely glad I was able to get different minds and different voices on there from different areas throughout America to bring kind of awareness to what’s going on.”
Asked about lessons to be learned from the tragedy, Game alluded that ongoing activism will need to play a role.
“This is an ongoing thing,” he said. “It’s gonna take more than a song, or a t-shirt, or an Instagram post to stop it. I don’t necessarily know what it’s going to take to stop it, I was just trying to do my part in the positivity of the situation.”
At the end of the interview Game also broke down his thoughts on the potential for the officer responsible to be charged criminally.
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“I definitely think they should be charged,” he said. “Anytime someone raises their hands that means that they’re at ease and they’re under your command. When you’re an officer of the law and you’ve trained and you go to this police academy and they tell you what situations you are to pull your gun out, and then aim your weapon, and then to even let your index finger pull the trigger on anyone, not even Mike Brown or a kid. Anyone that has their hands up, gracefully bowing out, they don’t want no problems, no drama. Whatever it is they’ve been caught for, their hands are up. What goes through the officer’s mind before you pull the trigger to you murder Mike Brown? What happens? I don’t know. Where does protect and serve get lost in translation? I can’t figure that out for the life of me.”
RELATED: Game Explains Making “Don’t Shoot” Song With Rick Ross, 2 Chainz, Diddy & Others
