The Documentary

The Documentary is the debut studio album by American rapper The Game. It was released on January 18, 2005, by Czar Entertainment, Aftermath Entertainment, G-Unit Records, and Interscope Records. The record serves as his major-label debut, preceded by his independently released debut Untold Story in 2004. In 2001, while the Game was in hospital recovering from a shooting, he decided to pursue a career in music. He released the mixtape, "Q.B. 2 Compton" under his then record label "Get Low Recordz" in 2002, which was later discovered by Dr. Dre and led to him signing the Game to his label, Aftermath Entertainment. The album includes production from high-profile producers such as Dr. Dre, Kanye West, Scott Storch and Timbaland, among others, and guest appearances from 50 Cent, Eminem, Nate Dogg and Faith Evans, among others. This would be the Game's only album on Aftermath and G-Unit Records, as he left the label later in 2006 after a feud began between him and fellow G-Unit label-mate 50 Cent.

The Documentary debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200, selling 586,000 units in its first week. In March 2005, the Recording Industry Association of America certified the album double Platinum, and by November 2005 the album sold 2.5 million copies in the U.S. The Documentary received generally positive reviews, with critics praising the album's production. It is also often debated by critics between itself and Doctor's Advocate as Game's best album. Since the album's release, the Game was credited as a "driving force" in reviving the once-dominant West Coast hip hop scene that had since been overshadowed by artists from the East, Midwest and South during the early 2000s. The Documentary remains the Game's best-selling album to date. On June 16, 2014, the Game announced a sequel to the album, The Documentary 2, which was released on October 9, 2015, followed by the release of The Documentary 2.5 a week later.

After the Game signed with G-Unit, he recorded nine songs with fellow American rapper 50 Cent in his home studio in Farmington, Connecticut, and then went back to Los Angeles, California to complete the album with American record producer Dr. Dre. While continuing the recording sessions on the album, he began working with rapper and record producer Kanye West on a song, where Kanye did the chorus. However, the song was left on the cutting room floor. The Game was also inspired to revive the hip hop scene in the West Coast, which had been overshadowed since its heyday in the 1990s by rappers from the East and the South. In 2005, in the interview with Vibe magazine, 50 Cent stated that he was brought in by the Interscope Records to work on the album, claiming that it was on the verge of being shelved and the Game was being dropped from the label. However, in the interview with Funkmaster Flex, the Game said that his status was never uncertain that he would be dropped from the label. 50 Cent also wrote 6 choruses of The Documentary's eighteen tracks—"Hate It or Love It", "How We Do", "Church for Thugs", "Special", "Higher", and "Westside Story"—and didn't receive proper credit for his work.

According to Aftermath A&R Mike Lynn, an early version of the album was rejected as the music was deemed unsatisfactory; "Dreams" was the only song from this iteration that made the final tracklist, with both Lynn and Dr. Dre considering it the song that proved to them The Game was capable of putting together a quality record.

The Game for the album recorded tracks based on his life experiences from his childhood to his success as a rapper. When asked about the album, he stated:

I grew up in a boys home and I was taken away from my parents when I was like 8 years old... Here I am, 24. When my album drops I will be 25 so that's 17 years I have been going through my struggle by myself. There are 17 tracks on my album and every track sheds light on a different situation I went through the last 17 years.

The rapper commented on the album's perception before its release, saying, "I know everybody was expecting gang-bang, 40-ounce, low-rider music, but that's not what I gave them... I'm telling a real story, and maybe there are people out there who can relate to my experiences." Rolling Stone observed that "every song has a well-massaged hook and some immediate appeal, and verses that don't waste a lot of time getting to the point."

The Documentary's big budget production from high-profile hip hop producers was well received from critics. The first half of the album contains "upbeat, gangsta boogie" tracks with the other half relegating "smoothed out R&B maneuvers". At seven tracks, Dr. Dre co-executive produced the album with his "stripped-down cinematic" approach. "Westside Story" contains an "evil sounding piano plink", "Dreams" has a "simultaneously smooth and eerie" beat, and "Hate It or Love It" unveils a "smoothed out R&B funk vibe". "Higher" revolves around a pounding synth blast and "How We Do" contains syncopated hand claps with a beat described as "a hypnotic blast of sinister seduction powered by a deliciously primitive 808 pattern and a slinky synth." "Don't Need Your Love" samples Mary J. Blige's "Not Gon Cry" and is one of the album's more soulful songs. "Church for Thugs" delivers a "sing-song stylee over an accentuated sonic bed" and "Put You on the Game" is a club track containing "dark dirge[s] of synth".