The Documentary 2

Background

In 2015, in an interview with Power 106, The Game announced that the album was about 90% complete and once Dr. Dre gets back from his vacation, me and Dre will be finishing recording the album. The Game also said that his children were his motivation to finish the album, speaking about being confident on his growth as a rapper: "I listened to my first album and everybody thinks it's so amazing, but I think I'm better than that. I listened to it and heard all of the flaws of the young me, and I'm like, 'Man I would have never done this song like that today.'" According to The Game, Dr. Dre was excited about the album that he called The Documentary 2 would be the best rap album in five years. On July 21, 2015, The Game revealed that Diddy said The Documentary 2 is "his best album yet".

Recording and production

On April 12, 2015, The Game released a video titled "The Making of The Documentary 2", and it shows him in the studio with Meek Mill, working on a song, called "Soundtrack". The video also features cameo appearances from Cool & Dre and Travis Scott. During the 2015's BET Awards on North Carolina's Power 98, The Game said that he has been working with these record producers such as Timbaland, Swizz Beatz, Pharrell Williams, DJ Premier, The Alchemist, Jahlil Beats, Just Blaze, Scott Storch, and Mike Will Made It. While The Game was spending the entire week in the studio with Kanye West, The Game stated that "You get a good solid week out of 'Ye if you have history." On July 6, 2015, The Game shared some footage of himself in the studio with DJ Mustard, Eric Bellinger, YG, Ty Dolla $ign, Bongo 'the Drum Gahd', Busta Rhymes and Keyshia Cole. The video features one of the snippets was a song with Game and Kendrick Lamar that was surfaced later. Joe Moses, Jay 305 and Skeme appeared in the video. Many sites posted possible track lists for the album, however, none of them were official. On July 21, 2015, The Game posted a picture of himself on the toilet, while recording a song for the album on his Instagram. Few days later, The Game posted another picture of himself working on another song with American R&B singer Tyrese, which he said that this collaboration would be on the album. The Game confirmed that Nas, Lil Wayne, E-40, Scarface, Busta Rhymes and YG would be featured on the second disc for the album, called The Documentary 2.5.

Release and promotion

On August 28, 2014, The Game stated that the album would be released on January 18, 2015, and will serve as the 10th anniversary of the first installment. On October 14, 2014, The Game released a compilation album, Blood Moon: Year of the Wolf. On January 30, 2015, a picture of Dr. Dre, The Game, and Ice Cube was posted on Instagram. The inclusion suggested that Dre and Cube were reuniting on the album. On March 12, 2015, The Game announced that the album would be released on June 30, which is his oldest son's birthday. In an interview with Miss Info, Game said spoke about the release of the album. "I feel like I could've released it after The Documentary, but ten years seems perfectly fine. It's my sixth studio album, my sixth solo album, and I think that the 10th anniversary is huge. So, why not put it out ten years later?"

On June 28, 2015, The Game announced that the album would be released on August 7, 2015. Target started promoting the album in stores. The cover shown a new release date of August 28. On July 16, 2015, The Game posted a picture of Tupac with the caption, "Almost time to wrap this album. #TheDocumentary2". On August 30, 2015, he released the cover art for the upcoming album and announced a release date of September 25, 2015. On September 9, 2015, it was revealed that the release date was pushed back to October 9, 2015. On September 18, 2015, the album made available for pre-order, detailing the track listing. On September 22, The Game announced that The Documentary 2 would be a double disc album with a total of 38 tracks, detailing to have disc one releasing on October 9, 2015 and then disc two releasing on October 16, 2015. A documentary about the album, showing how the album was made with studio sessions and video shoots, was released after disc one was released; it is titled The Documentary 2: The Making of the Album.

Critical reception

The Documentary 2 received generally favorable reviews from contemporary music critics. Billboard gave the album 4.5 out of 5 stars. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 75, which indicates "generally favorable reviews", based on 13 reviews.

Commercial performance

The Documentary 2 debuted at number 2 on the US Billboard 200, while moving 83,000 copies and 95,000 units (including streams).

Track listing

Notes

Sample credits

Personnel

Collector's Edition

The three-disc collector's edition of The Documentary 2 was released on January 22, 2016. The bonus disc features guest appearances from Trey Songz and Meek Mill. On the chart dated February 13, 2016, Disc 3 debuted on the Billboard 200 chart at number 134.