The Game was close to signing a deal with Death Row Records back in the day, but says after hanging out with the label for a couple of months, he realized the notorious company was not for him.

“I was running around with Suge and Eastwood and my homeboy Sonic for about two months and I figured out this wasn’t the place for me. I remember when they came out with I don’t know if it was XXL or The Source cover where they had Left Eye on there with Suge and Crooked I, Eastwood and I just felt like I should be on there,” the Compton rapper told DJ Vlad.

He continued, “That was the competitive nature of young West Coast n*ggas back then… I just felt like I belonged on records. So I stopped fucking with them and then I started running with Diddy a little bit and then Diddy sort of pushed me over to Dre when Dre was ready to sign me.”

Thanks to his early mixtapes, The Game’s name was buzzing in the music industry as a free agent. After nearly signing with Diddy’s Bad Boy Records, Dr. Dre convinced Game to join Aftermath Entertainment under the Interscope Records umbrella in 2003.