''The Documentary 2'' is the sixth

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

by American rapper the Game. It was released on October 9, 2015, by Blood Money Entertainment and eOne Music. The album serves as a sequel to his debut album. The project is first half of a two-piece project with other half '' The Documentary 2.5'', which was released the following week. The album features

guest appearance The term guest appearance generally denotes the appearance of a guest in an artistic or pop-culture setting. The guests themselves (referred to as guest artists, featured artists, guest stars, or guest fighters, depending on context), are disting ...

s from

Dr. Dre Andre Romell Young (born February 18, 1965), known professionally as Dr. Dre, is an American rapper, record producer, record executive, and actor. He is the founder and CEO of Aftermath Entertainment and Beats Electronics, and co-founder of ...

Drake Drake may refer to: Animals and creatures * A male duck * Drake (mythology), a term related to and often synonymous with dragon People and fictional characters * Drake (surname), a list of people and fictional characters with the family ...

Ice Cube O'Shea Jackson Sr. (born June 15, 1969), known professionally as Ice Cube, is an American rapper, songwriter, actor, and film producer. His lyrics on N.W.A's 1989 album '' Straight Outta Compton'' contributed to gangsta rap's widespread popu ...

Snoop Dogg Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. ( ; born October 20, 1971), better known by his stage name Snoop Dogg (previously Snoop Doggy Dogg), is an American rapper, record producer, and actor. Rooted in West Coast hip-hop, he is widely regarded as one of t ...

Kendrick Lamar Kendrick Lamar Duckworth (born June 17, 1987) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer. Regarded as one of the greatest rappers of all time, he was awarded the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Music, becoming the first music ...

, Ab-Soul,

Kanye West Ye ( ; born Kanye Omari West ; June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, singer and record producer. One of the most prominent figures in hip-hop, he is known for his varying musical style and polarizing cultural and political commentary. After ...

and

Future The future is the time after the past and present. Its arrival is considered inevitable due to the existence of time and the laws of physics. Due to the apparent nature of reality and the unavoidability of the future, everything that currently ex ...

, among others. Preceded the album release, the album was supported by lead single: " 100" featuring

Background

In 2015, in an interview with Power 106, the Game announced that the album was about 90% complete and once

gets back from his vacation, him and Dre would 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 Robert Rihmeek Williams (born May 6, 1987), known professionally as Meek Mill, is an American rapper. Born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he embarked on his career as a battle rapper, and later formed a short-lived rap group the Blo ...

, 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 North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

's Power 98, the Game said that he has been working with these record producers such as

Timbaland Timothy Zachery Mosley (born March 10, 1972), known professionally as Timbaland, is an American record producer and rapper. Born and raised in Norfolk, Virginia, he is widely acclaimed for his distinctive production work and "stuttering" rhythm ...

Swizz Beatz Kasseem Daoud Dean (born September 13, 1978), known professionally as Swizz Beatz, is an American rapper and record producer. Born and raised in the Bronx borough of New York City, Dean embarked on his musical career as a DJ in 1994. At the age ...

Pharrell Williams Pharrell Lanscilo Williams (; born April 5, 1973), also known mononymously as Pharrell, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, rapper, record producer, and fashion designer. He first became known as one half of the music production duo ...

, DJ Premier, the Alchemist, Mikhail, Jahlil Beats,

Just Blaze Justin Gregory Smith (born January 8, 1978), known professionally as Just Blaze, is an American record producer and DJ. Born in Paterson, New Jersey, Smith attended Rutgers University for three years before dropping out to pursue a career in mus ...

, Scott Storch, and Mike Will Made It. While the Game was spending the entire week in the studio with

, 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 Sign Tyrone William Griffin Jr. (born April 13, 1982), known professionally as Ty Dolla Sign (stylized as Ty Dolla $ign or Ty$), is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, and record producer. Born and raised in Los Angeles, California, Griffin gai ...

, Bongo 'the Drum Gahd',

Busta Rhymes Trevor George Smith Jr. (born May 20, 1972), known professionally as Busta Rhymes, is an American rapper, singer and actor. Chuck D of Public Enemy gave him the moniker Busta Rhymes, after National Football League, NFL and Canadian Football Lea ...

and

Keyshia Cole Keyshia Myeshia Cole (née Johnson; born October 15, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, television personality and actress. Dubbed by critics as the " Princess of Hip-Hop Soul", she is known for her soulful voice and heartfelt lyrics. Bor ...

. The video features one of the snippets was a song with Game and

that was surfaced later. Joe Moses, Jay 305 and Skeme appeared in the video. Many unofficial sites posted possible track lists for the album. On July 21, 2015, the Game posted a picture of himself on the toilet, while recording a song for the album on his

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

. 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 Nas (born 1973) is the stage name of American rapper Nasir Jones. Nas, NaS, or NAS may also refer to: Aviation * Nasair, a low-cost airline carrier and subsidiary based in Eritrea * National Air Services, an airline in Saudi Arabia ** Nas Air (S ...

Lil Wayne Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. (born September27, 1982), known professionally as Lil Wayne, is an American rapper. He is often regarded as one of the most influential hip hop artists of his generation, as well as one of the greatest rappers of all ...

E-40 Earl Tywone Stevens (born November 15, 1967), better known by his stage name E-40, is an American rapper. Stevens is a founding member of the rap group The Click (band), The Click and the founder of Sick Wid It Records. He has released 27 stud ...

, 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

was posted on

. 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 strong reviews from contemporary

music critics Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on ...

. ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' gave the album 4.5 out of 5 stars. At

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an

average In colloquial, ordinary language, an average is a single number or value that best represents a set of data. The type of average taken as most typically representative of a list of numbers is the arithmetic mean the sum of the numbers divided by ...

score of 75, which indicates "generally favorable reviews", based on 13 reviews.

Commercial performance

''The Documentary 2'' debuted at number two on the US ''Billboard'' 200, with 95,000

album-equivalent unit The album-equivalent unit, or album equivalent, often shortened to just unit, is a sales metric in the music industry that defines the number of streaming media, songs streamed and music download, songs downloaded equal to one Record sales, tradi ...

s, which included 85,000 pure album sales. It serves as the Game's seventh top-ten album in the United States. The album dropped to the number 11 in its second week, earning an additional 28,000 album-equivalent units. As of November 2015, ''The Documentary 2'' had accumulated 140,000 album-equivalent units in the United States, with 116,000 being pure sales.

Track listing

Notes * "On Me" features additional vocals from

Sample credits * "On Me" contains a sample of " On and On" (written by Jaborn Jamal) performed by

Erykah Badu Erica Abi Wright (born February 26, 1971), known professionally as Erykah Badu, is an American singer and songwriter. Influenced by rhythm and blues, R&B, Soul music, soul, and hip hop, Badu rose to prominence in the late 1990s when her debut al ...

. * "Step Up" contains a sample of " Step In the Arena" performed by

Gang Starr Gang Starr was an American Hip-hop, hip hop duo, consisting of Houston-born record producer DJ Premier and Boston-based rapper Guru (rapper), Guru. Gang Starr was at its height from 1989 to 2003, and is considered a widely influential MC-and-pr ...

, in addition to chorus vocals from "I Get Around" performed by

Tupac Shakur Tupac Amaru Shakur (; born Lesane Parish Crooks; June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996), also known by his stage names 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper and actor, regarded as one of the greatest and most influential rappers of all tim ...

; and samples " I Wanna Be Down" performed by

Brandy Brandy is a liquor produced by distilling wine. Brandy generally contains 35–60% alcohol by volume (70–120 US proof) and is typically consumed as an after-dinner digestif. Some brandies are aged in wooden casks. Others are coloured ...

. * "Don't Trip" contains samples of " Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)" performed by Digable Planets and Funky Worm, and "More Peas" performed by Fred Wesley and the J.B.'s. * "Standing on Ferraris" contains samples of " I Put a Spell on You" performed by Screamin' Jay Hawkins, and "California My Way" performed by the Main Ingredient. * "Circles" contains samples of Going in Circles performed by

Isaac Hayes Isaac Lee Hayes Jr. (August 20, 1942 – August 10, 2008) was an American singer, songwriter, composer, and actor. He was one of the creative forces behind the Southern soul music label Stax Records in the 1960s, serving as an in-house songwr ...

, Montara performed by

Bobby Hutcherson Robert Hutcherson (January 27, 1941 – August 15, 2016) was an American jazz vibraphone and marimba player. "Little B's Poem", from the 1966 Blue Note Records, Blue Note album ''Components (album), Components'', is one of his best-known composi ...

, and "Song Cry" performed by Jay-Z. * "Uncle Skit" contains a sample of

Cutie Pie "Cutie Pie" is a song performed by One Way, issued as the second single from their album '' Who's Foolin' Who''. The song was the band's only appearance on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, peaking at #61 in 1982. It was used on the 2013 game Grand ...

performed by One Way. * "Mula" contains a sample of "Fall in Love" performed by

Phantogram Phantogram may refer to: *Phantogram (band) Phantogram is an American music duo from Greenwich (town), New York, Greenwich, New York (state), New York, formed in 2007 and consisting of multi-instrumentalists and vocalists Sarah Barthel and Josh ...

. * "The Documentary 2" contains a sample of "Rickard Escapes" performed by

Jerry Goldsmith Jerrald King Goldsmith (February 10, 1929July 21, 2004) was an American composer, conductor and orchestrator with a career in film and television scoring that spanned nearly 50 years and over 200 productions, between 1954 and 2003. He was consid ...

. * "100" contains a sample of "Feel the Fire" performed by

Peabo Bryson Robert Peapo "Peabo" Bryson ( ; born April 13, 1951) is an American singer and songwriter. He is known for singing soul ballads (often as a duet with female singers) including the hit singles " Tonight, I Celebrate My Love", "You're Looking Like ...

. * "Just Another Day" contains a sample of "Where I'm From" performed by the Game and

Nate Dogg Nathaniel Dwayne Hale (August 19, 1969 – March 15, 2011), known professionally as Nate Dogg, was an American rapper and singer. He gained recognition for providing guest vocals on several hit rap songs between 1992 and 2007, earning him the ...

. * "LA" contains a sample of "Savoir Faire" performed by Chic.

Personnel

*Adam Turchin – saxophone *Koofreh Umoren – trumpet

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

''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 Tremaine Aldon Neverson (born November 28, 1984), known professionally as Trey Songz, is an American Contemporary R&B, R&B singer and songwriter. After being discovered by record producer Troy Taylor (record producer), Troy Taylor in 2003, Songz ...

and

. On the chart dated February 13, 2016, Disc 3 debuted on the ''Billboard'' 200 chart at number 134.

Track listing

Weekly charts

References

Background

Recording and production

Release and promotion

Critical reception

Commercial performance

Track listing

Personnel

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

''Collector's Edition''

Track listing

Weekly charts

See also

References