This Game isn't worth playing to the end

The Game

LAX (Geffen)

ESSENTIAL "State of Emergency"

For a brief moment, LA rapper the Game's third (and supposedly last) album, "LAX," is every bit as gilt-edged and diamond-sharp as its classic gangsta-rap antecedents. The Game has always been a backward-looking MC, paying repeated homage to the genius of his onetime mentor Dr. Dre and the commercial prowess of ex-colleague 50 Cent. In short order, the disc brings two of the icons of '90s hip-hop, Ice Cube and Raekwon, onstage for "State of Emergency" and "Bulletproof Diaries," and the aura of menace, swagger, and sensuality raises hopes of another classic. "LAX" spins beautifully at first, but, like a '64 Chevy with chrome rims that hasn't paid a visit to the mechanic in 20 years, it doesn't take long before the wheels come off entirely.

The second half of the album is ridiculously padded, and surprisingly mediocre; there are not one but two, icky-lewd raps that would make Ron Jeremy blush, and yet another mawkish tribute to hip-hop's dead. "LAX" might have made a superb 40-minute album; but at over 70 minutes, the Game's game is simply not up to snuff. Don't hate the Game, though, hate the players; if not exactly groundbreaking, the Game's raps are explosive and propulsive, but his sterling guest list (Lil Wayne, Ludacris, Common, Nas) ultimately drags the album down. "LAX" takes a strange detour halfway through, veering away from classic-gangsta to weak-beer R&B, with choruses delivered by a series of second-tier divas and crooners. Having wanted to record a new "Doggystyle," the Game ends up with a new "Tha Doggfather" instead. [Saul Austerlitz]