Jimmy Iovine and The Game go way back. It was through Iovine's Interscope Records - and Dr. Dre's Aftermath, 50 Cent's G-Unit Records, as well as his own Black Wall Street imprint - that The Game released his 2005 debut album The Documentary, which topped the Billboard 200 and made him a star.
The Game and Jimmy Iovine did not appear to have much in common when they met at the Los Angeles Lakers vs. Philadelphia 76ers game at the Crypto.com Arena on Wednesday night (March 23).
In a viral video, the LAX rapper can be seen making his way through the arena before bumping into Iovine and Larry Jackson, global creative director at Apple Music. Iovine slips right past the 6'4" rapper without a glance as The Game stops Jackson and daps him up.
On Thursday (March 24), Royce Da 5'9 shared the clip on his Instagram page, calling out Jimmy Iovine for seemingly ignoring The Game.
Nickel Nine published a video of Jimmy Iovine expressing his shock that there aren't more Black and White business partners. In the second slide, he posted the aforementioned footage of The Game and Jimmy Iovine interacting.
“The music biz in 2 slides,” Royce captioned the photo with a rolling eye and peace sign emoji.
Fans assumed Jimmy Iovine simply did not recognize The Game, whose face was partly concealed by a black mask. But others suggested Iovine deliberately ignored his former signee out of loyalty to Dr. Dre.
The Game famously broke up with Dre during his feud with 50 Cent in the mid 2000s, and recently claimed his "EAZY" collaborator Kanye West did more for his career in two weeks than Dre ever did.
“Not a fair assessment because he probably been seeing all that reckless Dre talk from the interviews,” one follower commented on Royce’s post. “He probably felt more loyal to Dre there and therefore said I’m going to side step you bruh.”
Royce was not prepared to overlook Iovine. “This guy made millions off The Game and has sat court side at games with him,” he replied. “As far as loyalty to Dre, did he side with Dre when him and Suge fell out? No.. He dealt with both while they were at war.”
“Y’all don’t hold these people to any standard and that’s why they do what they do.. I don’t even know game but at least I can see what his talent is.. I don’t know what Iovine does .. Respectfully.”
Ben Baller, a jewelry and music executive, also commented, “Royce. I was Vice President of A&R for Aftermath and Jimmy Iovine helped me get my job with Dre even tho I knew Dre. Real talk? He did this to me 2x at a lakers game and now we work together again! He’s old bro. He probably didn’t even know Game.”
Despite the controversy surrounding the video, Game appears to be focused on finishing up his new album Drillmatic. On Thursday, he recorded what could be his next single with 2 Chainz.
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