The Game | 5ive Songs

On the 99^th edition of 5ive Songs (2021), we select five songs that are associated with THE GAME in some form or fashion.

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elcome to 5ive Songs, where we keep things short and sweet – no extra calories or needless fluff! There’s a theme/topic, five songs, and a short blurb.  Yes, it’s a playlist, but it’s a miniature playlist that shouldn’t take much time to consume.  On the 99^th edition of 5ive Songs (2021), we select five songs that are associated with THE GAME in some form or fashion.  Okay, let’s get into it!

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1. Adele, “Love is a Game”

💿 30 • 🏷 Melted Stone / Columbia • 📅 2021

🎵 “Love is a Game” serves as the final piece of the puzzle, rather Adele’s fourth studio album, 💿 30. “Love is a Game” marks home run for the 🏆 Academy award and Grammy-winning musician.  Vocally, she sings with incredible passion, sounding authentic to the nth degree.  I love the sound of her lower register on the verse.  Stylistically, I heart the fact that she taps into the vintage soul of the late 60s and 70s.  This is the perfect vibe for her, particularly since she is tackling the plight of love.

The chorus marks one of the best on an album full of fabulous choruses!

“That love is a game for fools to play
And I ain’t fooling (fooling), what a cruel thing (cruel thing)
To self-inflict that pain.”

Other things to rave about “Love is a Game” is the modulation (key change), those soulful backing vocals, and the production by 🎛 Inflo. “Love is a Game” provides the closure that Adele needed, and that the album deserved.

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2. Archie Bell & The Drells, “Strategy”

💿 Strategy • 🏷 Sony Music Entertainment • 🗓 1979 

“Said it’s up to me / To come up with a strategy / To make you mine / To make you mine.” Woo! When R&B collective 🎙 Archie Bell & The Drells is mentioned, the first song that comes to mind is the no. 1 Hot 100 gem, 🎵 “Tighten Up”.  It’s a terrific 1960s soul classic.  That said, 🎙 Archie Bell and company have another gem in 1979, seven-minute-long funk joint, 🎵 “Strategy”, which appears on the 1979 album of the same name.  It’s not every day that the word strategy is used within a song title, but it works out perfectly for Bell and company.

So, what is the strategy for the Texas collective exactly? Well, as the chorus states, Archie is trying to come up with a strategy to earn this girl’s love.  He goes on to sing, “Girl why you wanna make me sweat / Standing there playing hard to get / All the time / All the time.”  Man, oh man does Archie Bell & The Drells have the hots for their respective women.  Interestingly, over this exquisite, lush, groovy production on this 🎼✍ Gene McFadden / 🎼✍ Jerry Cohen / 🎼✍ John Whitehead-penned joint, Archie states that the ball is in her court.  Does he guilt trip her? Of course, he does, particularly moments like, “There’s no need in teasin’, well / When I know what I need / Girl I need you, I need you / And woman, woman, woman you need, you need me, Hey!” Also, he’s incredibly horny, even if that’s not the appropriate way to put it in 1979!

“Girl, my body’s achin’, well
Just to feel the pleasures that you hide, that you hid
And girl, my body’s waitin’, waitin’
Waitin’, waitin’, waitin’ to get inside-side-side.” 

THE GAME REQUIRES STRATEGY!!!

Also appears on 🔽:
🔗 🎧 Archie Bell & The Drells, “Strategy”: Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 No. 12
🔗 🎧 Soul Oldies: Vol. IV

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3. Jack Harlow, “Tyler Herro”

💿 Thats What They All Say • 🏷 Generation Now / Atlantic • 🗓 2020

“I brought a gang to the party with me / Five white boys, but they not NSYNC.” 🎙 Jack Harlow is ‘instant offense’… at least when it comes to rap.  2020 saw the rapper’s star rise exponentially, and for good reason.  Keeping his game in tip-top shape, Harlow dropped an instant hit, 🎵 “Tyler Herro” (💿 Thats What They All Say) named after Kentucky Wildcat standout and NBA baller, 🏀 Tyler Herro.

“Tyler Herro” may be short (not the player, who is 6’5”), but it’s a sweet banger from Jack.  “My homeboy Tyler, he play in South Beach,” Harlow asserts on the verse, continuing, “He told me this summer he gon’ fix my jumper.” Herro would be the one to do so given his skills from beyond the arc – GAME WINNING SKILLZ BABY!!!  Additionally, Harlow shouts out producer 🎛 Boi-1da, who, alongside a list of producers, stitches up the track nicely.  #BANGER

Also appears on 🔽:
🔗 🎧 Ballers 🏀: 5ive Songs No. 52
🔗 🎧 Awesome Songs That Tickled My Fancy: October 2020
🔗 🎧 100 BEST SONGS OF 2020: 75– 51
🔗 🎧 100 BEST SONGS OF 2020
🔗 🎧 10 Songs That Reference Ballers 🏀

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4. The Rance Allen Group, “Champion”

💿 Celebrate • 🏷 Tyscot • 🗓 2014

“If God is for you then you are the winner / Champion, champion, champion!” That is an inspiring line from the late, great 🎙 Bishop Rance Allen and 🎙 The Rance Allen Group.  The gospel icon sadly passed away on October 31, 2020.  He is best known for his anointed vocals on the 🎙 Kirk Franklin hit, 🎵 “Something About the Name Jesus”, where he nails a high Ab with incredible ease.

On 🎵 “Champion” from the group’s 2014 album, 💿 Celebrate, Allen emphasizes how powerful God is, and if he is on your side, there is no way that you don’t come out as a champion.  “If God is with you, then who can stand against you?”  As always, Allen delivers awesome, gritty vocals, chocked full of soul and spirit over a dynamic, contemporary gospel backdrop.  GOD WILL BE YOUR CHAMPION, AND WITH HIM, YOU WIN!!!

Also appears on 🔽:
🔗 🎧 Champion: 5ive Songs No. 54
🔗 🎧 11 Songs That Provide That Spiritual Refresh
🔗 🎧 11 Totally Victorious, Champion Songs

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5. Anderson .Paak, “Winners Circle”

💿 Ventura • 🏷 Aftermath / 12 Tone Music • 📅 2019

🎵 “Winners Circle” continues the consistency of 💿 Ventura, the fourth album by 🏆 Grammy-winning R&B/hip-hop artist, 🎙 Anderson .Paak. Notably, Ventura arrived less than five months after his third LP, 💿 Oxnard (2018).  Where Oxnard was more hip-hop-oriented, Ventura is generally more R&B-driven.

“Winners Circle” commences with a spoken-word intro (🎙 Sonny LoSpecchio and 🎙 Calogera Anello):

“You’re only allowed three great women in your lifetime
They come along like great fighters, once every ten years...
Sometimes you get ‘em all at once
Me? I had my three when I was sixteen.”

Interesting for sure. After the tone-setting intro, Paak blesses us all with his swagger-laden, masterful pipes.  “This is not some super conventional / Extra slick talk meant to convince you all,” he sings on the first verse, continuing, “Masterclasses reduced to simple form / There’s nothing formulaic about it.”  Sex seems to be the modus operandi, and it’s further confirmed in the second verse (“Get to know me, kiss me slowly, hard to focus / They just don’t make ‘em like this no more, whoa”).  Clearly, the ‘winners circle’ involves scoring big…  Notably, Paak ‘busts a rhyme’ on the third verse, which is a great contrast following two sung verses.

“When I get the gushy, I go dumb like the President
Yes, lawd, I’m way up, word to Sacagawea
If the gushy was a sneaker, it’d be moccasin trainer
If the gushy wasn’t so sweet, I could save it for later...”

Wow, just wow. That’s THE GAME tho!

Also appears on 🔽:
🔗 🎧 11 Circular Songs Sure to Keep You Goin ‘Round in Circles

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The Game: 5ive Songs No. 99 (2021) [📷: 12 Tone Music, Aftermath, Atlantic, Brent Faulkner, Clovis Cheminot, Columbia, cottonbro via Pexels, Generation Now, Melted Stone, The Musical Hype, OpenClipart-Vectors, Pixabay, Sony, Tyscot]

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