The Game and Jimmy Iovine go way back. It was through Iovine’s Interscope Records — and Dr. Dre’s Aftermath, 50 Cent’s G-Unit Records and his own Black Wall Street imprint — that The Game released his 2005 debut album The Documentary, which topped the Billboard 200 and solidified the Compton native as a star.
However, that history didn’t appear to count for much when The Game and Jimmy Iovine crossed paths at the Los Angeles Lakers vs. Philadelphia 76ers game at the Crypto.com Arena on Wednesday night (March 23).
A viral clip from the contest shows the LAX rapper making his way through the arena and bumping into Iovine and Larry Jackson, Global Creative Director at Apple Music. The Game stops Jackson and daps him up, but Iovine slips right past the towering, 6’4″ rapper without so much as a glance.
Royce Da 5’9 caught wind of the clip and shared it on his own Instagram page on Thursday (March 24) while calling out Jimmy Iovine for seemingly ignoring The Game.
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Nickel Nine posted a video of the Interscope boss expressing his shock that there aren’t more Black guys and White guys who go into business together while sat next to his longtime friend and business partner Dr. Dre. In his second slide, he posted the aforementioned footage of The Game and Jimmy Iovine’s interaction.
“The music biz in 2 slides,” Royce wrote along with a rolling eyes and peace sign emoji in the caption.
Some fans believed Jimmy Iovine simply didn’t recognize The Game, whose face was partly concealed by a black mask. But others speculated the veteran music executive deliberately blanked his former signee out of loyalty to Dr. Dre.
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The Game famously parted ways with Dre in the mid 2000s during his feud with 50 Cent and recently threw shade at the legendary producer in his Drink Champs interview, claiming 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.”
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However, Royce wasn’t prepared to give Iovine a pass. “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.
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“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.”
Celebrity jewelry/music executive Ben Baller also chimed in, commenting, “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.”
The Game has yet to address the video himself, although it appears the Compton rapper’s attention is firmly on finishing his new album Drillmatic. On Thursday night, he hit the studio with 2 Chainz to record what could be his next single.
