Confidence is key, as Compton rapper Game knows.

Like our sister paper Village Voice said last week, Game (we hate that he dropped the “The”) is “the ultimate company man … he has kept admirably cool while the years pass by; instead, when asked about the delays in interviews, he responds with aplomb.”

Case in point: Last week on the set of his video for “Pot of Gold,” a single from upcoming The R.E.D. Album, which will have been delayed almost two years when it's released August 23, 2011, he told MTV,

“This album is the most incredible album of my career. First, I'm back with Dr. Dre, which is a bonus and dope for me. Second, executive-produced by Pharrell, co-executive-produced by myself and Mars … And Dre's rapping on the album.”

Well, that lineup definitely would have fulfilled that “most incredible” prophecy … in 2003.

Don't get us wrong, we still love any and every Pharrell production, even to the point of being ridiculed. And Dr. Dre is one of the legends.

But with Pharrell's interest seemingly departed to icier pastures (fashion design, jewelry design, furniture design, liqueur creation), Dr. Dre's feet over the release of Detox not just cold, but freezing, and Game's lackluster singles (not to mention the strictly going-through-the-motions video for “Ain't No Doubt About It”), how are we supposed to get excited about this?

Are you?

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