Aberdeen musician Mark James Scott – one-half of north-east hip hop duo SHY & DRS – has teamed with American rapper The Game to work on his brand and newest album.
“I met The Game through a mutual friend in the music industry about six years ago now,” said the Aberdeen creative.
“I met him in person for the first time when he invited me backstage at his show in Glasgow in 2018.”
After releasing his debut independent album Untold Story in 2004, Compton-born The Game was eventually discovered by well-known record producer Dr. Dre. The Game released his tenth studio album Drillmatic – Heart vs. Mind earlier this month.
Mark James Scott on collaborating with The Game
“I started working for Game about five years ago,” said Mark.
“I take care of the branding and design for all of his companies. Most recently, I have been working on his new record label Numinati which is a subsidiary of Virgin Music.”
Mark added: “I am credited in art direction on his latest album Drillmatic where I oversaw how we branded the whole project.
“We are working on his next single right now which is called Stupid featuring Big Sean and produced by Hit-Boy. I also worked in art direction on his album Born 2 Rap which came out in 2019.”
We wondered whether the Aberdeen musician could pick his favourite song from Drillmatic…
He said: “It’s got to be a tie between Universal Love featuring Chris Brown and Nikki Beach featuring French Montana and Torey Lanez – he played it for me when I was in LA last month. At that time it was without any verses and he was getting my reaction to the track.”
Collaborating with rapper on European tour
The Game will embark on an European tour in November, once again collaborating with the Aberdeen musician.
Mark said: “He has two Scottish dates this time round – Glasgow and Edinburgh.
“We’re also working on a few non-music related projects including one we have been working on since the beginning of the pandemic which we plan to bring to the UK very soon.”
While he’s met the rapper on multiple occasions, Mark mainly works from the Granite City.
He said: “I work remotely at the moment but Game invited me to come out to LA last month to do some work on his album and his live show. He also invited me to his home in Calabasas for a party he was throwing for the Fourth of July – which was wild!”
In addition to his work with The Game, Mark is also busy collaborating with Darren Scott on their hip-hop band SHY & DRS.
“We are still promoting our album Act Your Wage which came out last year and we’re concentrating on getting that out there. But we’ve got a new single in the works at the moment called Win which should come out later this year.”
The Game has faced controversy during his career, including being ordered to forfeit his record label, Prolific Records, and all royalties from his 2019 album, Born 2 Rap, to Priscilla Rainey. The former contestant of his She Got Game show accused the rapper of sexual assault in 2015. Rainey was awarded $7.1 million by an Illinois court in 2019. More on this here.
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