Billboard Hot 100<\/a> \u2014 The Game brought Snoop Dogg into the fold, helping the Doggfather to write a verse that recalls his iconic counting flow on Dr. Dre\u2019s 1992 G-funk classic \u201cNuthin\u2019 but a \u2018G\u2019 Thang.\u201d Both Game and Snoop made references to the original \u201cHate It or Love It,\u201d while saluting West Coast legends including Nipsey Hussle, 2Pac and Ice Cube. A sample of Bobby Caldwell\u2019s 1978 hit \u201cWhat You Won\u2019t Do for Love\u201d \u2014 not present on the 2005 track \u2014 tied the new version together.<\/p>\n\n\t\u201cLove It or Hate It,\u201d The Game figured, would generate buzz for the August release of his 11th studio album, The \u00adDocumentary III \u2014 and serve as connective tissue between his new project and his debut album, The Documentary, which featured \u201cHate It or Love It\u201d and stamped him as a torchbearer of West Coast hip-hop in the aughts.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI knew for my core fans, them being able to go down memory lane and in such a nostalgic way early on in the album would set the tone for the listener and kind of trick your ears into understanding that this album is going to be a classic album too,\u201d he says. \u201cSo when you listen to the song, you think you\u2019re listening to \u2018Hate It or Love It\u2019 because you\u2019re used to it, but you\u2019re not. That\u2019s just me playing mind games with my fans \u2014 and even myself.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cLove It or Hate It\u201d was part of a trio of rap remixes that arrived this summer \u2014 and all reanimated existing hits. Meek Mill recalled his millennial motivational scripture \u201cDreams and Nightmares\u201d for the new \u201cNightmares to Dreams,\u201d and DJ Shadow and Run the Jewels celebrated 10 years of their collaborative \u201cNobody Speak\u201d with \u201cNobody Speak Part 2,\u201d which featured buzzy rappers Denzel Curry and TiaCorine.<\/p>\n
\n\tCrate-digging, and flipping known intellectual property, have always been fundamental to hip-hop. Nas released a sequel to \u201cN.Y. State of Mind\u201d (\u201cN.Y. State of Mind Pt. II\u201d) five years after dropping his classic Illmatic (the revamped track appeared on his 1999 album, I Am\u2026), and more recently, Lil Uzi Vert released \u201cP2,\u201d a sequel to the top 10 2017 smash \u201cXO Tour Llif3\u201d that arrived three years after the original and used its same hypnotic melody and TM88 production. (\u201cP2,\u201d which featured on 2020\u2019s Eternal Atake, reached No. 11 on the Hot 100.)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\n\tReworking catalog hits of the past \u2014 albeit by other artists \u2014 has previously proved to be a formula for chart success, given how TikTok and social media have disrupted traditional music consumption methods. Just consider how Metro Boomin, The Weeknd and 21 Savage\u2019s \u201cCreepin\u2019 \u201d remade Mario Winans\u2019 \u201cI Don\u2019t Wanna Know\u201d and scored a top five Hot 100 hit nearly two decades after the Bad Boy singer\u2019s original.<\/p>\n
\n\tWith the genre\u2019s scarcity on the charts in 2026 \u2014 so far, Drake is the only rapper to notch a top 10 hit on the Hot 100 this year as a lead artist \u2014 flipping a once-big hit might seem like an easy remedy. And considering the dearth of new mainstream stars \u2014 outside of Doechii and Don Toliver, other emerging talents have yet to commercially break through \u2014 hip-hop veterans have more of an opening to notch genuine hits.<\/p>\n
\n\tBut among The Game, Meek Mill and DJ Shadow, only Meek\u2019s \u201cNightmares to Dreams\u201d reached the Hot 100, landing at No. 82 for just one week before falling off the chart. Overall, these remixes failed to generate a lasting buzz in a current mainstream climate that\u2019s shown to be less hospitable to hip-hop than it has been in the recent past. The Game credits the genre\u2019s lackluster showing lately to a modern disconnect from the generation of rap he was raised in where titans sparred in collaboration and juicy remixes ruled.<\/p>\n
\n\tBut a recent text exchange with \u00ad310babii gave him some hope. The rising West Coast rapper reached out to him looking for advice on improving his artistry \u2014 the first time The Game says that a rap newcomer has personally sought him out.<\/p>\n
\n\tAnd while the two haven\u2019t revealed any plans to work together just yet, cross-\u00adgenerational collaboration has proved mutually beneficial for veterans and rising talent across genres and eras, from Jay-Z co-signing an emerging Drake in 2009 to Tyler, The Creator guesting on rising rapper AZ Chike\u2019s single \u201cLook Like My Mama\u201d this August. So while remixing one\u2019s own work of the past may be a cool curio for serious fans, collaboration among genre titans and newcomers could be the real key to getting rap back in the conversation and on the charts. \u201cEveryone\u2019s so selfish and all about \u2018me,\u2019 when it should be about us,\u201d The Game says. \u201cAnd fans know the difference.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThis story appears in the Oct. 3, 2026, issue of Billboard.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When The Game recently decided he wanted to remix his 2005 hit \u201cHate It or Love It,\u201d \u201cEverybody…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":872040,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[88,3867,58376,1766,216],"class_list":["post-872039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-genre-hiphop","tag-genre-rap","tag-magazine","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=872039"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872039\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/872040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=872039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=872039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=872039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}