The Game’s 8th studio album features a distinctively old-school sound bolstered by its heavy sampling of classic tracks ranging from the soulful “Inner City Blues” by Marvin Gaye to Ice-T’s hard-hitting street anthem “Colors” and even Wu-Tang Clan’s 1994 smash-hit “C.R.E.A.M.,” amongst many others.
The title is a reference to the 1992 L.A. riots, and commemorates a pivotal year for Game. It was the year he became a gang member, and is packed full of autobiographical content, with stories surrounding his Blood status in a predominantly Crip family, and how he came to be part of the gang in the first place.
Game spoke about the album and it’s cover art on an Instagram post:
1992 Cover art is inspired by what was going on in my life, my city & the world when I was 12 years old coming into my teenage years: The Los Angeles Riots, Michael Jordan & the #DreamTeam featured above on my shirt won Olympic Gold… Crips & bloods were both pulling me in both directions & joining one of the gangs was almost a normality for a young African American male growing up in Compton & the surrounding areas of Los Angeles County. Rodney King getting abused by the cops was an unforgettable incident & caused mass hysteria worldwide & the famous OJ Simpson car chase/trial was a huge worldwide televised situation that racially divided a country…. So these are some of the many topics based around my childhood touched on in this album That I wanted to include in the artwork.
The album cover was designed by Darryl “Joe Cool” Daniel, the same person who created the album art for Snoop Dogg’s debut album Doggystyle.