The Game Says He Challenged Eminem To Verzuz Because 50 Cent 'Can't Rap': 'I Gotta Go A Level Up'

The Game threw down the gauntlet last month when he challenged Eminem to a Verzuz battle during his appearance on N.O.R.E. and DJ EFN’s Drink Champs podcast. Better yet, the Compton native declared he’s a “better rapper” than the self-proclaimed rap god.

While his comments may have come off as preposterous to some, the Black Wall Street rapper says he set his sights on Eminem simply because his more obvious foe, longtime rival 50 Cent, “can’t rap.”

“You want to know why [I challenged Eminem to a Verzuz battle]? Because 50 can’t rap!” he explained on UPROXX’s new series Fresh Pairs, hosted by Just Blaze and Katty Customs. “And so I gotta go a level up and challenge the better rapper.”

Despite dismissing 50’s mic skills, The Game did give his former G-Unit boss credit for his success in the TV industry — but claimed the Get Rich or Die Tryin’ rapper poses no threat to him in a rap battle.

“It’s no 2005, 2006 animosity toward 50,” he continued. “I watch Power, I watch the Tommy one, I watch the one with Isaac Wright on primetime television. I watch 50’s shows, I’m a fan of those shows. BMF is great!

“But I’m a rapper, he’s a rapper and I am the better rapper. I’m not the better TV producer — I’m giving him his dead flowers while he can still smell them. But when it comes to rap, he can’t out-rap me. Your buddy can rap, though!”

Turning his attention to Eminem — for whom he’s apparently readying a diss song – The Game reiterated that he doesn’t subscribe to the notion that the Detroit rap icon is all-powerful and simply wants to see him step into the arena, just like he’s done with previous foes.

“When I said what I said about Em, it was to challenge him, to challenge Hip Hop, to ignite a rap riot — not a street fight or ‘let’s pull out the straps,’” he explained. “But ‘N-gga, get up and rap! Let’s rap!’

“[Because of] Em’s career and all the records he’s sold … they got Eminem put up here where he’s, like, this rap god, but when dissected by myself, I don’t feel like he’s a better rapper than me … I just feel like a rap god where?”

He continued, “At one point, I did [think Eminem was the best rapper] because I was signed to Aftermath and I’m loyal, and Interscope had me thinking that he was better than everybody else. At one point in my career, I was thinking that Em was better than Jay just based off of ‘Renegade’ because The Source magazine said that Eminem got Jay on that verse … until I became a vet and a legend in this game.

“And so now, this Game today and Em today … I’m better today. And if I’m not, get up and let’s rap! I ain’t come here to fight. Let’s rap. You did it with MGK; why not do it with me? You did it with Mariah Carey, you did it with Nick Cannon.”

The Game’s latest shots at 50 Cent arrive in the middle of a rekindled feud between the longtime adversaries, sparked by The Game’s recent claim that Kanye West did more for his career in two weeks than Dr. Dre ever did.

After 50 gave a bemused reaction to his statement, The Game warned the Queens, New York native the last time they sparred, “G-Unit clothing got put in a casket with the entire group & you went into television.”

He later mocked 50 for being “fat as fuck hanging upside down like rotisserie chicken at the Super Bowl” and claimed his girlfriend, Cuban Link, was in his DMs.

50 Cent returned fire by posting a video of Interscope boss Jimmy Iovine seemingly snubbing The Game at a recent Los Angeles Lakers game with the caption, “LOL The man didn’t even look at him. Get this guy out of here 50 wrote the records. LMFAO.”

The Game retaliated by commenting on the post, “Your rap career died wit them loli pop strap tank tops … you a actor, [and] that’s why you ran to tv […] leave this rap shit to n-ggas who can spell correctly and actually got bars, goofy n-gga!”

Most recently, The Game denied 50 Cent was responsible for putting him on during an Instagram Live session with Fat Joe, claiming his name was already “ringing bells in the streets of Hip Hop” when he was added to G-Unit.