Anyone who has ever gone through a stint in life where The Documentary was constantly on replay loves to point out that the child on the cover is, in fact, The Game’s actual child. They just feed off of that fun fact.
Nevertheless, that child is no longer an infant, as recently posted on the West Coast legend’s Instagram account. Detailing their experiences together and the person his son has grown into is indescribably endearing, because it’s clear how much of an impact his child has had on his life, and that includes his music career.
In what is easily one of the longest virtual birthday cards one could ever write, the rapper pours his soul out, writing:
Look man, it took me hours to check my emotions & finally start writing this… Yes, tears are rolling down my face & yes my mind is trying to grasp just how krazy it is to watch a child be born & go from a baby to a grown man right in front of your eyes. It’s literally the most amazing thing I’ve been able to bare witness to in my life. How beautiful of a soul you’ve become, and I can really only thank your mother for how kind, caring & delicate you are to not only your siblings & immediate family… but to everyone who crosses paths with you. Son, today you turn 18 years old & just typing that and looking at it does not seem real. Like, how, when & where did I get an adult this fast out of the small baby that use to run around the house in my size 12 Jordan 3’s tripping over every got damn thing in the house, but getting back up every single time laughing hysterically at yourself. But that’s all it ever took for you to be happy, small things & those moments with me. I hope after all this time, I’ve been more than a father to you.. a best friend, a protector, a mentor, the homie & overall a super hero because only God knows the trials & what I had to put on the line so that we could get to this day. It has taken all that I am to create the safe, worry free, loving lifestyle that you have lived and I really want you to know that YOU were the motivation for it all son. My will to survive, the practice to be an even better parent to your brother & sister… the constant learning for the betterment of our solid relationship and the love that has sustained between your mother and I to create the amazingly perfect co-parenting relationship that we have. It was always YOU. As this short letter brings itself to a close & the tears keep running, I want you to know that I am so proud of everything you are & most definitely of the man you’ve become. Now that you are a man, I guess I can add 30 more minutes on to your curfew and maybe leave you home with a girl without watching you on the cameras…… I love you son, with all of my heart… HAPPY 18TH BIRTHDAY HARLEM CARON TAYLOR….. we really made it, together – DAD
Rather than clowning The Game for another one of his bafflingly long Instagram posts, let’s commend him this time.