THE GAME PAYS MACABRE TRIBUTE TO DEAD RAP ICONS.

Rapper THE GAME has paid a macabre tribute to his hip-hop heroes TUPAC SHAKUR, EAZY-E and the NOTORIOUS B.I.G. in a new song - by stepping into their shoes for the last 10 minutes of their lives. The Los Angeles-based hitmaker claims new track Never Can Say Goodbye offers his version of the late icons' final moments. He explains, "I wanted to be in Biggie, Pac and Eazy-E's shoes the last 10 minutes of their lives, so I wrote verses as if I were. "In their last moments, they knew they were going to die, or at least felt like they might."

The Game insists he can put himself where they were before they passed because he almost died after getting shot. He tells King magazine, "I got shot and felt like it was over for me. I've got something in common with them (Shakur, Eazy-E and Notorious B.I.G.), except I didn't pass; I came back to life." Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G. were both killed in shooting incidents in 1996 and 1997 respectively, and N.W.A. star Eazy-E lost his life to Aids in 1995.