The Game has his advocates

THE GAME, who has been hailed as the great new hope of hard-core West Coast rap after years of East Coast dominance in the genre, has the No. 1 album in the country this week with “Doctor’s Advocate,” the follow-up to his 2005 debut, “The Documentary.” That was the good news for the rapper following his arrest in New York City last week for impersonating a police officer during a high-speed cab ride after, according to the New York Daily News, he ordered the driver to “speed through the stop lights.”

“Doctor’s Advocate” sold 358,000 copies in the U.S., a robust total in the current marketplace but also a considerable backslide considering “The Documentary” lighted up its first week in stores with 587,000 copies sold. The Game, who had predicted first-week sales would top 1 million, was the heralded new cohort of rap superstar 50 Cent back then but, after a falling out, the West Coast rhymer is trying to prove himself all over again.

It’s also far less than early projections indicate for “Kingdom Come,” the “out of retirement” album by Jay-Z, which came out Tuesday. Based on first-day sales, Hits magazine suggests the collection will post the biggest first-week sales of the year, around 850,000, easily trumping the current 2006 high of 722,000 set by Rascal Flatts’ “Me and My Gang” in April.

Opening at No. 2 this week is “Konvicted,” the new CD from Akon, a rap and R&B; artist whose album sold 284,000 copies and features contributors Eminem and Snoop Dogg.

Tenacious D, the comedy-hard rock duo of Jack Black and Kyle Gass, debuts at No. 8 with “The Pick of Destiny,” which sold 81,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan.