The Game may have handed his daughter Cali Dream Taylor the keys to a Maybach for her Sweet 16, but the West Coast rapper says the real gift is making sure she never questions whether her father showed up.
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Days after video of the massive birthday surprise made its rounds online, The Game tapped in exclusively with Baller Alert to talk about the moment and the responsibility behind it.
“Being a father is the most important role I’ll ever have,” The Game told Baller Alert. “The Maybach is a beautiful gift, but that’s not what I want my daughter to remember most about turning 16.”
Cali turned 16 on August 21, 2026. Her family celebrated the milestone with a Beverly Hills party where The Game surprised her with a Mercedes Maybach. Video from the celebration showed Cali being led to the vehicle before getting her first look at the luxury SUV.
The Maybach gift quickly became the part of the celebration everyone was talking about, but The Game says fatherhood cannot be measured by what is sitting in the driveway.
“I want her to remember that her father was there. That I celebrated her, protected her, listened to her, and made sure she always knew her worth,” he told Baller Alert.
And Cali is not his only reason for viewing fatherhood that way. The Game is a father of four, with three sons and one daughter whose ages now span more than two decades.
His first child, Harlem Caron Taylor, was born June 30, 2003, to The Game and entrepreneur Aleska Jordan. Harlem is now 23. The rapper later welcomed King Justice Taylor with Tiffney Cambridge on April 25, 2007. The former couple then welcomed Cali on August 21, 2010, making King and Cali full siblings. King is now 19, while Cali’s 16th birthday is the milestone currently putting The Game’s fatherhood back in the spotlight.
“I’ve accomplished a lot in my career, but nothing compares to watching my children grow into who they’re becoming,” The Game told Baller Alert.
His family grew again more than a decade after Cali’s birth. The Game welcomed his youngest son, Blaze Taylor, with entrepreneur Shaniece Hairston in September 2024. Baller Alert previously reported in December 2024 that The Game introduced Blaze publicly when he shared the first photo of his baby boy. Hairston also shared the image, while her mother, “Basketball Wives” star Evelyn Lozada, celebrated becoming a grandmother.
Now, with children at very different stages of life, The Game is experiencing fatherhood from several angles at once. Harlem and King are adults, Cali has entered another major teenage milestone, and Blaze is still a toddler.
That perspective is part of why The Game says the viral Maybach gift should not overshadow what he believes his children really need from him.
“As a father, you want to give your kids things you may not have had, but the greatest thing you can give them is your presence,” he told Baller Alert.
The flashy birthday moment also follows a pattern of The Game celebrating his children in a big way. When Harlem turned 16 in 2019, his father threw him a birthday party and gifted him a BMW.
But there is a difference between giving your children something memorable and believing the material gift is what makes someone a parent. For The Game, that distinction appears clear.
The Maybach will undoubtedly remain one of the biggest memories from Cali’s Sweet 16, but when the cameras are gone and the birthday celebration is over, The Game says the job does not change.
“The car is a moment,” he told Baller Alert. “Being her dad is for life.”
