CALIFORNIAN hip hop superstar The Game is rocking up in Birmingham for a concert next week.

The platinum selling rapper will bring his high-octane live show to the O2 Academy on Monday night in what will be one of the city's musical highlights of the year.

He burst onto the scene ten years ago on the monster hit Hate It Or Love It with 50 Cent saying prophetically: "I'm rap's MVP and I'm not going anywhere so you can get to know me."

In the following decade he spectacularly fell out with patron 50 Cent and his G-Unit crew but released critically acclaimed album after album starting with the The Documentary.

The Grammy Nominated rapper has starred in several films and collaborated with the likes of Dr. Dre, Chris Brown, T.I and Snoop Dogg.

The Doctor's Advocate and R.E.D albums followed The Documentary to the top of the US Billboard charts.

With drug addicted gang affiliated parents and a childhood on Los Angeles crime ridden streets, The Game, has never had to prove his street credentials but his lyrics have continually shown he is more than a product of his early environment. For several years he almost single-handedly represented LA and and West Coast in an American hip hop scene which turned its attention to the South.

He brought his neighbourhood Compton back to the forefront of hip hop a decade after NWA put it on the map and a decade before Kendrick Lamarr reintroduced it back into the mainstream.

Last year The Game performed six sold out UK shows during a mini-tour which missed out Birmingham, however, on Monday he will rectify that oversight.

Seeing the superstar at such an intimate venue will be a treat for Midlands hip hop fans. They might close enough to see his who's who of tattoos which ink tributes to NWA, Easy E, Dr Dre, Nate Dogg, Barack Obama, Jam Master Jay, slain teenager Trayvon Martin as well as a clown and a pigeon.

Tickets for Monday's gig at the O2 Academy are available at www.gigsandtours.com or 0844 811 0051.