Deluxe edition cover and controversy The Game released a controversial artwork of the album via
Instagram on October 21, 2012 and also announced the release date will be December 11. The cover, designed and illustrated by former Interscope art director Mike Saputo, portrays a dark-skinned
Jesus in a stained glass window with a
teardrop tattoo, a red bandanna around his mouth, and wearing a
Jesus piece. The stained glass-inspired image shows Jesus sitting on a throne adorned with gang-related symbols. In the artwork, Jesus is holding a gold "Jesus Piece" chain and pointing to a symbol on his breast plate. The red bandana over his mouth is a reference to the Cedar Block
Piru Bloods gang, to which Game is allegedly a member. The artwork has a slightly altered logo on the top, which features on all of Game's previous studio albums. The album's title
Jesus Piece is stylized as
Je5us Piece, depicting that it is Game's fifth studio album.
Je5us Piece logo is styled after the iconic
Louis Vuitton. The religious imagery of the art has gained mixed reactions and the ire of some fans who deem the work as
blasphemous. Several celebrities praised the artwork, including
Busta Rhymes,
Mac Miller and
Kevin Hart. Game, himself, also defended the cover in an interview with
MTV News. He states, "I did the album cover the way I wanted to. It embodies part of my career, my life; it’s all in that cover. You know, I love God, Jesus Christ is my savior and I’m still out here thuggin'. I know that might sound weird and that’s an awkward balance, but it’s my balance. I think that right before that person that wants to make judgments or pass judgment on my album cover, I think right before they do that, they should stop and they should look in the mirror and look at their own life." However, the Game decided to use the cover exclusively for the deluxe edition after the
Roman Catholic Church and various
Christians complained to
Jimmy Iovine, co-founder of
Interscope Records about the cover via several emails and phone calls, which Game says “got really crazy”.
Complex named the album cover the fifteenth best cover of 2012. On October 24, two days after revealing the cover, Game claimed that
Christian rapper Lecrae texted him "out of the blue" and critiqued the artwork. Lecrae was concerned about the cover, not sure of how it could work with the lyrical content on the album, considering Game's status as a
gangster rapper. After a brief exchange, both rappers wished each other luck. In January 2013, in an interview with
Vice Media's
Noisey, Lecrae responded, claiming that Game did not accurately explain the situation to him and that he was in no way of intentions to criticize him. He also went on to state that he was "here to serve people. I'm not here to wave my finger in people’s faces and point out to them how terrible they are or what I hate about them or anything along those lines. That's not my place. I'm in no position to condemn anybody. There's things I don't condone, and I talk about that, but at the same time, I would never just reach out to somebody and be like, "Yo man, I don't appreciate that," if I never met you. That's not my thing."
Standard cover On November 12, an alternative cover for the standard edition of the album was released. This cover paid homage to one of the Game's older brothers, Jevon Danell Taylor, who died from gunshot wounds on May 21, 1995 at the age of 20. ==Guests and production==