NE-YO SAYS HE DIDN'T STEAL THE R.E.D. ALBUM TITLE FROM THE GAME!

R&B megastar Ne-Yo says he's NOT GUILTY of stealing the title of his upcoming album R.E.D. from The Game ... even though Game released his R.E.D. album last year.

"No ... I don't feel like I ripped off The Game's album," Ne-Yo told TMZ at LAX ... insisting he carefully selected the name of his album (which stands for Realizing Every Dream) because he felt it had a good fit ... not because he was trying to copy the rapper.

FYI -- Game's R.E.D. album debuted #1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart.

"Until The Game comes up to me and says he has a problem with it, I don't care what people think." ... Ne-Yo said.

He also points out that he's not the first artist to inadvertently use another artist's album title -- "Jay-Z did The Blueprint and so did KRS-One."

As far as Game is concerned, he recently told XXLMag.com he doesn't hold a grudge with Ne-Yo over the album title ... saying, "I’ve always known Ne-Yo to be a cool dude, so I’m pretty sure he got his reasoning." SOURCE