Get Rich Or Die Tryin'
label: shady | aftermath | interscope

producers: dr dre, eminem, rob 'reef' tewlow, dj rad, sean blaze, rockwilder, dirty swift, sha money xl, megahertz, j-praize, others.
guests: eminem, young buck, nate dogg, lloyd banks, tony yard.
year of release: 2003
website: 50cent.com
"You're now about to witness the power of fucking 50", so says Eminem on "Patiently Waiting". And if anyone has all right to be cocky and boast and refer to his impact, than it surely is 50 Cent, who broke sales records with this album. And not only that: he certainly walked the walk that he now talks the talk about, after being shot nine times in one incidence, and that one incident just being one of several. What makes him sort of a grimy legend that in the entertainment business is twisted into a photo shop superhero, complete with a nice color job, that make his pictures look like something out of the feather of Stan Lee. But he's not out to do good deeds, with his verses being foul and violent and ignorant and everything bad for the wrong reasons.
Nevertheless, people bought his album. Many did. And the hype before that was only remotely smaller than the hype after that. In the States that is. Because even though the album entered the UK charts too, mingling around on second place (he's no. 1 in Canada, 13 in Sweden), if you check out the listings of, let's say France, Switzerland, Australia, Argentine and Germany, he's not even in the top twenty in all those charts. What allows the questions if these countries don't buy into the hype, or have just not yet realized how good the record is.

tracklisting
1. Intro
2. What Up Gangsta
3. Patiently Waiting feat. Eminem
4. Many Men (With Death)
5. In Da Club
6. High All The Time
7. Heat
8. If I Can't
9. Blood Hound feat. Young Buck of G Unit
10. Back Down
11. P.I.M.P.
12. Like My Style feat. Tony Yard of G Unit
13. Poor Lil Rich
14. 21 Questions feat. Nate Dogg
15. Don't Push Me feat. Lloyd Banks of G Unit
16. Gotta Make It To Heaven
bonus tracks
17. Wanksta
18. U Not Like Me
19. Life's On The Line
But it's not that good. 50 Cent says nothing new. He says nothing that no one else but him could have said. His verses on the tracks are interchangeable and his rhymes pair words on a kindergarten level: pain and rain, same and game, chains and brains (as done on "Heat"). When he changes and rises his voice to fake mimicry, it's even extremely corny (like the way he says 'actor' in "Wanksta").
Then again it's also cocky. And at being cocky, 50 is very good at. He's actually good because he feels confident. And the confidences shows on tracks like "Patiently Waiting" where he spits "shit, I ain't even got to try to shine" or "Wanksta" where he says "this rap shit is so easy". There's a complete lack of anxiety in the calmness of his claims. And that's probably exactly because he went through the worst already, he doesn't fear it any longer. He was shot at, he lost a lucrative deal (with Columbia), he was told that his career will be over or never even in place. He knows that "some days wouldn't be special, if it wasn't for rain / joy wouldn't feel so good, if it wasn't for pain / death gotta be easy, 'cause life is hard", as he says on "Many Men". And plus to that, he's still hungry. He has tasted a couple of those filet mignon's and he's not going back to hamburger helper.
Plus despite that, some tracks work. The beats on "High All The Time" (by DJ Rad) and "Poor Lil Rich" (by Sha Money XL) are cool, Eminem's production on "Patiently Waiting" is too (while "Don't Push Me" is not). The sweetness of the lady track and loyalty requesting "21 Questions" with Nate Dogg can appeal too. "In Da Club" will get you grooving and the hardness of "What Up Gangsta" is a strong standing effort. And even the previously dismissed "Wanksta", that with repetitive play suddenly sounds good in all it's horror, is kinda dope. However, once that track comes on, you'll realize how little on this album is as catchy as that one song.
Because 50 is not part Biggie, part Pac and part Big L, as Eminem claims (but Eminem gets props for mentioning Big L). Because there's too many lackluster tracks on here. And what's very troubling: 50 refers on several tracks to the deaths of people, almost suggesting that he himself was involved (check for example "Gotta Make It To Heaven" or "Many Men", where he says "I ain't gonna spell it out for you, motherfuckers, all the time / are you illiterate nigga? You can't read between the lines"). When he calls out Jay-Z, or Nas (later giving props to them though), Suge Knight or Ja Rule (extensively on "Back Down"), then past has shown that things are not resolved over a cup of tea.
That makes this a glorification of something that is to despise. Especially with no day passing without new headlines of new shootings involving rap artists. And it makes it impossible to not understand why the whole of rap is under investigation. What is exactly why it does not make it okay for him to be this superhero. It's not okay that he makes this kind of entertainment. Because he's too real for that. It's as if David Manson would have been hired to play a serial killer in a movie. That and because 50 says: "I done felt how the shells burn, I still won't learn" (on "U Not Like Me"). That's an ignorance we don't want to grow up with. We being many, including the hip hop community as a whole.
But that's not to 50s concern. He's rich now. He sold millions of this album. He sells thousands of his tapes and underground records, and he makes much more than just the major label buck a CD. Why should he care about the health of hip hop as a whole, when he can put a golden coating over his career (making him live the dream of "Poor Lil Rich")? Respect? Screw that. No one ever showed him respect.
review: tadah
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