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50 CENT ALBUM REVIEW: THE MASSACRE

“People knew I wasn’t wrapped too tight from the start, but being a little off landed me on top of the charts, so you take the good with the bad I guess…” – 50 Cent, “Gatman and Robbin”

So possibly the most anticipated album in HIPHOP HISTORY is finally here - 50 Cent’s follow up album called THE MASSACRE. Black American kids, Canadian white teens, middle-aged Arabs, young adult Europeans and basically the whole world have all been waiting for this album forever. See as soon as GET RICH OR DIE TRYIN’ hit the stores, 50 cent ruled the rap world. With a compelling rags-to-riches\death-to-life story, the cockiness, swagger and body of a young Mike Tyson and the backing of Eminem and Dre, 50 Cent would go on to sell a mind boggling 11 Million albums and counting. I mean there isn’t one corner of the globe you can go to where they haven’t heard of 50 Cent these days and 50 Cent knows who to thank for it. Peep how 50 Cent is a smart businessman who is choosing to stick with Dre and Co. unlike Snoop Dogg who himself was once in the same position as 50 and once ruled the rap world but idiotically split with Dr Dre after the release of the immortal DOGGYSTYLE album back in ’93. Snoop would sadly go on a 10 year career slide until Pharell resuscitated him. But 50 has smartly kept his loyalty to Dr. Dre and co and allowed them to still oversee his every move. So you figure this time Dr. Dre will make things right in the hiphop world and propel his already Hall of Fame producer career to astronomical heights by personally producing the lion’s share of his newest prized pupil’s follow up album right? Wrong!! For some unknown reason Dr. Dre’s stamp is barely on this album. I mean this is the biggest anticipated album in recent musical history and yet Dr. Dre produces only TWO songs? That’s right two. Some cynics would say that’s a good thing but let Dre produce ten songs and 8 out of 10 are gonna be hits. So right from the start you knew this album was going to be on shaky ground and by now most have probably heard the advanced news that this album is supposedly garbage and all that. But HOLD ON!! I’m here to tell you that on this album 50 Cent really puts his heart into the lyrics and honestly seems to have tried to make the best album he could. But what does Benz0 always say? With hiphop the beat is 85% of the package.

So as we look into what went right and what went wrong with 50’s newest album the fact that the richest and most visible crew in hiphop somehow couldn’t afford better producers or shied away from them will overshadow everything.

THINGS THAT WENT RIGHT ON THIS ALBUM

Right Thing # 1 - The lyrics on this album are on point: Just listen to “In my Hood” and see how he breaks down the happenings in the hood so easily and vividly. Better yet peep his pimp lyrics in “Get In My Car” – “My game F’s with a bi&&& brain till she thinks she’s wifey, spends her life savings in a day cause she likes me, commitment from me? Hah!, not likely..When I was with Vivica I thought I was on to something, but then the next week? Nah man it was nothing..”. While artists like Jay-Z and Nas try to cling to their famous divas, 50 F’s his and then proceeds to tell her to haul a&& (A man after Benz0’s own heart!). True pimp right there who has "F'd half of Hollywood on the low". But all throughout the album 50 is spitting his classic one liners and imparting wisdom as well. His most impressive work might just be on “A Baltimore Love Thing” because 50 makes himself vulnerable on the song but in actuality he’s letting his chic know that ain’t no way out for her. It’s either stay with him or stay in a casket. Plus peep how he gets gritty mentioning how he has her “H’d” up, etc. I mean it’s a real grimy song but haters will only listen to the chorus and think it’s another commercial attempt.

Right Thing # 2 - 50 brings back the battle element to mainstream hiphop: “Piggy Bank” brings the rap wars to a whole new level. I mean without even barely raising his voice he efficiently takes out Ja Rule, Fat Joe, Jada, Shyne and Nas all in one song. I mean 50 is nutz on this song as he tells the currently incarcerated Shyne how he’ll have him murdered in jail and hilariously mentions something about Nas getting a tattoo of Kelis on his arm. 50 even gets hype at the end of the song eerily similar to how Tupac did on “Hit Em Up”. And peep the clanging change sound effect in the background of the song. I love little sound effects like that. But let’s face it. Sometimes hiphop gets boring and there’s nothing like a good rap war. And 50 takes things to a whole new level than the Jay and Nas beef by mentioning “You guys gotta do something now…All that shoot em up talk you talking, you gotta do something now..C’mon Everyone’s listening!...I know you just ain’t gonna just let 50 do you like that!....You hard right?...Pop off!!..”. I mean he’s basically pulling these rappers cards and inviting them to try and shoot him. Of course 50 wears a bulletproof vest whether he’s going to the club, going to the toilet, or sitting on his couch eating Cheerios. So he’s more than prepared for the drama and even pointing out that while Jay-Z is too old to be bothered by rappers trying to ruin his name, he however is young and more than willing to end careers. But man that’s what I’m talking about! A rapper bold enough to take rap up in one hand and challenge ANY would be challenger to the death. That’s as real as it gets. 50 Cent brings the true gangster back to mainstream rap and I love him for that. To heck with them do-gooders that say this type of beef destroys hiphop. Gangsters rule the world! Just ask George Bush!

Right Thing #3 - The club songs are on point: While I hate “Disco Inferno” I have to admit that up in the real club “Candy Shop” comes off lovely. I mean of course 50 had to come out with a commercial song like this. He has the whole world to musically feed for goodness sakes. When you’re as big as 50 you no longer can do exactly what you want. You have to give the same people that made you big what they want too. So I ain’t mad at him one bit for purposely releasing these radio friendly, bubble gum lyric, club songs that generate sales. But even better than “Candy Shop” is “Just a Lil Bit”. I genuinely like this song despite it’s commercialism cause the beat is phenomenal. Not coincidentally, Scott Storch produced both and earned his money well. Dre then makes one of his two appearances and gives us the commercial “Outta Control” which should work nice for radio as well.

WHAT WENT WRONG WITH THIS ALBUM

Wrong Thing #1 - The production on half of the songs on this album is average at best: I mean I can reel off in succession at least 7 songs on this album in which the production is so VERY average. Not because of the lyrics but because of the lazy production. Again why on Earth can’t the richest crew in hiphop afford to bless the most anticipated album in hiphop history with better producers? Dre only 2 songs? C’mon man. This is lunacy!!! I mean what did Timbaland go on strike or something? Is Kanye West no longer accepting money as a form of payment? It’s not that this album is garbage, it’s that no one song really catches your ear due to the very average production. The only songs I thought kind of stood out besides the aforementioned “Piggy Bank”, “A Baltimore Love Thing”, and “Get In My Car”, were “This is 50” cause it’s so gangsta and believe it or not also “Position of Power” cause the lyrics are straight street and the chorus and theme of the song on point. Most of the others don’t stand out enough but that doesn’t mean they are wack.

Wrong Thing #2 - This album seems too much like an Eminem album: Peep how the INTRO to this album sounds just like the OUTRO to Eminem’s last album. Also note how Eminem produces “Gatman And Robbin” that sounds JUST LIKE the song Eminem produced on 50’s previous album called “Patiently Waiting” but just sped up. And the production on “My Toy Soldier” sounds just like Em’s other productions. Also peep how now 50 is now making lunatic songs about possibly killing his girl now even though it does end up working for 50 this time around. I love Eminem like the next man but 50 needs to stop letting Eminem have so much influence over his songs and concepts and Eminem needs to stop being greedy and feed his star act some more loot to get fresh producers.

Wrong Thing # 3 – The album is too long: If this album would have been kept to about 10 to 13 tracks Vs 22, it’d be a whole lot better. But let’s give 50 credit for not sucking up every kid’s allowance money by making an expensive double album out of the 22 songs like that loser Nas did. I mean I bought this album for a sweet $9.99. Tracks 18-20 ain’t even worth mentioning by name. That’s how wack they are. Commercial bull&&&& that aren’t even club songs but more-so some pop R&B songs. I mean there were already enough radio friendly songs on here like “Candy Shop”. Then the song “My Toy Soldier” just doesn’t quite come off in concept. “I don’t Need Em” is the exact thought 50 should have thought about when contemplating if this song would make the album. And “Ski Mask Way” and “Ryder Music” while having tight lyrics probably should have been left off.

So there you have it. An honest and in-depth look at the most anticipated album in hiphop history. I will conclude with these wordz of purchase advice. If you genuinely like 50’s sharp one-liners, self-sung choruses, and gangsta attitude then buy the album. It’s classic 50 and he has a lot of memorable things to say all throughout the album. But if you’re one of those “I only listen to rap that was made before 1989” type dudes or a guy who thinks any rapper that gets radio play or sells more than 500,000 copies isn’t a real artist then this album ain’t for you. Yes the production is very average on half the songs and Yes there are throw away songs on here. But this is a very solid album overall because once you discount the R&B crud and below average, slow-dragging, ill-conceived songs that still leaves you with roughly 13 solid to borderline great songs to choose from. But realize THIS IS NOT A CLASSIC ALBUM and it’s not a MUST HAVE album if you aren’t a genuine 50 Cent fan. Look, no one can ever live up to that one classic album. It just can’t be done. Eminem will never make another MARSHALL MATHERS LP, Kool Keith and UltraMagnetic will never make another CRITICAL BEATDOWN, Juvenile will never make another 400 DEGREEZ and 50 Cent will never make another GET RICH OR DIE TRYIN’. Deal with it and be happy to get more solid flavor from your favorite artists.

Benz0
Contact Benz0: BenzWritings@Hotmail.com