My main issue with 50 Cent is that this is the album he should have released years ago. When was the last time 50 Cent saw a gun? When was the last time he even smoked a doobie?
The guy sells water with vitamins in it. He wrote a self help book. He's releasing a cologne. The guy isn't killing people anymore.
It's funny because people criticize Jay-Z for the exact opposite thing, that he doesn't do songs like he used to. Jay-Z doesn't write songs about selling crack anymore because he doesn't sell crack anymore. He writes songs about being 30 something and taking a lot of vacations.
50 Cent is interesting because in a very short amount of time he has become one of the richest musicians of the 21st century. He could be playing polo in District 9 or some other exotic stuff, but instead he takes a 2 second monotonous loop and puts it on repeat for three minutes so he can talk about being in the streets and not being in the streets at the same time.
He writes a love song to his gun? For starters, 2Pac already did it, and Jay-Z already covered it. If I listen to this song, am I going to play it for my pistol, maybe make my Glock a mixtape for its birthday? So what's left? Entertainment value? That's basically Eminem's whole gimmick, but at least he has talent in delivery, pronunciation, and flow.
50 Cent has his melodies, which is what sets him apart from other rappers. He has a way of making a song very catchy and clever, and before you know it, he's got you humming along. "Go shorty, it's your birthday." Unfortunately, that was a long time ago. The fact that he has not progressed is unfortunate, because he's a gimmick musician who's running out of gimmicks.
The reason I like songs like Baby By Me and Could Have Been You is because they're funny. It's all a big joke. 50 Cent gets it. And to be honest, the rest of the songs on this CD are a joke too, just not delivered as well. When he says that he needs his gun to hold him down, he is not being serious. But if the music is lame, or uninteresting, then why should I bother?
And 50 Cent is obviously a very interesting person. But because of this whole notion of what a 50 Cent album should be, he keeps milking the gangster cow. Why is it that the richest man in hip hop writes the most rudimentary, offensive, unnecessary songs?
Why does 50 Cent refuse to be a musician? He has all the opportunities in the world. He is progressive and intelligent in all of his other business moves. Maybe it's because, like Diddy, like Jay-Z, he knows that there's no money in music anymore, at least not for him. It's just for guys like Souljah Boy who spend 20 bucks making an album and become so rich off of one track that they put out videos on youtube showing them blow their noses with $20's and riding around their two story condo on a Segway.
I'm impressed this album even came out, after 50 Cent released two dud singles (Get Up and I Get It In, really strong titles by the way, especially to match the strong music they represent) he was delayed a year. In fact, he was delayed even more because this was supposed to be his third album and the record company wouldn't let him release it and instead he had to make music with Akon and Timbaland/Timberlake.
I would be very surprised to see 50 Cent put out more albums. He killed himself just like he killed Ja Rule, and of course, he is being replaced by someone with even less street cred than him, Rick Ross, who has actually admitted to being a cop before selling cocaine.
50, leave the guns to the athletes. They're hood rich compared to you. We want to hear 50 Cent Goes Snorkeling.
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