#10: 50 Cent: "Get Rich or Die Trying" (2003) (Shady/Aftermath/Interscope)
I couldn't even begin to describe the impact this album had when it hit, so let me give you a little bit of back story. Back in '98-'99, 50 Cent was a hungry up and coming rapper. He was being mentored by Jam Master Jay and was featured on Onyx's "Shut Em Down" album. At the time, I didn't think too much of it, just another dude, and that was that. 50 followed that up with the controversial single "How to Rob.." which described, humorously, how he would rob all the famous rappers and R&B artists in the music industry. The problem was, people weren't laughing. Among the enemies 50 made early on were Jay-Z, Big Pun, Wu-Tang Clan and Ja Rule (more on him later). He would sign to Columbia Records and record the never-officially-released classic "The Power of the Dollar" and was all set to blow up--until all hell broke loose.
2000 was not kind to 50, as he was attacked twice. In March he was the victim of an assault and stabbing by Murder Inc. associate Black Child at the Hit Factory Studios in NYC and two months later fell victim to the infamous shooting that made him famous. His career at this point seemed all but over, and for a lesser artist, it probably was. But 50 persevered. Through a crazy work ethic and an impeccable collection of mixtapes with G-Unit, 50 bounced back and eventually became the hottest rapper in the streets, his buzz almost unheard of. After signing with Eminem and Dr. Dre, well, the result is this album.
I don't really need to tell you much more. This album hit like a tsunami and nobody was safe. It unequivocally ended the career of Ja Rule in one fell swoop by mocking his rap-singing style, among other things. It ushered in a new era of gangsta rap, and 50's 2Pac-like persona was familiar and acceptable to mainstream fans. The album sold over 2 million copies in a little under a month and 12 million copies worldwide, making it one of the biggest selling albums of this decade. It launched the careers of Tony Yayo and Lloyd Banks, who went on to become platinum selling artists in their own right. It set the stage for 50's dominance in the entertainment world, as movies, book deals, magazine covers, clothing lines and a slew of endorsements followed. It was absolutely unreal.
The album was about as perfect as you could get. Dr. Dre production, melodic, catchy hooks and brutal lyrics about the streets. Any song on the album could have been a hit, and almost all of them were. "In Da Club" was inescapable for the better of part of a year and a half, and still gets play to this day. As with any artist that gets this huge, the backlash is inevitable. Soon people began to notice that 50 was really no different from Ja Rule, and called him out on his hypocrisy for chastising Ja while using the same style himself. He was also a known politician that used his industry pull to hold down and squash the careers of other artists. Many people say it is because of 50 that NY rap fell off, because he alienated everyone from him and tried to destroy all competition instead of working together. Fat Joe, Cam'ron, and The Game are just a few of 50's notable enemies.
50's subsequent work was nowhere near as good as this album, even though sales remained good. His latest work, "Before I Self Destruct", has been delayed for God only knows now, and public interest in 50 has waned considerably due to many other young bucks taking over the throne, for better or worse. I personally lost interest in 50 after "GRODT" because his ego and hypocrisy got way out of control and his quality of music suffered greatly. But there's one thing you cannot deny, and that is this is one of the best rap albums ever created. It was a mixture of an artist with the right amount of hunger and drive, a can't lose attitude and the best label in the game at the time backing him up. The rest, is history.
KEY TRACKS: all of them
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