50 Cent enters the second decade of the new century as an artist who lacks his former commercial appeal. Fans' shopping behavior indicates that his newest CD, "Before I Self Destruct," will sell a little over 100,000 copies. Sales don't necessarily correlate to the quality of an artist's music, but as rapper Jay-Z famously said, "Men lie, women lie, numbers don't." Numbers certainly have a lot to say about the trajectory of popular hip hop as we know it, and are particularly telling in the case of "Before I Self-Destruct." 50 Cent returns to his roots with a ferocious and fiery album, hoping to reignite his wayward career, only to find that people are no longer interested in his art — even when it's in top tier form.
50 Cent predictably follows the exact blueprint he has used throughout his career to peddle "Before I Self Destruct." The content of 50's CD remains at the same level as ever, albeit with changed-up beats and flows. 50 spits his lyrics with renewed passion, but creativity and freshness are sorely missing from his rhymes' subject and content. On messy songs like "Hold Me Down," 50 is simply going through the motions, lazily singing a chorus dedicated to a foxy lady.
Songs like "Crime Wave" and "Ok, You're Right" show that 50 can still brag about gunplay and violence with the best of them, but these themes are hard to stomach when they come from a multi-millionaire who lives in a mansion in Connecticut. Like most mainstream hip-hop artists in this day and age, 50 has little to discuss besides violence, selling drugs, making money and having sex. Even the Eminem- and Dr. Dre-assisted "Psycho" sounds outdated, as both rappers trade barbs about random brutal violence over a dark synthesized beat. 50 gets some assistance from songsmith Ne-Yo for the only surefire hit on the CD, "Baby By Me," a thumping, electronic anthem that takes a vocal sample from one of his own songs. It is interesting to note that 50 has little to no artist features on the album. It exposes his hubris, as he feels he alone provides all the star power needed for people to buy his album.
In the months before his CD dropped, 50 embraced all media exposure, negative and positive alike, and waged an unwarranted beef war with an unsuspecting artist in order to generate buzz. In the past, this formula worked to perfection. Jadakiss, Nas, Fat Joe, The Game and Young Buck can all attest to the blind wrath of the former gangster who attacked all of them for no real reason. After single-handedly destroying the career of Ja Rule while on his way to selling 10 million records, 50 has remained convinced that controversy is the only way to sell his music.
Rick Ross, a burgeoning hip-hop artist who also found success rhyming about drugs sales and violence, clumsily stumbled into 50's crosshairs last year. Internet sleuths exposed the rapper's past as a correctional officer and 50 was quick to pounce. He waged an aggressive smear campaign against Rick Ross and his contemporaries, taunting him at any given chance and mocking him with elaborate YouTube.com videos. As justified as the beef was in the realm of hip hop, 50's attacks felt stale and unoriginal to anyone familiar with his usual tactics. It confirmed that the artist has run out of tricks, and that legitimate rap beef was dead — mostly thanks to 50. Rick Ross went on to sell over 500,000 copies of his album, solidifying the beginning of 50's demise.
In interviews, 50 indicated that "Before I Self-Destruct" is meant to be a prequel to "Get Rich or Die Tryin." But if an artist is expected to undergo musical growth, how can he look backwards to his own work for inspiration? 50 Cent's latest work is simply an attempt to recreate the same feeling of rugged mobster invincibility that captured listeners' attention on his first CD — it's just not enough this time around.
In the ever-evolving, sales-driven world of hip-hop music, it has become clear that consumers are no longer interested in the fabricated drug tales of studio gangsters. 50 Cent spent time creating an album that will appeal mostly to dedicated fans instead of working to attract a newer and wider audience.
