Imperious Entertainment

Make Imperious Your Homepage

You are here: Home

Blogs

Music for Life

50 Cent... Shut Up & Let The Music Speak For You by Mitchell Mensa

Written by Mitchell Mensa
Thursday, 23 August 2007
If you are an avid fan of hip-hop, you may already be aware that 50 Cent and Kanye West are scheduled to simultaneously release their third studio albums Curtis and Graduation on September 11, 2007. There has been a great amount of fervor and anticipation generated by media outlets, fans and the artists themselves concerning the ensuing release. The majority of the debate is focused on who will generate to most first week sales between the two rap artists. The victor of the sales race is not of my immediate concern. It is relegated to being a subplot in the wandering mind of Mitchell Mensa. My question is why does 50 lack the capacity to devote most of his creative energy into releasing the best possible album he could? His release counterpart Kanye West exerts a great deal of pressure on himself to create pioneering and pleasurable music with every album release. Obviously, Kanye is concerned with the amount of records he sales as well, but that appears to be secondary to the music. Advertisements As you may all know, 50 Cent has recently released a track that makes several references toward everyone’s rapper of the moment, Lil' Wayne. I have not yet heard the track nor do I know the contents of what was said. But one thing that I assuredly realized is that I’ve grown weary of 50 Cent and the marketing scheme he has for every album. It usually involves making tons of outlandish statements in various interviews and magazine publications, sprinkled with a couple of diss tracks towards an artist that he seemingly has a problem with. The general public had displayed a great deal of interest in Mr. Jackson’s beef with Ja Rule, mainly because it appeared to be genuine and the novelty of rap artists beefing hadn’t worn off yet. A couple of months before his second album release The Massacre, 50 Cent proceeded to conjure up some “beef” with more artists (Jadakiss, Nas & Fat Joe). For the most part, the masses accepted it, but it was approached with skeptical eyes, since the basis behind this situation did not seem legit. As September 11th slowly approaches, 50 Cent has reverted back to his old tricks. It is apparent that he must have been feeling a slight sense of apprehension and desperation after the commercial failure of a few released tracks, a couple of changes to the release date of his album and the overall sales climate in 2007. In addition to the diss track, a few of his antics include; threatening to retire if Kanye West generates more album sales and allegedly trashing one of the offices at Interscope when he learned of his collaboration with Robin Thicke leaking on the internet. Additionally, 50 Cent’s music has gotten progressively worse. This guy is a long ways from the person who created the unreleased album Power of the Dollar, which is one of the upper tier rap albums of 1999. The G-Unit movement circa 2001 had the rap game in a stupor. It was hard not to like the dude. No one had seen an artist explode on the mixtape scene in that fashion. He was constantly releasing tracks, flooding the market with mixtapes that were filled with pure heat. He eventually capitalized off of the hype, selling a ton of records with his official debut release Get Rich or Die Tryin’. This album wasn’t a masterpiece lyrically, but one that I enjoyed nonetheless. The Massacre was an album that contained a few tracks that I genuinely appreciated, but overall it was a subpar album that did not even warrant a purchase on my behalf. Although I admittedly like 50 Cent’s latest releases “I Get Money” and “Ayo Technology”, these tracks are marginal at best. Nowadays, 50 is using the same flow littered with the same tired lyrical content. While Kanye West’s Graduation is a day one purchase for me, I’m going to tentatively approach Curtis. I will not simply write the album off as trash though; I will wait until the album is released to gather an adequate opinion. Album Reviews: UGK – Underground Kings: UGK returns to the shelves after a six year lay off with a double disc of pure southern fire. The rating for this album would be considerably higher if these hip-hop legends removed the filler tracks that plagues every double album and combined the best of each disc. Some of my favorite tracks include, “International Players Anthem”, “Swishas and Dosha”, “Still Ridin’ Dirty”, “How Long Can It Last”, “Real Women” and “Underground Kingz”. One of the better rap albums of 2007. 4.00/5.00 Talib Kweli – Eardrum I honestly was not impressed with his previous album release, The Beautiful Struggle. The album had its high points, but I felt that a person with Black Star, Train of Thought and Quality in their musical catalog was capable of so much more. The two releases that followed (The Official Suckafree CD and Liberation) restored my interest in the coming album. But there was still that hint of doubt that existed concerning the direction Kweli would take with Eardrum. Talib Kweli created an album that I’m positive fans of his music will approve of. “Soon The New Day” is one of my top 5 tracks created this year. Other notable tracks include “Everything Man”, “Stay Around”, “Eat to Live”, “In the Mood” & “NY Weather Report”. 4.5/5.00 Comments (3) ... written by Jackrabbit Jenkins , August 23, 2007 I would have the thought the failure of Mobb's, Yayo, Banks, and Buck's last albums would have humbled 50 some but I was wrong. He still thinks he is invincible as evident by the his "holier than thou" rants and excessive dissing. Nothing would make me happier than Kanye's album coming in at number 1 and causing Fitty to refrain from making more solo albums. ... written by Be Cautious...Real Man Ahead , August 29, 2007 Kanye West will be Number One! Its just real suprising that he is so silent on the issue with 50 tho. But I will buy Knaye's Album on September 11 (Happy Birthday Autn Retta)!!!! ... written by Ametra , September 02, 2007 I just believe to me it's all about money. I love music with all of my heart and soul. I listen to the beats first, and If they're banging, then I hear the words. I have heard some of 50's music as well as Kanye's music. I personally love music with knowledge to uplift you. I don't want to hear music that's talking bad about a person or how much money you got etc... Tell me something positive and positive outcomes will prevail! Write comment Name Email Website Comment Copyright 2007. All Rights Reserved.
Last Updated ( Friday, 07 September 2007 )

< Prev		Next >

Subscribe to our free week in review newsletter. The "name" field is optional.

Do the Right Thing

Here lies the "Do the Right Thing" poster to remind people what they're supposed to do.

Member Login

Submit News

Submit relevant news, video, etc. at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or contact us on AIM at ImperiousTV

Donate to Imperious

LinkShare Referral Prg

Main Menu

Subscribe

Do the Right Thing

Member Login

Submit News

Donate to Imperious

Advertisements

Questions?

Resources For

Guest Contributors

Advertising With Us