50 Gets Pushed Back to the Future

50 Cent’s New Album Gets Pushed Back to the Future- An editorial
AMW !.e. Talent: DJ single Handed
July 20, 2007

Fans of the infamous marketing and money machine known as rapper 50 Cent will have to wait just a little bit longer (again) for the release of his new album. Originally scheduled for a Labor Day release, the album entitled Curtis is now being pushed back a week due to the holiday weekend. Even after being pushed back several times already,a representative from 50’s camp commented that the “decision was made to push the release one week so that it is available everywhere at 10 am on (the) day of the release.”

The new album is rife with super-producers such as Dr. Dre and Timbaland and includes guest appearances from Eminem, Akon, and Mary J. Blige. I’ve listened to two tracks off the album already. If those give any indication of what’s in store, then we should expect typical 50 Cent.

I just hope that typical 50 Cent includes at least one or two legitimate club hits. Between “I Get Money” and “She Wants It,” he certainly doesn’t have one yet.

“I Get Money” cleverly samples “I get money, money I got” from Audio Two’s 1988 rap hit “Top Billin’.” The drums have been shamelessly jacked from Cassidy’s hit “I’m a Hustla” and remain virtually unchanged for this track. 50 raps about the money he has and the things that money has gotten him. It will at least get radio burn.

“She Wants It” features a satisfactory Justin Timberlake performance on the hook, 50 rapping about women again (a by-product of the money he’s got), and the weakest production that I have ever heard from Timbaland. I never ever thought I’d hear a sub-par, “blah” sounding beat emerge from his studios. I was wrong, so I’ll strap on my ice skates and traverse through Hell frozen over.

According to an interview in XXL, 50 thinks that he can still sell eight million records. His previous two albums have sold tens of millions worldwide. Too bad he’s now selling product in a marketplace where having a gold record is the new platinum. I also anticipate rap artists being signed to five and six ringtone deals due to extreme decline in album sales.

Unless he can once again completely monopolize the market (saturate is not a strong enough word to describe what happened when the G Unit brand first hit the map), who knows if he’ll be able to sell 800K, let alone eight million? With the seemingly imminent dissolution of the G Unit camp, we’ll see how relevant 50 still remains in the game, and largely on his own.

Even if he’s never successful again, at least he got rich and didn’t have to die trying.