Albums

• Get Rich or Die Tryin'

1. Intro
2. What Up Gangsta
3. Patiently Waiting
4. Many Men (Wish Death)
5. In da Club
6. High All the Time
7. Heat
8. If I Can’t
9. Blood Hound
10. Back Down
11. P.I.M.P.
12. Like My Style
13. Poor Lil Rich
14. 21 Questions
15. Don’t Push Me
16. Gotta Make It to Heaven  

Get Rich or Die Tryin’ is the commercial debut album by Curtis Jackson, better known as 50 Cent.  Chances are that this album is probably the first time any of us heard 50 Cent, unless of course you are in touch with the underground rap scene, which I am most definitely not.  Four years earlier 50 Cent had a debut album, Power of the Dollar, all lined up for release on Columbia Records, but a couple of months before the album’s release 50 Cent was famously shot, no less than 9 times.  Subsequently, Columbia pulled the album from their release schedule and 50 Cent was released from his contract.

Luckily for 50 Cent, a fellow rapper was to come to the rescue – enter Eminem.  Eminem had been sent a copy of 50 Cent’s 2002 compilation album and only official release, Guess Who’s Back.  Impressed by what he heard, Eminem invited Cent to Los Angeles.  There, he met Dr. Dre and as a result was given a record deal and the chance which Columbia had so unfairly pulled from under his feet.  Which brings us nicely around to talking about Get Rich or Die Tryin’.   50 Cent has a laid back rapping style, which is often placed over heavy, synthesized, grinding beats.  The truth is, 50 Cent is a pretty awful rapper, especially if you compare him up against some of his peers, not least of all Eminem.  But there’s an undeniably cheesy charm to his slurred speech and deceptively simple raps.  No doubt having taken this into account, Executive Producers Dr. Dre & Eminem have played to 50 Cent’s strengths.

There’s really only one place where you can start talking about this record and that’s In da Club.  One of the biggest hits of 2003, this debut single from Get Rich or Die Tryin’ has been custom-made for mass-market appeal.  That means that you & I and absolutely everybody else can find something to like within its 3 minutes or so running time.  I mean, what’s not to like?  You have boisterous horns, catchy hand claps and spare guitar riffs dotted about.  All taken on their own they are nothing exceptional, but together the accumulative effect is very desirable.   If I Can’t follows a similar template to In da Club, but is an altogether less intense listen.  50 Cent’s rapping is among some of his best on the album and when matched with the surging organ riffs and spirited chorus it becomes a sweeping feel good anthem, “If I can’t do it homie it can’t be done! I’m gonna let the champagne bottle pop, I’m gonna take it to the top!”

I’m not making this album out to be something it’s not.  The singles are the strongest points on the album and have been very cleverly positioned one every couple of songs, which is far better than chucking them all in at the start of the album and then leaving little else for you to get your teeth into.  Having said this, one of the best non-singles on the album is Like My Style.  Cent’s rapping is very clear and crisp, it all hangs together well as he switches from one verse to the next, and the shift is faultless.  Musically, you have a heavy drum beat, with several synths dotted around the place and the now obligatory funky guitar riff.

The most positive moment on the album is 21 Questions, which features rapper Nate Dog during the chorus.  Reportedly, Dr. Dre had been reluctant to include a love song in amongst all the playa hating and weed smoking, but 50 Cent was adamant about its inclusion on the record.  The song takes a guitar sample from Barry White’s It’s Only Love Doing Its Thing and repeats it continuously.  Trust me; it’s far better than it sounds.  Oh, and well done for standing your ground 50, the album is made better by its addition.

Are there lowlights?  Yes, too many to mention here, but thankfully the classy party anthems on the record manage to outweigh the negative effects of these tracks.  But for criticism’s sake, I must mention a couple of the weaker tunes.  Poor Lil Rich has an unfinished and underdeveloped electronic beat, which is both unyielding and charmless in its repetition.  Similarly, Don’t Push Me fails for almost the exact same reasons.  Unfortunately, it’s made slightly worse because of 50 Cent’s immature lyrics, which revolve around ‘beef’ with fellow rappers and venting his frustration with violence, not love.  It’s like 21 Questions never even happened.

The album is brought to an end by Gotta Make It to Heaven.  Slick, stylish and relentlessly cool, it is one of the album’s strongest tracks.  The main synth beat is so heavy it isn’t even funny, yet when paired with 50 Cent’s insistent praying during the chorus it becomes a classic, “I gotta make it to heaven, I’m going through hell!”  Other than this, there are about another five different hooks throughout the track, all of which when put together have the result of taking you to a rap cloud nine.