Artist: 50 Cent
Shady/Aftermath/Interscope Records
Released on Mar. 3, 2005
By Keenen Brannon, 12, Y-Press
“The Massacre,” the latest CD by Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, is good, but not as good as his debut album, “Get Rich or Die Tryin,’” which was released in 2003 and sold more than 11 million copies and is being investigated for copyright infringement.50 Cent’s group, G-Unit, is back, but with more members: Spider Loc, Mobb Deep, M.O.P. and Olivia, the only female and also only R&B singer. The rapper The Game is on “The Massacre,” too, but he has since left G-Unit. The bigger band makes a bigger sound.
Like with “Get Rich or Die Tryin,’” buyers get a lot of music with “The Massacre” – 22 tracks with no interludes. However, “The Massacre” will be offensive to more people. On most of his songs, 50 Cent talks about guns (such as in “In My Hood,” “I’m Supposed to Die Tonight” and “Gunz Come Out”). He also disrespects his enemies, especially on “Piggy Bank,” when he responds to “New York” by Ja Rule, Fat Joe and Jadakiss.
One thing that makes this album great is 50 Cent’s lyrics. For example, when he’s rapping about life on the streets, you feel like you’re living there because he is bringing to you his life in the street. After all, he is an ex-drug dealer from Queens who that has been shot nine times.But he also has an upbeat to his lyrics. For example, on “Build You Up,” he says, “I build you up/ But if ever I fall down/ And I need you to pick me up/ Promise me you'll be around/ Hold me down.”
I also like the “Outta Control” remix because it really shows 50’s style of laid-back rap.Features that make this album unique are the singing voices that have perfect harmony and different gangsta rap styles of the featured rappers. Last but not least are the beats that get you into the song so you don’t get tempted to press the skip button.
On a scale of 1 to 10, I give this CD a 9, compared to a 10 for “Get Rich or Die Tryin,’” because everything about his debut album is better. But “The Massacre” is a great CD and worth the $17.99 I paid at a CD store for the special edition. With the whole G-Unit, Eminem and Jamie Foxx, this album is all that you need to enjoy yourself. “The Massacre” has a parental-advisory rating, but an edited version is also available and it costs the same as the un-edited version.
First posted 3-25-06
Copyright 2006 Y-Press