50 Cent - Before I Self-Destruct: Album Review

50 Cent's delayed and much anticipated fourth studio album entitled, "Before I Self-Destruct," details a picture of a disturbed and very difficult life. Although it was originally supposed to be released over a year ago, true 50 Cent fans will not be disappointed.

Coinciding with the release of 50's new movie of the same name, the album allows one a glimpse into a dark and not so cheery past and listening the album through, one will experience a painful diary unfolding into their ears.

The album wastes no time with the heavy material with a possible rape situation that happened to him in track 2 titled, "Then Days Went By." He pushes the limit Eminem-esque style with tracks like, "So Disrespectful," that blurts out "...your people shoot dogs, my people shoot people..." In a music world where electronic music seems to be taking the lead in popularity, 50 definitely stays true to himself with his version of gangsta rap.

Apart from the deep impactful material, the album isn't short of "whoops, shouldn't have put that in" songs. "Gangsta's Delight," doesn't work because of the seriousness of the content being expressed with the funky good time melody of Rapper's Delight. The end result is corny and cheesy (if that can happen). The lesser corny track (by a little) is, the poppy sounding "Baby By Me," featuring Neo. It doesn't really fit in with the rest of the record, seeming to be placed there to attract some popularity to the album. As of right now, I don't see any radio hits, but that's clearly not what 50 is going for in this record.

Overall, I give 50 credit for sticking to his roots and telling us more of his life story and his view on the world. Apart from the messages and the stories from the album, the instrumentals or the "beats" were ok. The sounds didn't drift away into some techno glow stick anthem, which seems to be a trend now a days (a good thing), but there wasn't any "wow" instrumentals that I couldn't recreate on my MIDI keyboard at home.

Summary

The album paints a rather dark view of the world, but you can't accuse 50 of being fake or out of his element.

Although some do refer to me as the "gangsta of love," I cannot relate to gangsta music. But although I cannot connect to 50 on the basis of my not so off the street upbringing, I can connect on an emotional level and can somewhat see glimpses of his pain, especially through a track like "Then Days Went By."

I enjoyed most of the instrumentals on the tracks, but after reviewing the album, I looked at the clock and kinda wished I'd have that hour back. I see this album tracking some sales early due to the hardcore following 50 has attained throughout the years, but then soon fading into the darkness and being forgotten. I give the album a 2.5/5 rating. I'm going to stop there because of the .0001% chance word gets around to 50 and I don't want a cap put in my ass.

50 Cent - Before I Self-Destruct - 2.5/5