50 Cent's Forever King Mixtape: A Review

As mentioned in an earlier review of his War Angel LP mixtape (read review), 50 Cent is trying to go it alone musically, since there is no high profile beef, no controversy, nothing. So for an artist who has ridden off controversy since his debut single, 1999's infamous How to Rob, Forever King must be judged on its own merits.

Everyone knows his story by now, though of course for those who have been living under a rock, there's always at least one recapitulation. The autobiographical Put That Work In comes last, but it is preceded by gritty, ambitious and paranoid verses we've rarely seen this side of 2002's Guess Who's Back mixtape. Marred by a few self-satisfied adlibs, 50 repositions himself as the authority on street life, by finally rapping about it, rather than how hot or hard he is.

There are fewer pop concessions here than on his previous mixtape, and the lighter verses are delivered over soul sampling beats. 50 Cent has an affinity for this, having covered a slew of such songs on earlier mixtapes; and it is fitting, as this is the music of his childhood. Musically though, too much of the soul songs are sampled - whole verses rather than a line or two. And while 50's own vocals are distinct enough to stand up on classic records, exactly what and who you are listening to halfway through the mixtape. Fortunately these songs only comprise the second half; the first half is filled with the same kind of aggressive tracks of War Angel LP. These are slightly less catchy, and more vivid, fuller, and just a bit richer.

Still despite the excellent Biggie interpolating Suicide Watch, the vivid I'm Paranoid, or the dope Respect It or Check It, wherein he tells listeners he's writing like he does not have an album deal (which is what 50 fans want), the adlibs referencing his wealth and status constantly recall the 50 Cent few people want: the complacent rather than the cocky. Even the excellent Put That Work In is cut short halfway through by 50 who adlibs that he has put in enough work for the mixtape. While Forever King clearly is not a phoned-in performance, 50's own presence often ruins the hope that Forever King is vintage 50. Well, some of the early tracks are. But to generate the level of excitement he created for diamond selling albums Get Rich or Die Tryin (read review) or The Massacre, he'll have to churn out about ten more mixtapes of this quality or better. This may sound like a tall order, but as he is so fond of reminding us, he has done it before.

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