50 Cent's Before I Self-Destruct: A Review

50 Cent released his fourth album, Before I Self Destruct (BISD), on November 9, 2009, an album he initially intended to release in 2007. He might have been better served putting this album out then, to reestablish his hardcore brand after the pop concessions of 2005's The Massacre (read review), rather than releasing the even more pop-friendly Curtis. And in the interim, the Queens rapper's ubiquity and pop collaborations (see Fergie's London Bridges remix, 50's collaborations with Akon, Robin Thicke and Justin Timberlake on Curtis, and his recent reggaeton collaboration with Wisin & Yandel, as just a few examples), started to erode his hardcore image. But BISD, if it does not restore it fully, burnishes it considerably, as the album is far more aggressive than most of his previous records.

The album sounds like a more polished and coherent version of his earlier, excellent mixtapes War Angel LP (read review) and Forever King (read review). It hearkens back not to his official debut, but to his unofficial debut: Power of the Dollar, in that it's far less commercial than his other work. In fact, there's very little crossover material here: even the club songs are street-oriented. Death to My Enemies, with its rickety Dre beat and melodically ultraviolent lyrics, nearly erases Curtis' Ayo Technology from memory. Crime Wave and Stretch are snarling four minute threats, redolent of mixtape classic joints like Round Here, You're Not Ready, and Put a Hole in Your Back. Strong Enough, with its dolorous sample, is the closest you'll get to an introspective 50, and there isn't much, but that's unnecessary. There's energy here, there's a bit of hunger here, which has been lacking and is refreshing.

There's always some underlying beef driving the marketing of 50 Cent's albums, and this release is no different. But on his last release, Curtis, and now this one, the beef is not addressed on record. There's Rick Ross, who despite the all-out warfare in which the two have engaged, any mentions of him are curiously absent. There's the beef with Fat Joe, which 50 recently -curiously - resurrected - again nothing. And then there's Jay-Z (at whom 50 has deviously aimed Beanie Siegel), at whom a slight jab is taken, but it hardly rates as even a glancing blow. On the other hand, there's So Disrespectful, which assaults Game, Young Buck and the mother of 50 Cent's son. It's alright, but it's all old beefs, which detracts from this track.

The highlight of the album is Psycho which is the first of at least fifteen released 50 Cent/Eminem collaborations, and several 50/Eminem/Dre collabos to actually live up to the promise of the '03 hype. At that time, Eminem had already largely retreated from his Slim Shady persona and gotten his feet wet producing. Thus, you had the humorless Eminem sharing mic time with an uber aggressive 50 Cent over neophyte beats. While Get Rich or Die Tryin's (read review) Patiently Waiting was a monster, it was Eminem's gargantuan flow and breath control, the snarling belligerence of 50, and the often potent imagery of both emcees that made the song. It was, and it wasn't what was expected.

Psycho has a slightly above-average Dre beat, which means head and shoulders above most others. 50 Cent does the aggressive sing-song hook piece he's perfected along with several rapid-fire bursts of murderous lyrics. And Eminem, back in full Slim Shady mode, since Relapse (read review) drops a barrage of surrealistically insane imagery. People always wondered how Slim Shady, not Eminem, would sound alongside 50, over Dre production, not Eminem. Here, finally is the gloriously sick result.

The album is more cohesive than Curtis, and feels, somehow more apropos, given the recession. Songs like Crime Wave, take 50 back to a strong semblance of his former self, the young buck who was at one point the hardest rapper out. In some ways, it's similar to Jay-Z's American Gangster (read review), in its impossible return to roots aspiration. But there is strong music here that is true to the '02-'03 50 Cent brand. Fans of Get Rich or Die Tryin, who have not been turned off by Candy Shop 50, Amusement Park 50, or Pimpin Curly are likely to be quite happy. BISD is easily the strongest 50 album since his official debut.