Tony Yayo's Thoughts of a Predicate Felon: A Review

During 50 Cent's meteoric rise to prominence, one of the original three members of G-Unit, Tony Yayo, who was featured on 50 Cent's stellar, official debut, Get Rich or Die Tryin' (read review), was arrested for an outstanding warrant and spent 2003 in prison. Upon his release, and features on G-Unit debuts by The Game (The Documentary - read review), Lloyd Banks (The Hunger for More - read review), and Young Buck (Straight Out Of Cashville -read review), Yayo was given his own opportunity to shine with the release of his debut Thoughts of a Predicate Felon. Unfortunately, a combination of being unable to properly promote the album due to Yayo's parole obligations, coupled with the oversaturation of G-Unit as a brand (due to both 50 Cent's prominence, and the public fallout from the dismissal of G-Unit member The Game), likely diminished the commercial reception of the record. And the record itself, while following the general G-Unit formula - top-shelf beats, 50 Cent hooks, braggadocio, and G-Unit namedrops - is a shade weaker than the aforementioned albums.

When Yayo takes center stage, he is generally crafting rather standard and staid records G-Unit records that don't cater to his strengths. See, Yayo is/was, pre- and post-Young Buck, the G-Unit energy figure, the "hypeman", without necessarily always being the hypeman. And his hyperkinetic adlibs and flow, while, at this point still a bit unpolished, were the most appealing thing about him. So having Yayo release balladic records like the second single Curious, is just a bit like inveigling Busta Rhymes into dropping an album full of slow jams. Curious, I'm So High, and Project Princess are among the throwaway tracks. He fares better on slow, gritty tracks like Homicide and Live By the Gun, and even more so on the Eminem-produced, Obie Trice-assisted Drama Setter. The muddy synths of the lead single, So Seductive featuring 50 Cent, are a hate-it-or-love-it affair, but the heavy bass makes the track quite danceable.

But he is also overshadowed by his G-Unit compatriots on tracks like the boisterous We Don't Give a F---, and I Know You Don't Love Me. Plus, the intro, hooks and first verse of So Seductive being 50 Cent's vocals, it's hard not to lose interest, once you realize the song isn't actually 50 Cent's record. If you were a fan of Yayo's appearances on the 50 Cent mixtapes that fueled his ascent, circa 2001-2002, Thoughts of a Predicate Felon might be bit more appealing than it is to the average listener. Then again, those appearances were far more exciting than this album as a whole, an album that, it is safe to say, is for diehard G-Unit and Tony Yayo fans.