Throwback Album Of The Week: 50 Cent Get Rich Or Die Tryin'

The first time I ever heard 50 cent aka Curtis Jackson was when I was 11 or 12 years old. I was watching Mtv Jams in the morning waiting to go to the bus stop and the “Wanksta” video comes on, I immediately start feeling the song. It was catchy and the whole day at school the only phrase you can hear me singing was “You said you a gangsta, but you never pop nothin, We said you a Wanksta and you need to stop frontin.” I didn’t even know who he was talking about at the time, but eventually my friends and I found out he was referring to Ja Rule. Then all of a sudden nobody was listening to Ja Rule anymore, and that man had some hits at the time too.  It felt like one week we were listening to Ja Rule’s music vibing to “Always on Time” and “Put it on Me,” then a week later Ja Rule was trash.

The influence this man 50 cent had on Hip Hop fans was crazy. Then I heard “In the Club” and it was like this man is taking over hip hop. Oh, and I forgot to mention he got shot 9 times! A fact nobody fails to mention when speaking about  this man. Chris Rock even made a joke about how much people talked about him getting shot at the 2003 MTV VMA’s. Then, finally when his album dropped it was a wrap, crown the man because a new king has arrived.  The G-Unit takeover had begun.  Imagine seeing G-unit shirts everywhere, G-unit sneakers, and 50 even had white boys wearing du-rags.  You couldn’t walk down the school hallway without hearing somebody screaming “GGGGG G-Unit.”

I vividly remember going on a long car ride with my cousin and he had just purchased the album. He inserted it into the CD player and every track had us more hype than before. 50 cent released an almost flawless album. I say almost because I didn’t favor “P.I.M.P.”, but that record became a hit too. 50 cent just couldn't miss. The album contains probably the most "gangsta" song I’ve ever heard in “Heat.” That record would make even the weakest man feel tough for 4 minutes. He begins his verse with “Keep thinking I’m candy til your f*** skull get popped and ya brain jump out the top like Jack-in-the-box.” I still make the stank face when I hear it. The line that really hit me me  was when he said “Don’t think you’re safe cause you moved out the hood cause your momma still around dog and that aint good.”  I had never heard a line more savage than that in my life. I mean even Tony Montana said women and kids are off limits. “Many Men” was another track I couldn’t stop listening too, and “21 Questions” which is still to this day one of my all-time favorite songs. This album took the world by storm and quickly put 50 cent on the top of the rap game. Then he and the rest of G-Unit put out albums and movies that kept them on top for years.

Music Writer: Magnolima Nogueira

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