Why did 50 Fail?

The numbers are in for Hip-Hop's most polarizing figure. After 2 weeks on the Billboard charts (and an extra week of iTunes sales) 50 Cent's new record, Before I Self Destruct, is limping by at a fairly disappointing 260'000 copies in the U.S. As humiliating as this likely is for the self-crowned Soundscan Killer, it's even more scathing that these numbers come during the biggest spending weekend of the year. With massive sales all over the U.S. Curtis Jackson was only able to pull in another 100'000 of his old fanbase. To put these numbers - which would be more than good enough for almost any other rapper - in perspective, let's look at the man's past sales figures. Get Rich Or Die Tryin' arrived amidst a wave of 50-mania, pushing 872'000 copies in it's first week. The requisite group project, Beg For Mercy, sold 377'000 without a massive single. The Massacre is the 4th fastest selling album since Soundscan began it's count, breaking the million mark within 4 days and going on to sell nearly as much as 50's debut. Even Curtis, a rightly maligned turd of a record that sold almost purely on name recognition and a much publicized sales 'battle' (read: publicity stunt gone horribly right) with Kanye West, broke close to 700'000 records in 7 days. It seems unlikely that Before I Self Destruct will ever reach those lofty heights.

Why? What seemed impossible only 2 years ago is now a forgone conclusion. 50, the man who once made so much of sales that he mocked other artists for selling only 350'000 records, isn't likely to reach any of his previous first week sales over Self Destruct's commercial life. And to be honest, there's a certain sense of schadenfreude to be had from the spectacular crash and burn of this decade's defining pop star. In the WWE world of Hip-Hop he was the villain of the week who made his enemies left and right, entertaining us and making us hate him at the same time. In the real world Curtis Jackson was a ruthless businessman who likely cost more than a few jobs through shady industry machinations. Why shouldn't he suffer some bad karma for 'getting people's shit pushed back', as he so eloquently put it?

Take away the once-savvy business mind, the image and the groundbreaking Dr. Dre beats and you're left with an average, mush mouthed street rapper who didn't deserve the level of success that he had. His three studio albums are painfully interchangeable as far as music, lyrics and content. And none of them are really anything special. There's an irreconcilable divide in 50's music that dilutes the effectiveness of both his pop and hardcore songs. On the one hand, he's a super gangster/kingpin/pimp who can only love his gun. On the other, he's a shameless romantic who painfully makes a transition to songs about the women in his life with Nate Dogg and Robin Thicke. These songs aren't thrown together haphazardly. They're the result of cynical calculations intended to bring in as many customers as possible and leaves us to wonder if there's anything 'real' to 50 Cent at all. It's difficult, to say the least, to empathize with an 'artist' who puts more market research than emotion into his music.

In terms of quality (something 50 never discussed when he had sales to boast about), Before I Self Destruct isn't particularly bad. For the most part, the music is interesting and more often than not made with an ear to detail. That's the result of working under Dr. Dre for so many years. Dre's beats demonstrate a reinvigorated mind coming out of almost half a decade of uninspired plod. But the same problems as always exist. At a certain point the album shifts gears almost entirely to radio-ready tunes and just reiterates the problem 50 Cent has had for his entire career. He's learned nothing from his peers and we've learned nothing from his music. Before I Self Destruct is a misnomer. 50 Cent never self-destructed, everyone just stopped caring.

Dizzee Rascal - Tongue 'N' Cheek

I was reading a UK Hip-Hop magazine a friend lent me a few years back. A writer following Kano on his first U.S. tour (pre-London Town when Kano could still get the attention of the Mike Skinners and Diplos of the world) described the young Grime MC as potentially being the British Jay-Z, a rapper capable of toeing the line between commercial success and the hardcore credibility vicariously craved by the fans. Turns out he didn't need to look any further than one of the originators of the genre. Dizzee Rascal has experienced his share of highs and lows, the disappointing and almost criminal reception to Showtime being one of the lowest. Maths+English put his name back out there and opened a few American ears but Tongue 'N' Cheek is his real gamble for superstardom.

If Boy In Da Corner was his groundbreaking Reasonable Doubt and Maths+English showed us a flash of a more commercial Dizzee, this is surely his Hard Knock Life. Packed with big name dance producers, Mills struck gold three times before the album's release with the incredibly catchy Dance Wiv Me, Bonkers and now Holiday. A lesser man would have risked sounding like a guest on his own songs with collaborators like Armand Van Helden and Calvin Harris but Dizzee owns these songs with his cheeky vocals. They hardly demonstrate his lyrical abilities but it hardly matters when 30'000 casual music fans start singing along, word for word, at his performances. While he could be accused of dumbing down his lyrics to double his dollars, the rest of Tongue 'N' Cheek shows Dizzee in fine form, either gutturally screaming at slower drivers in Road Rage or complaining about the price of travel in London on the Reggae-tinged Can't Tek No More. The U.S. influence isn't absent either thanks to the G-Funk throwback of Chillin' Wiv Man Dem. At 11 songs the album hardly drags even if Money Money is a bit out of place after a song about young people spending cash they don't have. There's nothing as blatantly awful or tasteless as Suk My Dick either, thankfully.

It's a great compliment to Dizzee that he transitions so easily from the most willfully uncommercial Hip-Hop sub-genre in the UK to the dance mainstream. What makes Tongue 'N' Cheek so good it that it hasn't diluted Dizzee's wit or personality. And if the comparison to Jay-Z's career trajectory are accurate we hopefully haven't seen the last of the hardcore Grime MC that won the Mercury prize either. And to think, this is being released on an independent record label.

Note - If you're keen for a few snippets of what's next for Dizzee/Dirtee Stank, order this from HMV for the Foot N Mouth bonus disc.

oooh

I need to write something or I'm going to suffer slow brain death. Starting now.

An open letter to Raekwon

Reposted + slightly edited from SOHH forums.

Rae,

Do you take us for fools? We've put up with over 5 years of hype for a record that quite clearly isn't going to live up to anyone's expectations. When you dropped State of Grace with that RZA intro in 2005 I was as excited as any jaded Wu-Tang fan could expect to be. It came out after one of the most lowest periods of your crew's output. We got 3 terrible records and only one worth playing more than once (if you're deluded enough to think otherwise, it was Ghost.) It seemed there was no chance of getting the Clan back together for one more run. State of Grace showed that RZA still had something left in the tank. More importantly it showed that you still had something more to give the fans. You and RZA were going to give us OB4CL2. At that point I could have cared less if Michael himself were going to put out a new record. '05 ticked over to '06 and we got an incredible Scratch article where you and RZA outlined exactly what you had planned for us. We eventually heard some of the songs you showed the magazine, albeit in a different form. State of Grace and Thug World demonstrated that, for once, the Clan knew exactly what we wanted and was willing to give it to us.

After that? Nothing. A few mixtapes that were more similar to the Lex Diamond Story than this masterpiece you were promising your fans. I didn't pay them much mind, certain that you were just separating the wheat from the chaff - giving us songs you would never put on any commercially released album. At least not according to the Scratch article.

... while he'll insist the album is very rough, in its infant stages it still sounds better than anything the Clan has released post-Supreme Clientele.

That article did a better job of promoting your album than even you. After the issue came out most of us could hardly wait. Yet you somehow pulled off the impossible - damping our excitement with a series of put-offs and delays, rumors of signing to Aftermath that amounted to nothing, rumors of working with Dre that haven't yet amounted to anything, rumors of getting the entire Clan on a Dilla joint that haven't yet amounted to anything. Yet you keep giving your fans excuses for why we haven't heard the album yet. According to you it has to be perfect. It has to live up to the original. But we still haven't heard it.

Come '09 and we're still waiting. There are less of us, of course. Some have just resigned themselves to the fact that you're not going to give us the album you promised. Most are just convinced that it's not coming out at all. Out of nowhere you give us Criminology Pt. 2 with a beat by some cat called BT. While a nearly identical song isn't what I wanted out of the album it's a nice homage to the original, with a passable flip of the sample. You assured us it was nothing more than a mixtape song. That State of Grace was the only song confirmed. Even I, a notorious hater, had reason to celebrate when New Wu dropped like a bomb. August 8th was set in stone. RZA was a substantial part of the album. The stars were aligned. Then, somehow, it all fell apart in the matter of a couple of months.

Suddenly, RZA isn't the mastermind behind the record. We'll be lucky to get 4 songs by the man who gave you your career. BT, the mixtape producer who's surprisingly good at sounding like a budget RZA, is on the album. We have Scram Jones, Alchemist, Dre, Dilla - it's looking less and less like you're cooking up a sequel to Cuban Linx. Instead we're getting the generic multi-producer Hip-Hop album of 2005-2006. Maybe you can also give us a little something for the clubs? A song for the ladies? A 'well rounded' album like Fabolous is so fond of releasing to the obvious dismay of fans everywhere? But I feel that, as long as the album comes out, I can breathe again and move on.

And now that date, you know the one - the one that you said was set in stone? It's not the date anymore. No, now it's been pushed back a month. From early 2008 to Summer 2008 to Early 2009 to August 8th to September 8th. I ask again. Do you take us for fools? This isn't the way to release a record. This is a way to sink your career with the weight of expectation. Ask Axl Rose. Ask Dre. As for the sample clearance excuse? Please. We all know your new record label is behind it. We all know you're not really in control. They don't see the appeal and they've pushed it back to give you more time to promote it.

In conclusion, you blew it. Your last chance to get up there with the greats. This is Ice Cream Pt. 2 all over again with all the bells and chimes and none of the great songwriting of the original. You act like you don't need RZA but your career without him has been nothing but one bad move, one shoddy excuse, after another. Learn from your mistakes. Stop trying to create a separate legacy because it will never happen. And then maybe you'll make an album the fans can be proud to own. As for me, I'm sick of the excuses. I'm done.

Appendum: I have a feeling in the pit of my stomach that your project is more Pyscho remake than Godfather Pt. II. Don't remake the Restaurant scene.

Back on my bullshit indeed

It's an age old story: respected MC signs to Dr. Dre's boutique label, promises instant classic, gets held up 4 years then leaves. The shocking twist in Busta Rhymes' case is that he actually released a record, even if it was the technically proficient yet emotionally dead Big Bang. It wasn't the Busta full of pre-millennial angst that we could all count on for shit-crazy party tracks, it was the other one: the annoying bastard who showed up on every remix he could find and spat the exact same verse, every single time. He was the Samuel L. Jackson of rap without the self-decrying sense of humour.

So the Big Bang was a bust. The first single from Blessed brought a little light into everyone's lives with a return to animated, crazy form and outrageous faux-Hype Williams video. Then Busta fucked it all up and dropped a song with Linkin Park, which predictably flopped. After swapping labels and retooling the album, we got Arab Money and an inevitably disappointing rap career by Ron Browz, a song with T-Pain (because that's crazy, right? That's what the kids like?), a stock standard collaboration with Lil' Wayne and Jadakiss (a-haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa) and finally World Go Round, which transcends mere awfulness with Jelly Roll's interpolation of You Spin Me Round. Not that anybody (at all) (anywhere) is talking about it, but the song exists and I'm sure it's out there on the internet if you really want to subject yourself to it. The fact that Flo-Rida already has one terrible remake of it sitting somewhere near the top of the charts aside, I feel the need to put things in perspective.

This is Busta Rhymes, not some bullshit mixtape rapper with no music history who just needs a hit. He was on Tribe records. He was one of Dilla's closest collaborators. Sure, he lost his spark after Anarchy, when the world didn't end, but he doesn't deserve the slow death that this garbage is sure to consign him too. Someone put the poor bastard out of his misery and lose the master recordings to this shit before he embarrasses himself more.

Def Jux finally gets on board.

Danny! - Just Friends (Live)

Link jacked from 2DopeBoyz

Sidebar - do yourself a favour and check out Danny's wiki if you want to see the work of someone (Danny told me via okp that it wasn't him) with entirely too much time on their hands.

Shelved

Thank heavens for the blog search. Without Google's infringement-enabling magic wand I'd have never bothered to look for some shelved records from the time before time, the age in which record labels ruled the world - the 90's. Last on my hitlist was Large Professor's 'LP' album from 1996, a (mostly) (I assume) self-produced record held back by Geffen Records. Never mind the logic behind shelving a record that's been recorded and likely wouldn't have gotten much promotion regardless, I'm currently stuck on the Nasty Nas-era collaboration One Plus One. If there's a shining light to the inevitable death of major label music it's that some more of these records might see the light of day.

I'm looking at you, rumoured-original-RZA-produced-but-too-grimey Tical 0.