Crucial second of fifty Cent’s life – and profession – got here when he was shot 9 instances in Queens, New York. Outdoors of the very literal life-threatening wounds he suffered, the tragic occasions additionally led to his being dropped from Columbia Information. With no label and on a protracted highway of rehabilitation, 50 started independently releasing music, and his 2002 mission, Guess Who’s Again?, finally made its approach into the fingers of Eminem. Em confirmed the mission to his good friend and collaborator, Dr. Dre, and the 2 agreed that they’d discovered the following star of the Shady/Aftermath partnership.
Take heed to 50 Cent’s Get Wealthy or Die Tryin’ now.
What made 50 Cent so particular? His capacity to inform tales of life on the streets in a approach that was each distinctive and approachable. He placed on for his South Jamaica hood, however made music that by no means overpassed the radio. 50’s knack for radio hits didn’t come naturally. He labored exhausting, practising by writing hooks over fashionable rap songs – a technique he realized from the legendary Jam Grasp Jay.
In an interview with BET, 50 mentioned the urgency he utilized to his rhymes after getting shot. It gave Get Wealthy or Die Tryin’ a propulsion that was the proper foil to his swaggering, silky-smooth move. “The distinction was I had been in a life-threatening scenario and that’s what’s modified conceptually,” he explains. “My music fashion heightened and intensified the presentation as a result of it made it one thing that…[a] one who was a bit of additional away from what was happening within the cities was in a position to go on a safari and never be damage by the animals.” In brief, 50 Cent offered the gangster’s life-style.
A large debut single didn’t damage. In actual fact, there have been moments in 2003 when the “In Da Membership” video appeared like a documentary on 50 Cent’s monumental rise to the highest of the music trade. The ultimate reveal – Dr. Dre and Eminem in lab coats, checking in on their experiment – was the icing on the cake. It blended self-awareness with a confidence that comes from having two of the rap recreation’s most essential voices by your aspect. However whereas Em and Dre’s fingerprints are on Get Wealthy, 50 overshadowed his collaborators and turned within the efficiency of a lifetime. Get Wealthy or Die Tryin’ grew to become the largest rap album of 2003 – and probably the greatest promoting debuts in music historical past – because of 50 Cent’s alchemical mix of earworm hooks, unflinching storytelling, and seemingly infinite swagger.
Take heed to 50 Cent’s Get Wealthy or Die Tryin’ now.