50 Cent - The Big 10 (Discussion/Appreciation Thread)

[stillmatic]

Body on it - 2.5/5 - Intro was the best intro I've heard in years. If you know the situation then you'll know what it's about. Song was decent. Shit talking at the end was straight from the heart, frustration overload.

Niggas be schemin - 3/5 - Cool beat, he sounds dope on stuff like that. Lyrics much improved. Kidd Kidd sounds like a lost little boy. Good track.

Queens, NY - 4.5/5 - Dope. 50's got him a new one in Paris, she sounds dope, can't help but think of Foxy (big call, I know) when I hear her. Dope track, one of the best this year.

I just wanna - 2.5/5 - Lol. Unusual sample. I wish he tried another 'Fat bitch' type song from the 50 Cent is the future mixtape, that is more humor, less romance. [can't believe I said romance, when this sounds R-rated compared to the PG-rated romance songs dominating the airwaves these days]

Shootin guns - 3.5/5 - Oooh yeah, that's dope. Kidd Kidd sounds very good on this. 50 needs to calm down with his voice, no one wants to hear the growl. Once he relaxes, he maneuvers over the beat like Method Man did in his prime. Dope track.

Put ya hands up - 2/5 - Not my thing. Someone like Meek Mill would have annihilated this song, damn I wish he was with the Unit.

Wait until tonight - 4/5 - Love it, 50 on soulful beats is like Jeter during October - a sure thing. Dope fvcking beat man, not sure how many people know that the producer Scoop Deville is actually the son of Latino rap legend Kid Frost. He def ain't riding daddy's tails, he's quality himself too. One of my tracks this year.

You took my heart - 3/5 - Haha, sounds like this is a shot at a lot of rappers. Sounds like one of those 'there will be blood tracks'. Lyrics unfortunately go back down though, when it was improved in the previous tracks.

Off and on - 3.5/5 - 50 and Tupac? thank you producer. 50 and Tupac on a slow track? thank you again producer. This ain't no 'til' Makaveli returns it's all eyez on me' but it's very cool. 50 having fun again, damn, it's been a minute.

Nah, nah, nah - 3.5/5 - Raw aggression. How rare is that these days? Very thankful he has stood his ground and stamped Gangsta rap 'til the end on his name. Yayo has improved a lot lately too, I think that's the Danny Brown influence.

Cons - 1: No Banks. 2: Somethings a little forced. 3: The fact that 'Girls get wild' is gonna be the first single from the upcoming album, that track is weak is hell and won't chart either.

Pros - 1: Lyrics improved. 2: Sounds like he's having fun. 3: Pure raw aggression, what the game needs. 4: Paris sounds fvcking dope, I think she'll be the biggest thing to come from this mixtape. 5: Kidd Kidd sounds better, def has no YM persona. 6: Love the NY and old hip hop references. 7: His ear for beats sounds good. 8: The fact that this is a mixtape. 9: His awareness of the talk and things happening. 10: The return of the heartless monster, welcome back.

[Manly Moose]

I will be laughing if people like this tape better than the actual album, but good effort on this Fif

[Mathers]

again, 50 did a great job, if his album sounds like this it could possibly be enough to bring back respect that's been lost since round Massacre/Curtis for many people.

No.

[SG.]

Video for Queens, NY:

[Sam.]

Body on it - 2.5/5 - Intro was the best intro I've heard in years. If you know the situation then you'll know what it's about. Song was decent. Shit talking at the end was straight from the heart, frustration overload.

***** be schemin - 3/5 - Cool beat, he sounds dope on stuff like that. Lyrics much improved. Kidd Kidd sounds like a lost little boy. Good track.

Queens, NY - 4.5/5 - Dope. 50's got him a new one in Paris, she sounds dope, can't help but think of Foxy (big call, I know) when I hear her. Dope track, one of the best this year.

I just wanna - 2.5/5 - Lol. Unusual sample. I wish he tried another 'Fat bitch' type song from the 50 Cent is the future mixtape, that is more humor, less romance. [can't believe I said romance, when this sounds R-rated compared to the PG-rated romance songs dominating the airwaves these days]

Shootin guns - 3.5/5 - Oooh yeah, that's dope. Kidd Kidd sounds very good on this. 50 needs to calm down with his voice, no one wants to hear the growl. Once he relaxes, he maneuvers over the beat like Method Man did in his prime. Dope track.

Put ya hands up - 2/5 - Not my thing. Someone like Meek Mill would have annihilated this song, damn I wish he was with the Unit.

Wait until tonight - 4/5 - Love it, 50 on soulful beats is like Jeter during October - a sure thing. Dope fvcking beat man, not sure how many people know that the producer Scoop Deville is actually the son of Latino rap legend Kid Frost. He def ain't riding daddy's tails, he's quality himself too. One of my tracks this year.

You took my heart - 3/5 - Haha, sounds like this is a shot at a lot of rappers. Sounds like one of those 'there will be blood tracks'. Lyrics unfortunately go back down though, when it was improved in the previous tracks.

Off and on - 3.5/5 - 50 and Tupac? thank you producer. 50 and Tupac on a slow track? thank you again producer. This ain't no 'til' Makaveli returns it's all eyez on me' but it's very cool. 50 having fun again, damn, it's been a minute.

Nah, nah, nah - 3.5/5 - Raw aggression. How rare is that these days? Very thankful he has stood his ground and stamped Gangsta rap 'til the end on his name. Yayo has improved a lot lately too, I think that's the Danny Brown influence.

Cons - 1: No Banks. 2: Somethings a little forced. 3: The fact that 'Girls get wild' is gonna be the first single from the upcoming album, that track is weak is hell and won't chart either.

Pros - 1: Lyrics improved. 2: Sounds like he's having fun. 3: Pure raw aggression, what the game needs. 4: Paris sounds fvcking dope, I think she'll be the biggest thing to come from this mixtape. 5: Kidd Kidd sounds better, def has no YM persona. 6: Love the NY and old hip hop references. 7: His ear for beats sounds good. 8: The fact that this is a mixtape. 9: His awareness of the talk and things happening. 10: The return of the heartless monster, welcome back.

I've to agree with the ratings that you gave. Pretty dope Tape, definitely builds anticipation for the future Projects.

[SG.]

Video for I Just Wanna:

[Sam.]

Video for I Just Wanna:

The Video is damn simple and lol at Tony's actions throughout the Vid.

[juve]

Good story on mtv about the mixtape.

O
n the opening track of his new mixtape, The Big 10, 50 Cent flatly declares “I read a blog that said I ain’t got it, I still got it.” Humility has never been one of Fif’s stronger traits and even if the opposite were true it’d be hard to imagine him admitting it. But this time he’s technically correct.

While popular interest in his music is at an all time low, the only thing that’s changed is context. The type of subtly menacing, predominately sample driven, street rap that he initially built his brand on is virtually nonexistent in the popular music landscape today. For the most part mainstream hip hop’s aggressive content, as 50 so fondly describes it, has been quarantined to the blunt grunt-and-synth formula of Rick Ross, Lex Luger and Waka Flocka. The rest of it is soft serve rap about sneakers, club drugs and feelings, as performed by Canadians and/or rappers who probably wish they were Canadian. (Soft rappers need free healthcare.) Of course, it was 50 himself who helped to orchestrate this crumble during his rise, trading in his Champion hoodies for pinstripe suits and indulging in some of the sappiest pop rap of his time.

“What’s he going to do? Start heckling Drake? Drake heckles himself every time he breathes.”

The Big 10 loosely celebrates the tenth anniversary of Fif’s breakout underground 50 Cent is the Future, a landmark mixtape in a time when the words “landmark” and “mixtape” still seemed contradictory by nature. That he chose to pay tribute to this comparatively obscure release rather than hold out a year to celebrate his eight-times platinum crossover Get Rich or Die Trying is a largely symbolic gesture. Now that pop stardom has inevitably run its course he wants to go home again.

And, on a purely empirical level he’s managed to do just that. Like many of the loose tracks he’s dropped throughout this year, the new tape comes pretty close to consistency of G-Unit’s golden age. 50 knows how to make great hardcore hip hop. The production is stripped down and tastefully soulful, the songwriting is absent of cloying hooks or other pop concessions, and he’s really just spitting in the classical sense of the word. He’s mostly rapping about killing and maiming unnamed foes and when he does so he balances an artful intensity and a sly smirk, best displayed on the warbling and relentless “Stop Crying”: “Jesus let the weak roam the Earth without a purpose / but I’ll stop your fucking head ’til it’s under the surface.”

In his prime, 50 added weight to these sorts of threats by implicitly drawing on his own narrative. In his early days that meant channeling his underdog status as an industry reject and a shooting victim, later it was his feuds with the likes of Ja Rule and Rick Ross that amplified his raps in the imagination of his listeners. But underdog sympathies are difficult to invoke when you’re a multi-multi-millionaire, and 50′s persona is too far removed from the present-day hip hop industry for him to ever reclaim his status as sandpaper on its bark. What’s he going to do? Start heckling Drake? Drake heckles himself every time he breathes. All he can do is continue to quietly make music that’s just good enough to prove his internet detractors wrong.

[Manly Moose]

again, 50 did a great job, if his album sounds like this it could possibly be enough to bring back respect that's been lost since round Massacre/Curtis for many people.

No.

Massacre was almost as pathetic as Encore.

[JamaicanPattlez]

"The rest of it is soft serve rap about sneakers, club drugs and feelings, as performed by Canadians and/or rappers who probably wish they were Canadian. (Soft rappers need free healthcare.)"

Excuse me?

First thing that came to my mind was "...Drake."

[TheGentlePlayer]

Video for Queens, NY:

Love the song

[juve]

nothing but good reviews

It’s no secret that some think 50 Cent has fallen off. It’s been over two years since his last studio effort, Before I Self Destruct, which failed to convince us that he was as good as he was when he had everyone up in the club. While he’s been plenty busy with other business endeavors, 50 has been letting the haters hate, and for that we should be thankful. On the 10th anniversary of his debut mixtape, he unloads The Big 10, a pleasant surprise with a sound akin to the young, not quite rich hip-hop hero he was back in 2001.

It helps that he has some original production, including beats by Jake One, DJ Khalil, Jahlil Beats, and Scoop Deville, but beyond that, the man otherwise known as Curtis Jackson sounds like a natural again. “Niggas Be Schemin’” has him matching the aggressive street-minded beat so well that it will have your mind reeling with memories of his hungry debut. That classic appeal comes to light on DJ Khalil’s la-la-la heavy “Shootin’ Guns”, as well as on the jaw-gritting “Nah Nah Nah”, while “Put Ya Hands Up”, produced by Roc Nation’s Jahlil Beats, is a slow-swag club joint with an addictive Bollywood-like feel. Amid all the tough talk (“Yeah, bitch, I got my second wind/You could pretend I ain’t the shit”), Jackson seamlessly weaves in sex-driven, lady-loving tracks (“Wait Until Tonight”, “I Just Wanna”), and when he starts rap-singing the hooks, you might remember a time way back when it wasn’t a requirement for rappers to come equipped with the prettiest of singing voices.

At only 38 minutes long, The Big 10 is short enough to avoid tired redundancies. However, the features from Tony Yayo, Kidd Kidd, and new G-Unit signee Paris only detract from the real heavy hitter. Whether or not 50 Cent can keep his energy and authentic street-minded air together is up to him, but this mixtape should ward off the haters until his next studio release drops.

Essential Tracks: “Niggas Be Schemin’”, “I Just Wanna”, and “Shootin’ Guns”

[juve]

article earlier b4 mixtape

50 Cent's Greatest Hits Of Late 2010 And 2011: A Surprisingly Long List
http://blogs.villagevoice.com/music/201 ... ok_now.php

[Sam.]

nothing but good reviews

It’s no secret that some think 50 Cent has fallen off. It’s been over two years since his last studio effort, Before I Self Destruct, which failed to convince us that he was as good as he was when he had everyone up in the club. While he’s been plenty busy with other business endeavors, 50 has been letting the haters hate, and for that we should be thankful. On the 10th anniversary of his debut mixtape, he unloads The Big 10, a pleasant surprise with a sound akin to the young, not quite rich hip-hop hero he was back in 2001.

It helps that he has some original production, including beats by Jake One, DJ Khalil, Jahlil Beats, and Scoop Deville, but beyond that, the man otherwise known as Curtis Jackson sounds like a natural again. “***** Be Schemin’” has him matching the aggressive street-minded beat so well that it will have your mind reeling with memories of his hungry debut. That classic appeal comes to light on DJ Khalil’s la-la-la heavy “Shootin’ Guns”, as well as on the jaw-gritting “Nah Nah Nah”, while “Put Ya Hands Up”, produced by Roc Nation’s Jahlil Beats, is a slow-swag club joint with an addictive Bollywood-like feel. Amid all the tough talk (“Yeah, bitch, I got my second wind/You could pretend I ain’t the shit”), Jackson seamlessly weaves in sex-driven, lady-loving tracks (“Wait Until Tonight”, “I Just Wanna”), and when he starts rap-singing the hooks, you might remember a time way back when it wasn’t a requirement for rappers to come equipped with the prettiest of singing voices.

At only 38 minutes long, The Big 10 is short enough to avoid tired redundancies. However, the features from Tony Yayo, Kidd Kidd, and new G-Unit signee Paris only detract from the real heavy hitter. Whether or not 50 Cent can keep his energy and authentic street-minded air together is up to him, but this mixtape should ward off the haters until his next studio release drops.

Essential Tracks: “***** Be Schemin’”, “I Just Wanna”, and “Shootin’ Guns”

That's some shit.

[NextEpisode]

Openminded rap fans - who's not biased against 50 - should enjoy this tape. I know I did & still do.