Take a minute and consider how great Fifty Cent\'s third album, Curtis could be. Fifty is backed by a small army of some of the greatest producers in the business; Scott Storch, Eminem, Hi-Tek and of course Dr. Dre. Fifty is loved by many around the world, who embrace his thug-life style. His previous two albums have fired off hit after hit after hit.
Soak that in, and then take a listen to Curtis. Then ponder what went wrong.
Please do not mistake my criticism of the album as being just another Fifty hater. While I am not, nor have I ever been a huge Fifty supporter, I recognize the fact that he is very talented. Okay lets\'s be honest: the man is great. His previous album sales are off the charts. He stands as one of the world\'s richest rappers, marking his 100 million dollar deal with Coke. I\'ll even give him credit for his lyrical style. Sure he composes gangsta rap, but at least he does it well.
Until now.
Curtis begins with what you\'d expect: hardcore, shoot-em-up style hip-hop. The first three tracks ("My Gun Go Off", "Man Down", "I Still Kill") aren\'t exactly the kind of heat King Fifty is known for, but nonetheless they\'re worth a quick listen. The album quickly reaches its apex with the ego inflating "I Get Money", an awe-inspiring track that offers little to the imagination. The album begins a steady dive from this point. Another failed single "Follow My Lead", which featured crooner Robin Thickie, was laughable. Seriously, take a listen. Your reaction will be something like " Man, who bribed Fifty to put this on his album?"
Curtis does try and fight his way back up the hill. "Ayo Technology" doesn\'t quite suck as much as people say, though I believe the song would have been better suited on guest star Justin Timberlake\'s album. "All of Me" is another head bobber, mostly because the queen of R&B Mary J. Bilge does her thing on the track. It\'s the albums last hurrah, if you really want to call it that. The album closes with "Touch the Sky", (Kanye anyone?) a track which has my vote for worst closer of the year.
I think the saddest thing about this album is that I actually expected more. His previous two albums generated their own hype with chart topping singles (see: "In Da Club", "Candy Shop", "21 Questions"). "Fiddy" had to fight tooth and nail to get people to notice his album. Tactics included beefing with the self-proclaimed best rapper alive Lil Wayne, throwing temper tantrums directed towards his label Interscope, threatening to retire if Kanye West outsold him. (Which Kanye did. It wasn\'t even close. Seriously.) The album was produced by a bunch of nobodies in the industry, and not even the good kind of nobodies. The beats were sub-par at best. Alas, the fan reaction will be the same as always. Thugs and thugettes alike will refer to the album as a classic, while perennial naysayers will put this album in the garbage pile along with everything else G-unit has put out. While I am always a fan of the "Go listen for yourself" method, it would seem that the man who put out Get Rich or Die Tryin Got rich...then stopped trying.
"Curtis" is on sale September 11, 2007 from G-Unit/Aftermath/Interscope.
