Fiddy proves he has friends, lacks authenticity

Fiddy tries to reach deep to his roots, but he ends up with gangsta rap clichés.

By Lindsay Eanet

Published Sept. 11, 2007

I've always liked 50 Cent. Why? Because he makes it look so easy: the catchy hooks, the simple rhyme schemes, and the recycled standard images of bullets, bitches and Bacardi.

I mean, how hard can it be to write three studio albums of songs, all along the lines of: "I got shot nine times/ now I write rhymes/ while droppin' dimes/ I'm so paid it oughta be a crime."

See? Even a nerdy music critic could have come up with that.

On Curtis, Fiddy appears to be trying to strip down his persona (hence using his real first name as the album's title as opposed to the rumored Before I Self Destruct) and reveal the troubled soul on the inside.

And he does have the advantage of having lived the hard life he lionizes in his songs.

But unlike fellow Detroit megastar and mentor Eminem, who uses heightened emotion and clever wordplay to convey his struggles, Fiddy just uses the same recycled imagery and jargon.

We are fed a heaping serving of gangsta rap clichés from the second the album begins.

Rather than writing his own humorous — or foreboding — skit to introduce the album, a tactic that has become popular in the hip-hop world and serves as another means for rappers to showcase their originality and style, Curtis opens with gun-happy dialogue from the movie "Shooters," reinforcing gangsta rap's obsession with mob movies and crime dramas.

Gunshots punctuate the fourth track, "Still Will Kill," which features guest vocals from Akon.

Here, we see Fiddy's first attempt at proving he is the same person he was when he left Queens. But what he doesn't count on here is that death threats don't seem as convincing when they're coming from the guy that sings "Don't Matter."

He continues this tired "thug life" theme throughout the album. The chase-scene guitars and strings on "My Gun Go Off" do little to add tension to the tired, overly simplistic talk of drive-bys and Uzis: "You can see it to believe it/ Tryna' dodge and wave it end up a paraplegic."

Fiddy employs another cardinal hip-hop cliché throughout the album: the celebrity guest star. Most often this works in his favor, as with the Timbaland-produced club anthem "Ayo Technology," arguably the album's best song. Party singles have always been 50 Cent's strong suit, and the help from Timbaland and Justin Timberlake is welcome on this classic example of the "seducing the girl in tha club" track.

Eminem produces and raps on the raunchy, rapid-fire "Peep Show," complementing Fiddy and allowing both to showcase some distinctive (and dirty) style and humor, giving the album a much-needed breath of fresh air.

Alas, as with most mediocre rappers, the guest stars do make the album better but most of them outshine the main artist.

But what Fiddy does well (and yes, naysayers and Kanye supporters, there is something he does well) goes right back to that opening scene from "Shooters."

His strength is not in originality or cleverness but in the cinematic nature of his rhymes and his hip-hop character.

Everything he writes is tailor-made for the movies. Even the mediocre, repetitive "I run New York" anthem "I Get Money" has energy and some flair for storytelling: "I take quarter water/ sold it in bottles for two bucks/ Coca-Cola came and bought it/ for billions/ what the fuck?" And despite its being strikingly similar to his previous booty-shaking singles like "Magic Stick" and "Candy Shop," his single "Amusement Park" is surprisingly well-crafted, full of innuendo and imagery that is mildly cliché.

But the flow plays out like a high-end music video, full of color and even, at times, charm reminiscent of The Notorious B.I.G. I expect Kanye West to win the Sept. 11 album grudge match, hands down.

But it should be noted that 50 Cent has done something that some rappers struggle with: he has created a larger-than-life persona, and when he embraces it, rather than sacrificing lyricism or originality as Kanye has in the past, he is at the top of his game.