As promised with the recent release of Stop Crying, 50 drops off the full The Big 10 project and the aforementioned track certainly has expectation and anticipation levels at a high. Only a 12-track mixtape (spoken like a true spoilt hip-hop fan), but it seems to be all original material which will hopefully provide a few repeat-worthy tracks. Unfortunately, Tony Yayo is one of the two featured artists (interesting that 50′s not included the heavily-buzzing Lloyd Banks), but I’m sure you’ll be able to look past that if the rest of the music holds up. Free grab below.
The first single from 50′s upcoming The Big 10 mixtape, celebrating 10 years since his breakout 50 Cent Is The Future mixtape. It’s hard to believe that 50 has only truly been in the game for that long (not counting Power of the Dollar), but a testament to his success as a rapper and a businessman.
Hard-hitting with a real head-nodder of a production, 50 certainly captures some of the intensity and hunger that was missing on his last release with some aggressive raps, complementing the crashing percussion and thick bass nicely. Undoubtedly, the gritty qualities of this will win over many of the hip-hop heads, and in a scene increasingly dominated by light, R&B-influenced productions, this stands out as one of the more simple, uncomplicated hip-hop efforts in recent weeks. Good signs ahead of that mixtape.
Out of nowhere, 50 decided to let loose of the official ‘sequel’ to one of his most popular tracks, the speaker-rattling What Up Gangsta from his classic Get Rich or Die Tryin’ album.
Unquestionably, it’s a ploy to bring a little more credence to his somewhat-ignored musical output these days, and as a result the audio doesn’t match up to its predecessor at all. The heavy-hitting, head-nodding vibe of the original is replaced with a much lighter, quicker-paced track, and whilst the verses are ‘gutter’ enough, the hook feels very forced and lacks any real catchiness or memorable moment. Generally, the track feels like its missing the passion and intensity found on the predecessor, and it’s those factors that also seem to be missing from 50′s work in the last 18 months. Credit to the man for his work outside of hip-hop though, and much love should be shown for his recent Street King project.
A bit of promo for 50 here, but more importantly is the message that it portrays. I’m sure 50 will have his critics on this marketing strategy, but I like to think that there’s actually a little bit of both business sense and true empathy coming from Curtis on this.
Street King is an ‘energy shot’ where a percentage of the proceeds will go towards 50′s mission statement of feeding a billion starving children in Africa over the next 5 years.
What ever the motives are, I’m sure those children are and will be eternally grateful towards his efforts.
Undoubtedly, the highlight of this week’s R&B content has already been delivered, with the hugely-anticipated release of The Weeknd’s second project, Thursday. There’s also new music from upcoming UK singer Chrome, dropping off an energetic single for his latest video.
Very diverse episode this week, with some mainstream pop, old-school style soul and the usual R&B fare all made available for your listening pleasure, and plenty of big names providing that content. Click below to fill yourself with R&B nourishment.
The trouble with blasting out with such a great début album like GRODT is that every single piece of music you make for the rest of your career will ultimately be compared to it. This is certainly an affliction that’s affected 50′s career, with most people only really checking for him these days for his sense of humour (for me his last LP was pretty underrated!). Anyway, here’s the first drop from his next, as of yet untitled, album.
Over a hard Cardiak beat, 50 gives us some of his infectious flow with lyrics that will not make your jaw drop. The track is unapologetically basic, but strangely addictive: all in all, you can turn the volume up to this in your car. Not a bad effort at all from 50, I’ll be bumping this more so than many of the tracks I’ve had the displeasure of hearing this past month or so. Download here —–> 50 Cent – Outlaw
Watch me try and justify why I’ve posted this. Well I was checking to see when Banks is finally going to release his Cold Corner II mixtape and that got me browsing old school G-Unit videos on YouTube. Then I ended up here.
This was a time when 50 and his G-Unit soldiers could literally take a shit on wax and people would argue that it was hot. I mean verses are pretty dope, but can you imagine something like this hitting the Internet now?
I’m all R&B’d out listening to this. *Clicks play on Goblin*
I’ve turned up late to the party once again, so I’m not going to mess you around with a long intro here. That’s helped by only having one relevant and noteworthy post from the week gone by, that being Erin Christine’s latest single.
Click below to fill your empty stomachs with R&B/pop/soul nourishment.
50′s been doing his thing in 2011 already and if you follow him on Twitter you’ll know he’s been dropping freestyle after freestyle over at thisis50.com. He still needs to prove some level of consistency to me before I start checking for him again; He’s let me down too many times in the past. It’s like he’s a cheating partner and I’m now only starting to forgive him.
This is an interesting one from him though this week; He goes in over just a sample and kick drum to allow aspiring producers download and finish the track off. I personally don’t think anyone should touch this, Fif goes in and the stripped-out beat works perfectly in my opinion.
It seems like fif has suddenly woken up from the nightmare we’ve all been witnessing pretty much from the day The Massacre was released way back in ’05. That album was my shit for a good few months. Hard, pulsating production with a grimy as ever 50.
Fast forward to 2011 and a few strong drops from 50 has me hoping he still has some hunger left in the tank to drop one more classic album before he’s done. What you’ll find here is 50 on his 50 Cent Is The Future tip and it’s great to get full, fiery verses from fif instead of half-hearted handfuls of bars.
Don’t give up on fif just yet. Give this one a listen. It’s got some replay value.
New mixtape from DJ Kay Slay which features a whole host of familiar names. From the likes of Raekwon, 50 Cent, Busta Rhymes, Styles P, Papoose, Vado, Maino and Ghostface Killah, we can see a huge New York influence on this mixtape (wouldn’t expect any less from Kay Slay!).
Click this bit of red text to grab hold of this tape and click the red text below to check out the tracklist!
A fair few leaks coming out from the Shady camp recently, and (purely from looking at this lineup) here we have one that will send tongues wagging.
This is a track that’s having a pop at the state of the music industry, how hit songs just seem to be about catchy hooks and contain poor lyrical content. Unfortunately this is definitely not a recent song, and is believed to be around 4 years old. This is most telling from hearing Eminem’s flow and particularly the horrible southern accent that he displayed on the albums Encore and D12 World. For that reason this track isn’t really as good as I’d hoped it to be, but I must admit his ironic chorus on this is one I enjoyed.
Anyone that follows 50 on Twitter will know that he pulls no punches and pretty much says whatever he’s thinking, no matter who it may offend or annoy. Put that together with an elderly lady and you’ve got some seriously funny stuff. This needs to be longer though!
Much anticipated video for Lloyd’s latest single from King of Hearts.
I’m a huge fan of the song itself, and the video captures the essence of the track nicely with dark club scenes and nightime cityscapes. Throw in some energetic stage scenes of Lloyd and you’ve got a well-rounded mainstream video that really enhances the audio.
Definitely one to watch, as the video blends together the more likeable aspects of uptempo urban videos with a fundamentally enjoyable song. I’m still playing this track in my car, and you can do so here.
Inspired by Complex Magazine’s excellent best 25 Lloyd Banks’ verses and on the back of the release of Banks’ heavily anticipated third LP, The Hunger For More 2, I’ve decided to take us back to a time when 50 Cent was merely an underground king and Banks, alongside Tony Yayo, his noble foot soldiers.
2002 was a busy year for 50 and his G-Unit imprint, with the release of now-classic mixtape 50 Cent Is The Future, compilation album Guess Who’s Back, today’s featured mixtape No Mercy, No Fear, before finishing the year with God’s Son and putting the final touches to his 2003 debut album Get Rich Or Die Tryin’. But all this wouldn’t have been possible without the solid footing 50 had in the underground and the lyrical prowess of a certain 20-year old keen to follow in his mentor’s footsteps.
Soulja Boy is improving. He’s obviously no lyrical great, but compare this to his first few songs, and there’s no question that he’s getting better: inevitable given the fact he started at the bottom of the lyrical ladder, and is still so young. Great selection of beat too, just a shame it didn’t go to more deserving folk.
Despite all that, this song gets plays from me for one reason: the hook is HILARIOUS. ‘Rob ME? N**** we gon’ rob YOU!‘. Priceless. Decent enough video though, with a grimey, industrial theme that should really have been used for a better song. Audio is here, along with the first video for the track.
The tracklist for the first (and probably not the last) posthumous album of unreleased MJ material.
1. Breaking News
2. Hold My Hand ft. Akon (A version of this leaked in 2008)
3. Hollywood Tonight
4. Keep Your Head Up
5. (I Like) The Way You Love Me
6. Monster ft. 50 Cent(What?!)
7. Best Of Joy
8. (I Can’t Make It) Another Day
9. Behind The Mask
10. Much Too Soon
Lots of big hip-hop acts involved in the three collaborations here, which I put on the backburner slightly.
All of them are solid, with the Diddy/Ross track boasting a relaxing beat that will win many admirers. The Busta/50 track has some real potential, with a slightly dark feel that suits all involved parties nicely. The final track is a remix of this one and has some great features, the highlight being Luda and Twista’s contributions.
Worth updating you with this final version as not only will the DJs be happier, but there are some very noticeable changes to the original that warrant attention. The beat is much sharper and comes with some additional layers that really add to the club appeal of the track without sacrificing the mellow aspect: Credit to Polow Da Don for acheiving that. There are also more backing vocals and adlibs throughout, adding a completeness to the track.
Huge hopes for this track, really deserves to be a big deal as it’s a superb bit of R&B.
Some of these have sat in my inbox over the past few days, some have just hit the Internets today. The pick of the bunch has to be that 50/Jada collaboration; with the one time foes teaming up for some New York heat. I’ve also dropped the new Big L single from his upcoming posthumous Return Of The Devil’s Son, but not only are the vocals recycled (Danger Zone), but the beat isn’t original either (O.C. – Jewelz).
I’m sure you can forgive me for this being a couple of days late: having no laptop sort of makes things a little difficult! Hence, I’ll not keep you too long out here in the cold and away from the R&B.
Whilst I’m told the pre-episode recaps are going down well, in the interests of time you can take care of it yourself for this week by clicking the R&B category at the top of this page, which should fill you in appropriately. Click on for this week’s episode. → Continue Reading R&B Fridays: Episode 68
50 promised to release this track on Twitter earlier, and came through moments ago. It looks like Down On Me isn’t the only track these two worked on, and it’s just as well seeing as this one is far better than the aforementioned.
It’s not that rugged 50 sound by any means, but as 50 rightly claimed it’s definitely ‘baby-making music’, being incredibly chilled and relaxing. The beat is suitably minimal, keeping all trace of percussion away in favour of soothing melodies and nice vocals from Jeremih. Real smooth stuff, one the R&B fans will really enjoy.
Visuals for the somewhat underwhelming collaboration from these guys. Jeremih’s album was released today I believe, and there are at least one or two decent tracks on there, give it a go.
Audio can be dragged kicking and screaming from here.
This was inevitable really…50 let loose the audio for this on his Twitter earlier, and now the video too. I can see this developing into a guilty pleasure of a song for me. Shhh don’t tell anyone I said that. Audio for this is below.
Some decent material from 50, going in over a good beat with a likeable soul sample. Feels like an old-school Kanye beat, and it may very well be as it isn’t clear whether this is new material or something from the vaults.
Recent Comments