Get Rich or Die Tryin' [Clean] [Edited] (CD - 2003)

Producers include: Dr. Dre, Eminem, John Freeman, Red Spyda, Terence Dudley.

50 Cent was nominated for the 2004 Grammy Award for Best New Artist. GET RICH OR DIE TRYIN' was nominated for Best Rap Album. "In The Club" was nominated for Best Male Rap Solo Performance and for Best Rap Song.

This Limited version includes a bonus documentary DVD disc.

Personnel includes: 50 Cent, Eminem, Young Buck, Tony Yayo, Nate Dogg, Lloyd Banks.

Producers include: Dr. Dre, Eminem, John Freeman, Red Spyda, Terence Dudley.

50 Cent was nominated for the 2004 Grammy Award for Best New Artist. GET RICH OR DIE TRYIN' was nominated for Best Rap Album. "In Da Club" was nominated for Best Male Rap Solo Performance and for Best Rap Song.

Personnel: Tracie Spencer (vocals); Mike Elizondo (guitar, keyboards); Ron Feemster, Luis Resto (keyboards).

Audio Mixers: Eminem; Ted Wohlsen; Patrick Viala; Richard Travali; Steven King.

Recording information: 54 Sound, Detroit, MI; Chung King Studio, NY; Encore Studios, Burbank, CA; Lobo Studios, Deerpark, NY; Teamwork Studios, Long Island, NY.

Editor: Carlisle Young.

Provocative 2003 official debut from Queens gangsta-poet, includes anthemic #1 hit "In Da Club."

With its inclusion on the mega-successful 8 MILE soundtrack, 50 Cent's "Wanksta" blew up in late 2002, calling out the hypocrisies of wannabe gangstas who boast of criminal exploits that exist only in their imaginations. If anyone has the right to speak it's 50 Cent; he made his mark in the streets (not to mention newspapers) long before Eminem inked the Queens rapper to his Shady Records. In between the occasional single and album, 50 Cent has been involved in many notorious hip-hop confrontations. The too-aptly titled GET RICH OR DIE TRYIN' (which includes "Wanksta") introduces his brash, talk-it-like-he-walks-it rap style to the world at large.

50 Cent blithely cites the Bible in "Many Men (Wish Death)" while crowing about the rival who famously shot him in 2000 only to be shot himself ("cuz he got hit like I got hit and he ain't...breathin'"). From that slice of ultra-reality, he shifts to the dance-pop anthem "In Da Club." Throughout GET RICH OR DIE TRYIN', 50 Cent presents a strikingly original, raw worldview, even by the well-traveled genre's bleak and violent standards.

Though critics may disagree about the success of superstar rapper 50 Cent's foray into acting, few would question his skills when it comes to supplying the accompanying soundtrack. GET RICH OR DIE TRYING is packed with the lyrical honesty, gritty immediacy, and plain-spoken realism that originally endeared 50 and G-Unit to their legion of fans. The film in question is a semi-autobiographical story of a drug dealer turned MC, and most of the tracks here are of a piece, addressing either the desperate struggle for ghetto survival ("Hustler's Ambition," Young Buck's "Don't Need No Help") or the cultural difficulties that can accompany a quick rise from dire poverty to fame and fortune ("Talk About Me," Tony Yayo's "Fake Love"). Musically, many of the songs are influenced by classic 1970's and '80's R&B, whether it's the go-go-style synthesizers of "We Both Think Alike" or choice samples from Maze, Valerie Simpson, and Bobby Womack. A rare example of a huge seller (not to mention multi-media enterprise) that manages to retain hip-hop street cred, GET RICH OR DIE TRYING shows 50 Cent and his G-Unit comrades at the top of their game.

Probably the most hyped debut album by a rap artist in about a decade, most likely since Snoop's Doggystyle (1993) or perhaps Nas' Illmatic (1994), 50 Cent's Get Rich or Die Tryin' certainly arrived amid massive expectations. In fact, the expectations were so massive that they overshadowed the music itself -- 50 becoming more of a phenomenon than simply a rapper -- so massive that you had to be skeptical, particularly given the marketing-savvy nature of the rap world. Even so, Get Rich is indeed an impressive debut, not quite on the level of such landmark debuts as the aforementioned ones by Snoop or Nas -- or those by Biggie, Wu-Tang, or DMX either -- but impressive nonetheless, definitely ushering in 50 as one of the truly eminent rappers of his era. The thing, though, is that 50 isn't exactly a rookie, and it's debatable as to whether or not Get Rich can be considered a true debut (see the unreleased Power of the Dollar [1999] and the Guess Who's Back? compilation [2002]). That debate aside, however, Get Rich plays like a blueprint rap debut should: there's a tense, suspenseful intro ("What Up Gangsta"), an ethos-establishing tag-team spar with Eminem ("Patiently Waiting"), a street-cred appeal ("Many Men [Wish Death]"), a tailor-made mass-market good-time single ("In da Club"), a multifaceted tread through somber ghetto drama (from "High All the Time" to "Gotta Make It to Heaven"), and finally three bonus tracks that reprise 50's previously released hits ("Wanksta," "U Not Like Me," "Life's on the Line") -- in that precise order. In sum, Get Rich is an incredibly calculated album, albeit an amazing one. After all, when co-executive producer Eminem raps, "Take some Big and some Pac/And you mix them up in a pot/Sprinkle a little Big L on top/What the f*ck do you got?" you know the answer. Give Em (who produces two tracks) and Dr. Dre (who does four) credit for laying out the red carpet here, and also give 50 credit for reveling brilliantly in his much-documented mystique -- from his gun fetish to his witty swagger, 50 has the makings of a street legend, and it's no secret. And though he very well could be the rightful successor to the Biggie-Jigga-Nas triptych, Get Rich isn't quite the masterpiece 50 seems capable of, impressive or not. But until he drops that truly jaw-dropping album -- or falls victim to his own hubris -- this will certainly do. [The clean version edits moments of profanity.] ~ Jason Birchmeier minimize