50 Cent's New Album Leaks!

DISCLAIMER: I am only on track number 11 out of 16 so far so this is not a complete review.

However, with that said, 50 Cent's new album "Before I Self Destruct" is INCREDIBLE!

Maybe it's because after his last album and recent mixtapes we all underestimated 50's ability to create a an album that is both hardcore and sonically pleasing, complete with authentic gangsta rap as well as the commercial songs that have brought 50 his mega riches.

He did it six years ago, of course. And his second album was no slouch, either.

So why did we sleep on him?

Don't we always want the villain to win? Isn't 50 just that -- a villain? He is on this album, at least.

It will be interesting to see how well this album sells, considering it hit the Internet just about a month prior to it's [previously?] scheduled release date. It is also worth monitoring the album's sales because that is always 50's bottom line -- the money.

As well as the bragging rights.

I'm sure 50 feels like he needs to get revenge on Lil' Wayne and Kanye West. Because of the way Wayne has decided to ignore 50's taunts, and because Kanye won the "first-week battle" a few years back, 50 no doubt feels as if he has something to prove.

Based on the current landscape of radio and video, the album is chock full of potential number one hits. That's not to say that it is soft, or commercial. It speaks more to 50's overall appeal and ability to make good music that caters to a wide demographic and a loyal fan base that is eager to see him back on top.

Time will tell. Expect 50 and Interscope to comment on this leak soon and move his album release date up to next week.

GZA Plots 50's Assassination

A UK blog is reporting that GZA is going to release a new song very soon called "Paper Plates" that specifically targets 50 Cent, a move that stems from some beef the two shared (pause) about a year ago.

Here is an excerpt from that article:

Last night I was out having a drink with GZA from the Wu-Tang Clan, after the 2nd London show this week. We were talking about anything and everything to do with hip-hop and the Ice-T / Soulja Boy debacle came up, as did the incident in Dec 2007 at Coko in London when a young fan took the mic and screamed “f–k 50 Cent” which the media gave the Genius credit for.

Although there wasn’t tonnes of bad blood, 50 did retort, and now GZA is picking up the hatchet. The Wu-Tang’s head henchman asked if I remembered the Jadakiss diss to 50 (which one??), I said ‘yes’ and he said ‘it’s like that… times ten… I’m going to annihilate 50, he can’t f–k with me lyrically’. I asked if it was the kind of record that would end 50’s career, and he said 50’s career is dead anyway, stating that the recent 100k soundscan for G-Unit’s ‘Terminate on Sight’ album would be a good for amount for a GZA album, but is garbage for one of 50’s. It doesn’t take long is GZA’s company to realise that he chooses his words wisely, and he’s not playing on this one.

Now, we all know about GZA's acumen as an emcee, but we also know that many times from a mainstream point of view popularity always wins over skills. (See the KRS and Nelly battle for further proof of this trend.)

And while GZA is damn near flawless with his rhymes, 50 is no slouch either.

And 50 doesn't need fancy wordplay to get his point across. That's never been his style. Meanwhile GZA relies on wittiness and metaphors as part of his inimitable style.

To be honest, in the eyes of the masses, I don't see how GZA can come out of this one unscathed, considering that outside of the underground he is not a well-known member of the Wu. So I fear he will be perceived as a near-irrelevant old school rapper trying to regain some prosperity and attention at 50's expense.

And I'm almost positive that will be how 50 tries to spin it.

But who can blame 50? I'd be scared if I were 50 because while GZA's attack may not end 50's rapping career, it will undoubtedly make a chunk of his fans switch allegiance, and after T.O.S.'s first week numbers, 50 can ill afford to lose many more fans.

I'll post the song as soon as it becomes available.

Below is a video of GZA going at 50 live on stage some time last year.

Funk Flex: "Your Son Can Never Get Older Than You"

Apparently the world famous DJ Funkmaster Flex while on the air last night went in on the rappers who he views as the cocky new jacks -- the new guys on the block with hefty co-signs from a Hiphop heavyweight only to ultimately break ranks and start dissing the very person who put them on.

Flex dropped classic quotables on his unsuspecting targets:

Referencing the recent Young Buck and 50 Cent situation, it is being reported that Flex said:

"Unfortunately, I can't move with Young Buck because I'm on that thing on loyalty, man. A lot of you rappers, man, you get onto a label that's smokin' hot, and the guy at the helm is hot, man, pushin' out units! And you want to come along and live because you know if you just stay at home, drink your hot chocolate and watch Rap City, you're guaranteed to go gold without leaving your block."

More heat for new jacks:

"And I watch y'all sell gold, when you should have sold 100,000 [units, and] start talkin' slick. I'm not just talkin' about [the Young Buck] situation, I'm sayin' y'all do it all the time. Let me tell you something: it's corny; that's a small man's world. You know what you show when you do that? That you was never nothin', and you was never ridin', and you was never on the team, ever!"

Then he cautioned big time Hiphop superstars like Jay and Puff about being burnt by people they put on in the industry, saying that you can never make every one happy. Or to put it in Flex's words, "Y'all need to stop handing out these free meals to snausages."

"Your son can never get older than you."

He also addressed ghostwriters, particularly Philadelphia rapper Gille Da Kid, who earlier this year made some rumblings about how he wrote the majority of Lil' Wayne's blockbuster album Tha Carter II:

"I don't want to hear that you wrote the rhyme, fam! Because, listen -- if you could write the rhyme and you knew it you would have out the record out yourself. But guess what? You don't have a record deal! Guess what? Turn your pockets inside out. They're empty. OK? That whole 'I wrote the track,' 'oh, he took my beat,' 'I had that beat' ... that's not cool.' It is cool! ... You had the beat and you were wack! You're wack!"

Classic. Flex. And so true.

Somebody had to say it. Hiphop is rife with more unnecessary beef than a gay porn shoot.

Click HERE for the full audio of Flex airing these dudes out.

Curtis's Lawyer: "To My Knowledge, [50] Has No Guns"

In an interesting turn of events following the case of arson at the home of 50 Cent's ex-girlfriend and mother of his child, a temporary restraining order was issued against 50. Apparently Shaniqua, 50's ex, suspects 50 was behind her home being torched, which happened not long after 50 took legal action to have her evicted from the Long Island mansion, which he owns.

50, in turn, hit Shaniqua with a $20 million defamation lawsuit saying that she was making baseless and reckless accusations against him.

And if all that madness wasn't enough, 50 has now been ordered to turn over all his firearms to authorities while the investigation into the arson is conducted.

Strangely enough, after making a career based on guns and violence -- including the exploitation of the fact that he was shot nine times in 2000 -- 50's lawyer Brett Kimmel has surprised us all by saying that 50 has no guns to surrender!

That is amazing considering that even on his latest mixtape which came out Friday he brags about how many guns he owns and how he has mastered using them. 50 even postures up a storm with guns and bulletproof vests in his mansion's garage while filming the video for the song Funeral Music where he attacks rapper Cam'ron.

50 Wins Again! RIP to Young Buck

Thisis50 - Full Conversation Between 50 Cent And Young Buck
Uploaded by Thisis50-tv

"All is fair in love and war."

A couple of Google searches for that quote yielded the following results:

The cliché, "All is fair in love and war," implies that people can suspend the law or the rules in special circumstances.

Behavior that is unpleasant or not fair is acceptable during an argument or competition.

Personally, I agree with the quote. And obviously so does 50 Cent, who yesterday leaked a phone conversation with Young Buck that he taped unbeknown to Buck.

On that tape, Buck can be heard acknowledging to 50 that he owes 50 a lot of money and that he hadn't been doing anything at all to try to pay 50 back. At one point 50 forced Buck to admit that he had just been sitting idle in his house doing nothing to try to generate revenue -- revenue owed to 50. (On a side note, when do we finally refrain from referring to Buck's hometown as Ca$hville ever again?)

To be sure, Buck was literally whimpering to 50, claiming that he is "confused" because he wasn't sure of his role in the G-Unit army. (For the record Buck's image is still present on 50's Web site and Buck will still be featured on G-Unit's new album T.O.S. (Terminate on Sight), which comes out next month.)

To add some perspective, Buck has been running wild the last few months spewing anti-G-Unit venom for anybody who cared to listen. So 50 decided to kick Buck out of G-Unit. The public expected this to happen so it seemed like no big deal.

That is until Buck yelled "F*ck G-Unit!" on stage at a recent concert. Video footage of that show spread across the Web immediately, and I can only imagine what 50 thought when he first saw that footage.

Actually, we don't have to imagine because we already know what 50 did.

The question that everybody wants to know is which came first -- 50 taping the conversation or Buck dissing G-Unit live on stage?

To me, that question is irrelevant considering 50 Cent is Buck's boss. Regardless of what 50 may have done to or said about Buck, Buck is supposed to take it on the chin and keep grinding (pause). But for Buck to get up on stage and bite the hand that feeds/fed him is irrational at best.

So whether the crying and sobbing and whimpering came before or after has nothing to do with anything. It's the principle of the matter.

Think about it like this -- if you're having problems with your boss are you going to chide your boss in a public forum and not expect any ramifications?

Regardless 50 has been burnt in a similar fashion before with rapper The Game, and like he says on the phone call, he would only have himself to blame if he let that happen to himself for a second time.

In the day and age of the infamous Summer Jam screen, everybody needs to watch their backs and not supply the enemy with enough ammunition to ruin your career, which is exactly what I believe happened with Buck and 50.

Buck has already responded to 50 with a new song, but even if it was a Dr. Dre track with Premier scratching on the hook (alas, it is not), it's too little too late from Buck.

Industry rule # 4080, record company people are shady.

My guess is Buck was never into A Tribe Called Quest when he was growing up.

Bonus: Buck's mea culpa in the form of a song, The Taped Conversation (50 Cent Diss).

Rocsi Should be Fired!

Can you really blame 50 this time?

Of all people, the two-bit 106 & Park co-hostess proclaimed in a drunken rage that there is no competition when it comes to deciding between 50 and Kanye as to who has the hotter album.

To make matters worse, she called both 50 and his album "garbage." To be specific, she pronounced the word "gah-bidge." Even after the interviewer tried to stop Rocsi from doing further damage, Rocsi made a point to say again that 50 and his album were garbage and even went so far as to offer a chance to viewers who feel the opposite to prove it to her, and she will buy them ... (drumroll, please) a free copy of 50's album.

Brazen is not the word. Stay off the sauce, Rocsi.

50 recently responded by announcing that he knows four dudes who have banged her and calls her a "pop," which I guess is the new slang for a jumpoff.

Now, my thing is under normal circumstances in the world of broadcast media, if a host or hostess of a television show openly lambastes a celebrity that is regularly featured on the show, that host/hostess would have been disciplined in some way shape or form.

Hopefully Stephanie Hill grows some balls and morphs back into Stephen and suspends Rocsi for behavior detrimental to BET, although BET's programming deserves the same disciplinary action, as well, but I digress...