50 Cent, 'Before I Self-Destruct'

Release date: November 16, 2009
Record label: G-unit/Interscope
Official Web site: http://www.50cent.com/

The buzz: Curtis Jackson’s fourth album was long delayed, and then rushed out several months before the expected 2010 release date amid piracy concerns. He’s threatening to retire, but we’ve heard that from major rappers before.

The verdict: Fiddy mostly eschews the flashy and sexually suggestive for-the-ladies songs from his recent past in favor of a return to a glorification of guns and triple beams; the single “Baby by Me” with Ne-Yo is the notable, satisfying exception, while “Do You Think About Me” and “Could’ve Been You” with R. Kelly amount to little more than female-friendly filler. Sometimes, as on “Stretch,” the grittiness and edge are impressive, but it becomes self-parody by the time “Gangsta’s Delight,” a take on the Sugarhill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight,” dissolves in a sea of violent clichés.

Did you know? After this album, he’s only contractually obligated to produce a greatest hits collection for Interscope, which has led to speculation that this really could be the last new music Jackson releases under the 50 Cent moniker.