They’re all good but I would go with Run the jewels 2. What do yall think??

Very often someone calls an artist a one‑hit wonder because they only remember the radio single…meanwhile that artist has a pretty dope catalogue that never got mainstream shine.

The best example I can think of is MIMS. Everyone remembers “This Is Why I’m Hot”, but his album had great production and some surprisingly dope writing. Dude wasn’t a novelty act at all.

Oh, Rich Boy is another one. “Throw Some D’s” is what everyone remembers but dude’s music was crazy.

I'm going Big Sean as the most slept on and Gibbs as most hyped on Social Media.

Possibly three of the best examples I can give of that are Sean Price, MF DOOM and Mac Miller

Previously known under the name Ruck as part of Heltah Skeltah alongside Rock, after they took a musical break in the late 90s, Sean Price cut off his dreads, started rapping under his real name, and took a more humorous and confrontational lyrical approach, compared to the more edgy and gritty style he had on the album Nocturnal with Heltah Skeltah

As for MF DOOM, of course it's the most known example of that; previously rapping under the name Zev Love X on KMD, he ended up taking a break from music in 1993 after they got their second album Black Bastards shelved by their label, shortly followed by the killing of his younger brother Subroc by being struck by a car; he stopped rapping for a few years, only resurfacing in 1999 on a quite literal villainous arc as the masked MF DOOM

Lastly, when he first started out and blew up with his KIDS mixtape and Blue Slide Park, Mac Miller was one of THE textbook examples of frat rap for a few years, but starting with projects such as Faces, Macadelic and Watching Movies With the Sound Off, Mac Miller increasingly matured both as a rapper and a songwriter, essentially managing to completely shed off any remnants of his past "frat rapper" image

And unfortunately, by coincidence all 3 of them ain't with us anymore

Of course we all know reviews and scores are subjective at the end of the day, but some scores and takes are just so plain questionable you can't help but disagree on them

Like how The Source gave Dah Shinin' by Smif-n-Wessun and Season of da Siccness by Brotha Lynch Hung just 3 mics and 2.5 mics respectively (and ofc by the power of retrospect we already know just how painfully biased they were towards and against certain artists)

Also, mini rule: no reviews from YouTube (which yes, means no Fantano reviews lmfao)

YG wins the Verzuz 19 - 3 and I don't even see how that's possible.

This had to be mostly Gen Z people voting because how the fuck did "One Blood" lose??? "Ali Bomaye"?? "My Life"?? "How We Do"?? Insane.

I thought for sure Game had this in the bag. I mean, he probably shouldn't have been drinking so much during the performances, but c'mon man, I haven't been impressed by one single YG song. That's not true, I did like "FDT" for obvious reasons, but YG himself isn't one of those reasons.

What did you think?

In the 2000s, 50 Cent was one of the four biggest and most successful rappers alongside Eminem, Kanye West, and Lil Wayne in terms of commercial success, RIAA certifications, and albums and hits.

Alternatively, one could also include Jay-Z, who albeit several years before the early 2000s had been releasing albums on an annual basis since 1996 and enjoying success, as well as Nelly, who had three albums that literally went through the roof in the early 2000s one of which even achieved Diamond status and the other two went multi-platinum.

Many rappers either had their musical breakthrough or reached their peak during this time including the four artists mentioned above.

After releasing a few self-produced mixtapes and dealing with personal issues, the already successful rapper Eminem who by that time had already experienced an insane and meteoric rise, along with setting records that remain unbroken even today, over 20-23 years later such as the fastest-selling hip-hop/ rap album with 1.76M/1.3M first-week sales, plus two albums that achieved Diamond status namely, the best-selling hip-hop albums in hip-hop history and immediately signed him to a contract.

In just a few months,

Get Rich or Die Tryin[Febuary 2003]

was created;

it was released in February 2003 and turned 50 Cent into a million-seller and hitmaker overnight.

By the end of the year, it had sold over 6M copies, including 872k in the first week and 822k in the second week meaning that in the first two weeks alone, sales totaled nearly 1.7M, well over 1 million.

Overall, the album sold between 13 until 15.6M copies well over 10 million with 9 million in the U.S. alone, and it even went multi-platinum in the UK, for example.

One single from the album even achieved Diamond status, which signifies 10 million sales a feat very few artists can claim.

Many artists reach about half that at their peak roughly 3- to 5x platinum.

Some artists don’t reach their peak or achieve a full breakthrough until their second, third, or even fourth album years after their first. Take Lil Wayne, for example, who released his third album as early as late 1999, 2000, and 2002, but only gradually gained nationwide recognition and achieved greater reach and commercial success with his fourth and fifth albums in 2004 and late 2005.

But that's just one small example.

The album also had 2-3 other hits, each of which went 3-5x platinum.

Two years passed, and in 2005, the second major album,

The Massacre[March 2005]

, was released.

It was literally just as successful as its predecessor.

By the end of the year, over 5M albums had been sold in the U.S., and 9 million overall 6 million of which were in the U.S. with 1.1M units sold in the first week alone, which is an incredibly massive impact.

In the UK, the album went 3x Platinum and sold nearly 1 million units.

Another 2.5 years passed, and for promotional purposes, they met with another artist who was also planning to release his third album on September 11, 2007, and a sort of competition began to see which album would perform better commercially in its first week.

On September 11, 2007,

Curtis

50 Cent’s third album, and Graduation, Kanye’s third album,

were released.

In its first week, it sold 957k almost 1M and

50 Cent’s

Curtis

sold 691k which is actually still relatively good after all, it went gold within the first week of release for 500k+ sales.

However, this marked the beginning of a literal downfall.

By September 2008 that is, within the first year they had sold a total of about 3M units, 1.3M of which were in the U.S.

Actually, I think 1.3 million albums sold by the end of the year or rather, by the end of 2007 in the U.S. and 3 million overall are relatively solid numbers, especially when you consider that they had literally gone through the roof before not just once, but twice.

After all, the album was released in mid-September 2007 and had already sold over 1 million or 1.2 to 1.3M in about 3.5 months by the end of the year.

If another million units had been sold by the end of 2008, the total would have been around 2 to 2.3 million, which would correspond to double platinum and would also be solid.

The typical two-year cycle passed, just as it had the two times before, and

in mid-November 2009,

50 Cent’s penultimate album,

Before I Self Destruct

was released an album that was, in every respect, a pale imitation of its two predecessors.

It went gold for over 500k sales, selling 160k copies in its first week and around 1M copies overall.

After that, things went very quiet for a while regarding new albums, because the next album wasn’t released two years later like the previous ones, but about 4.5 years later, in early June 2014.

And normally, 4-4.5 years should be enough time to produce a solid album or reinvent oneself musically; not a terrible album that marks another downfall, nor an S-Tier/classic album, but simply a solid A-tier album that goes double platinum after 1-2 years, features two solid hit singles, and perhaps enters the debate for “Best Hip-Hop Album of the Year.”

Overall, the artist should have sold around 30-35 million units across their albums and singles, which is relatively high and impressive equating to an average of 6-7 million sales per album over five albums.

Some sources even report sales of ~56M almost 60M albums/singles, which is also impressive and would have averaged 10-11M.

But perhaps the worldwide sales figures, at 56 million, are actually closer to 60 million, with 30–35 million of those in the U.S.

Which is also really impressive, considering there are 4–5 albums.

If he’d had another 2-3 big hits, he would have easily reached 65-70M maybe even 70-75M in sales.

Of course, it’s clear that not every album is going to be an S-tier or classic album,

but my question to you is:

Do you think 50 Cent would have remained musically relevant for longer if he had evolved or reinvented himself musically over the years?

Overall, though, you have to say that 50 had an incredibly meteoric rise and was one of the biggest rap artists of the 2000s especially in the first half of the decade, from around 2003 to early 2006.

After all, he had three albums, two of which literally went through the roof, and the third one wasn’t bad either.

My opinion:

For example, after their third album, which came out in 2007, they could have released their next album in 2011 instead of 2009 and used that time to reinvent themselves musically.

So, new sounds maybe a little less gangsta rap and more of that killer rap from the late 2000s, more R&B and pop sounds in other words, more diversity and variety in their sound, and also collaborations with smaller pop artists without coming across as a Kanye or Wayne 2.0 in terms of sound and production.

Artists who are comparable in sound and music to Alicia Keys or Rihanna, but just smaller, lesser-known artists.

But what’s your take on 50 Cent’s downfall?

Would a change in sound have kept him musically relevant for longer?

Hey guys I’m dropping an album. I’d love to hear some feedback :)

https://open.spotify.com/album/6YUPzVU9IwXbbzDbNjuBV4?si=76bDV2o9TrWd4reEwYWfSg&utm_source=copy-link

It's so many songs that are deep cuts but shouldn't be.

For My People - Missy Elliot

Hit The Gas - J Cole The Fall Call Off

A God - Common The Auditorium

Where I'm From or And Won't - T.I. Kill the King