Even G-Unit Fans Think 50 Cent’s Fallen Off Posted by Nathan S. on 05/05/11 | Filed under Top Stories, Features, 50 Cent

(Editor's Note: When you run a site like RefinedHype you get a lot of emails - some of them balls crazy, some of them dope - and the one below thankfully falls into the later category. Completely unprompted Adam Takacs, one of RefinedHype Nation's Hungarian representatives, sent over a more than 2,000 word break down of why he was once the world's biggest G-Unit fan, and isn't anymore. People who care that much about hip-hop are always welcome on these pages, and since we've been discussing the fall of one Mr. Cent quite a bit lately, I thought I'd reprint his email below. Enjoy.)

I have always wanted to write down my memories about the days when hip hop became my favorite music genre. It was in 2006, and i was 16 years old. I have listened some Eminem when i was about 12 year old – i have bought the Eminem Show casette. Damn, it is nice to reminisce about those Walkman years - but back then i did not speak english, because i live in Hungary – it is in Europe - , and without understanding the lyrics, i could not burrow into the art of rap. So my style changed, for a while i was listening to dance and house music, like a lot of young people do in this country. But when i got into high school, i have started to learn the language, and in my second year, i clicked on a youtube link which was posted by my friend on iWiW, and with this click – i did not know back then, of course – i sealed my fate. It was Poppin’ Them Thangs by G-Unit, from their first CD, Beg for Mercy. I fell in love with the beat – even though it is nothing close to a Kanye beat, but i did not even heard about Mr. West back then - the flow of the rappers, and the lyrics. Comparing to a house track it was so much more motivational.



I started to do my little research with the help of Wikipedia, and i realized i had a lot to catch up. I got the CD – Beg of Mercy – among with the debut CD’s of Lloyd Banks – The Hunger for more – 50 Cent – Get Rich or Die Tryin’, and Tony Yayo – Thoughts of a predicate Fellon.

Of course i got hooked on their music. As my english improved i started to fell in love more and more into hiphop. I translated almost every song, with the help of an online hungarian – english dictionary, but as we know, there are a „few” words in these tracks which cant be found in traditional dictionaries, so i took some help from my best friend – his name is Google! (Sorry for this line, i am really not this geek J ) For example , if i did not know what llama mean in urban term, i typed in „what does llama mean?”. I always got my answer, but after a while i found urbandictionary.com, so i started to really understand the lyrics. Of course i was learning more and more about hip hop, and started to listen to other rappers too, but G-Unit was my favorite, and they was my first hip hop love, and you know that the first is the most special.

And now, let me point out why i am writing this article. The leader of the Unit, the legendary Fifty Cent, whoeven my mother knows – really – had 3 amazing albums, specially his first was extraordinary, and became a millionaire. He starred in a movie about his own life, he bought Mike Tysons house, he appeared in commercials, made a fortune off Vitamin Water, had a lot of hits which made the people crazy if they heard it in the club. Oh yeah, i remember when i was in one (People here are allowed to go to clubs from their 15th birthday, there are certain clubs where the average attendance is around 17, and even though alcohol is only legal here from the age of 18, it isn’t the crowd which makes the people dizzy. ) and i heard the beginning vocals of Just a Lil Bit, i felt like the biggest pimp, and got myself a dance slash kiss partner. ( Back then that was the way to be a man. Horrible. ) But nowadays, - let me jump a giant step on memory lane- , in the latest few months 50 cent put out so poor products, when i see that he released a new song, i do not even listen to him anymore. The notorious (in a bad way) track with Soulja Boy, and the horrible lyrics of Fifty destroys me. I have to admit, Fiddy never was a lyricist, but he has been in the rapgame for 10 years soon, and he uses the still rhymes in every song. I am not expecting him to be a Lupe, or Talib Kweli, but if he can not show anything new, at least he could pay some money to song writers, (not Soulja boy J ) i think it would be a better way to spend that vitamin water money than blowing it on dom perignons while partying with Paris Hilton and other white … well, lets call them celebs, but i am pretty sure you know which word i wanted to type in.

So Fifty is horrible.

Lets take a look at the other members career. I liked Yayo – i think his solo CD had a few nice tracks, and even though people always say he is lame, he had nicer lines than Fifty himself. I remember his line from the good old Bump Dat street mix : I gotta half a mil deal with no diploma, Ice so blind it give your ass glaucoma! You got to agree with me, street wise it is a dope line ! Or, another example he killed the last track on G-Units second CD – Terminate on Sight - , Money makes the world go Around. J - but after T.O.S. the Unit slowly stopped to put out materials as a group, and all of Yayos solo work were fails. So two out of 5 G-Unit rappers fell back heavily.

Young Buck is the third, even though he is only an ex member of the group, because 50 kicked him out. To tell you the truth, i never was a fan of Buck. He did not have that kind of lyricism which could wake up my attention. Maybe im the only one, but i liked Yayos Cd more than any of the two cds of Young Buck. After his CD’s, all he did was diss track releases towards G-Unit, and to this present day, even though he released his third CD, The Rehab, it was a fail, so he couldn’t manage his comeback.

The forth rapper, and my second favorite of the group is The Game. Of course, even my grandmother knows, - of course she doesn’t, but it sounds nice, Fabolous voice J - he is only an ex member, after the mammoth beef against him and G-Unit. Im not here to write about the controversy, lets talk about Games career. I think he is a much better lyricist than 50, his flow is the best of the Unit, but he fell of too. He had 3 amazing CD’s, one with the help of the Unit (The Documentary) and another two without them (Doctor’s Advocate and L.A.X.), but lately his fourth CD’s, R.E.D.’s release date is always pushed back, - its soon has the same story as Dr Dres Detox -And Game failed to reach the billboards with any of his latest singles. I still have faith in the man, and even tough he had a beef with my back then favorite band, i continued to listen to him, because i listen to a rapper if i like him, not if they are friend with my another favorite emcee. Sorry Spider Loc.

And the last member, my most favorite, he is in my top 3 of all rappers – Lloyd Banks. Some of them worship him like me, some of think he isn’t special at all. Well, i got to admit, his studio CD’s weren’t that perfect. Hunger for More has some tracks which always will be legen – wait for it – dary, (sorry, im a Barney Stinson fan) Rotten Apple was much more grimier, but i still preferred it more. It didn’t really had any commercial succes, but Banks stepped up his lyrics game, and almost every song of the CD is great. But it wasn’t the kind of music which the most people of the world wanted to buy. Then after a long years, for my greatest happiness, he released Hunger for More 2, which featured a lot of my well-liked rappers. For example, Styles P, Pusha T, Kanye West, Fabolous. Before the release of the CD, he gave us new tracks every week, which was called Blue Fridays, and every track took my breath away, and i really believed H.F.M. 2 will be the best rap album of the universe for me. But it isn’t. It’s nice, i have to say, but Banks doesn’t really show us on the CD that he is the Punchline King. He is often outshined by the featuring emcees. Blue Fridays were better than the CD. But some of the tracks of H.F.M. 2 are still in my playlist of course. But back to the problem, it can be seen in the whole career of Banks – he is a mixtape artist. He shines on the mixtapes, he has the best punchlines, the best flow, but on commercial CD’s he is only average. I think it is because he wants to be radio friendly , but it just doesn’t fit him. His voice (sponsored by weed) demands grimy style! He is still my favorite though, and i can’t wait for his new mixtape.

So it was a short overlook. But lets summarize the career of each and every member:

50 Cent : He became a millionaire, had a legendary CD ( Get Rich or Die Tryin’), The Massacre and Curtis was nice, but Before I self destruct was horrible in my opinion. Since that, he has tried everything to comeback, street raps to dance tracks on David Guetta beat.. Snow shoveling to horrible movies, but he just cant find himself.

Tony Yayo: A pretty nice debut CD, some above the average verses on T.O.S., but he remained the laughingstock of G-Unit in most of the people eyes. Ever since T.O.S. he did not do anything decent.

Lloyd Banks: 3 CD’s, which were critically acclaimed, but expect his first, weren’t financial success. However, he has street creditability because of his mixtapes. Those tracks where he shows his real self. I think he is the best member of the Unit, and he is improving himself all the time. He is even in Kanye’s top5 J

Ex Members:

Young Buck: He Released two CD’s, (i dont know if i should count The Rehab?) Straight Outta Cashville (shame, but i had to google it up) and Buck the world. He was kicked out of G-Unit, and ever since he couldn’t manage to have a decent single career. When Fifty didn’t let him go from his contract, he said The Rehab will sell one million records, so he will buy himself out. After two years of his promise, he released Rehab, without any features, and it was only bought 6400 times.

The Game: The Documentary, Doctor’s Advocate, L.A.X. were all financial successes, some people think his third CD wasn’t that perfect like the previous two, but i like it as much as the first and the second. Unlike Young Buck, The Game had a huge single career, maybe huger than he could achieve as a member of the Unit. Nowadays, he is trying to release the R.E.D album, which is pushed back all the time. I have high hopes for the album, because his mixtapes are valuable. But sometimes he puts out horrible tracks, (Yesterday ft Ray J for example. Yes, the dude who showed the world how he nailed Kim Kardashian J ) so i don’t know what will we get.

Got to tell you, i dont know if i want the three remained member of the Unit to make another album. Their last song, Where the Dope at was below average. I think after Beg for Mercy they ruled the rapgame, 50 was one of the most popular guys in the hiphop scene, so his group too. They must have made a lot of money off their clothing line, video games, and of course shows and CD’s. But i think their shines is over, and the only one who is still a favorite of mine is Banks. He is the only of the Unit who can put out tracks which are decent nowadays.

You know, in 2010 september i went to university to another city. I bought a notebook, because i didn’t want to transport my PC. As i was copying music from the PC to the laptop, i realized i skipped the G-Unit albums, except Banks. I started to reminisce, how they made me a rapfan, but that is the past. I scrolled away, and clicked on some Lupe, Clipse, some Kanye, some Jadakiss, Slaughterhouse, Fabolous, and of course some Dipset. I think it’s natural, that my musical taste has changed over the years, but i am pretty sure, if i will have an eightysecond birthday, i will be on my Chris Rock, so i still will listen to rapmusic! And not Lil B, thats for sure.

Thank you for your reading. Sorry for any language faults, i am still learning it.