The Massacre by 50 Cent
The Massacre is the second studio album by American rapper 50 Cent, released March 3, 2005 on Aftermath Entertainment and Interscope Records in the United States. Its initially planned release was pushed five days ahead to avoid Internet leakage. The album debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart, selling over 1.14 million copies in its first week. Upon its release, The Massacre received generally positive reviews from most music critics. It was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rap Album, losing to Kanye West's Late Registration at the 48th Grammy Awards. The Massacre has a music video for every track on the special edition version of the album. The original title for the album was St. Valentine's Day Massacre and was arranged to be released on February 14, 2005, but was postponed and the album's title was shortened to The Massacre. The album was also released in a "censored" version that censors out most profanity, violence, and all drug content. "Gunz Come Out" has inconsistency in the editing, and contains some profanity. This album wasn't as heavily censored as Get Rich or Die Tryin', but it is still a very highly censored album ranking in severity with albums such as Tony Yayo's Thoughts of a Predicate Felon and Nas' Stillmatic.
After <i>Get Rich or Die Tryin’</i>, 50 Cent was invincible. He’d made good on all the hype he’d earned by way of an extensive mixtape discography and released one of the most impactful debut hip-hop albums in history. So <i>The Massacre</i>—his follow-up to <i>Get Rich</i>—was the product of a man who’d suddenly gotten everything he wanted. He utilised all of the tools at his disposal—most specifically the talents and curatorial insights of Eminem and Dr. Dre—to make a bigger sequel, and the music has a sheen we see exemplified on <i>The Massacre</i>’s cover: The domineering Jamaica, Queens, street bully who continuously backed challengers off his corner is very much still here, except now he seems even stronger.<br /> To introduce <i>The Massacre</i>, he released upbeat singles like “Disco Inferno”, “Candy Shop” and “Just a Lil Bit”, understandably entranced by the crossover success of “In da Club”. But songs like “In My Hood” and “Gunz Come Out” are likely to go down as some of the hardest songs in his catalogue. Which is not to mention “Piggy Bank”, where 50 calls out crosstown rivals Fat Joe, Jadakiss, Shyne and Nas by name. And then there are ultra-smooth inclusions like “Ryder Music” and “God Gave Me Style”. 50 had it all on <i>The Massacre</i>, and he didn’t spare any of it in constructing the project’s 22 tracks. If we were to believe that “Many Men” wished death upon him as he claimed on <i>Get Rich or Die Tryin’</i>, then <i>The Massacre</i> was sweet revenge realised, 50 assuring everyone that he planned to live well for years to come.
