Fiddy's fourth album might feature the usual big-hitters (Ne-Yo, Eminem et al), but the best songs almost sound like other rappers' cast-offs. Largely underwhelming, fairly hackneyed, but listenable nonetheless.
It doesn't bode particularly well; 50 Cent's new album was originally scheduled for a release in 2007, but was held back in favour of the underwhelming 'Curtis'. Several delays pushed back its release to various points in 2008, and it's taken up until now to get the New York rapper's fourth record on the shelves. It's not exactly confidence-inspiring.
Nonetheless, the usual suspects drop into the studio for a guest appearance - Ne-Yo, R. Kelly and Eminem all feature, while Dr. Dre takes over production duties on the pinging 'Death to My Enemies'. It's strange, then, with such a supposedly impressive cast, that 'Before I Self-Destruct' is so underwhelming.
Like many modern rap albums, it's also far too long; Kanye and Jay-Z are hailed as the best in their field because they can distil what they have to say into a relatively compact record. Not so for Jackson; most of these songs are both lacking in lyrical depth and musically humdrum. He may be calling out nemeses The Game and Young Buck on 'So Disrespectful', but he resorts to predictable cliches about guns and money in order to do so ("Come on Game, you'll never be my equal / Your homies shoot doors, my n****s shoot people"). Indeed, the best songs sound like they were written by other people. 'Stretch' riffs on the same idiosyncratic beats and vocal flow as an Eminem song, while the smooth contemporary zoom of 'Baby By Me' is almost Kanye-like.
All that said, 'Before I Self-Destruct' is not the worst hip-hop album you'll hear this year, nor is it the worst 50 Cent album. Although it's overlong and lacks a tangy superhit, it's listenable for the most part, even through the usual chest-beating bravado and streetwise swagger. Plus, he rhymes 'Al-Qaeda' with 'apple cider' at one point. Bonus points, surely?
