50 Cent - War Angel LP Review

Posted by Michael James on 06.19.2009

Is 50 Cent back with the feel good hit of the summer?

Track Listing:
1. I Line Ni**as
2. Talking in Codes
3. OK, Ya Right
4. Redrum (Murder)
5. C.R.E.A.M. 2009
6. I’ll Do Anything
7. London Girl
8. Better Come on Your A Game
9. Get the Message
10. Cocaine (feat. Robin Thicke)
11. I Gotta Win
12. Mixtape Outro


Critical backlash be damned, I have always enjoyed 50 Cent. During the 2007 face-off with Kanye, I actually preferred Curtis to Kanye’s Graduation . Yet, 50’s new mixtape album War Angel LP , combined with 2008’s horrible G-Unit album, Terminate on Sight , has me convinced that 50 is tapped out: nothing new to say, and no new way to say it.

Now few and far between is the artist who consistently manages to explore new topics; every rapper has their fallbacks, the tried and true crowd pleasers. Eminem falls back to cartoon violence and sensationalism; LL Cool J has focused on the women, while mixing in the occasional banger to keep the streets on their toes. Similarly, 50 Cent is and has always portrayed himself as a cold killer with nerves of steel. However, 50 lacks the one thing that has allowed other MCs to maintain true longevity: the creativity to flip familiar topics in a way that keeps them fresh.

War Angel makes it clear that 50 Cent has either lost the motivation to craft creative lyrics, or simply run out of things to say. Where the best hip-hop provides colorful editorial, War Angel gives you nothing but the facts. Case in point, the album’s first track, “I Line Ni**as” is entirely literal, with uninspiring lyrics like: “I wipeout where your nanna stay/My man blew your many away/Did ‘em dirty and ran away/Who’s the next candidate?/They get with the cannon ay."

50 says it best himself on “Get the Message,” rapping that “I tried, I can’t change, I’ll always be the same.” The entire album features not one “rewindable” lyric; instead tracks like “Talking in Codes” and “Better Come on Your A Game” all blend together, with generic production and predictable lyrics of murder, mayhem and misogyny.

With one notable exception, which I’ll get to in a few paragraphs, War Angel only manages to distinguish itself when it goes horribly awry: “London Girl” has 50 adopting a faint British accent and singing the praises of an overseas honey that turns him into, and I quote, a “horny dog.” My only explanation is that 50 still isn’t done antagonizing Kanye, and wants to be Estelle’s new “American Boy.”

However, there is no explanation for the completely unnecessary “C.R.E.A.M. 2009,” which borrows the hook from the Wu-Tang classic and flips it for the worse: “Cash rules how people shoot around Me, Queens get the money, I’ll have a ni**a killed y’all.” Setting aside 50’s obviously spelling failings, certain songs are so powerful and essentially perfect, that they are best left alone.

Case in point:



As I mentioned, War Angel ’s lone bright spot features the only guest vocalist on the album. “Cocaine” uses an extended sample from Robin Thicke’s track of the same name off of 2007’s The Evolution of Robin Thicke. 50 softens his voice and perfectly compliments the sultry funk of the track. While he does his best to ruin it with his own singing, the track is a breath of fresh air among the stale and uninspired.

The rest of the tracks are timeless in the worst way possible; each track could be an indistinguishable castaway from long forgotten recording sessions. There is no evolution to 50 Cent’s style or subject matter; as a result references to Twitter (“Talking in Codes”) or bloggers (“I Gotta Win”) seem jarringly forced and out of place. Likewise, when 50 lashes out at “autotune” or “hipster rappers,” it feels like he’s merely reading from a hip-hop teleprompter.

In recent interviews 50 Cent has touted War Angel as perfect summer time listening. Maybe he’s on to something; after all, New York has had the coldest and dreariest June on record. But July is right around the corner— let’s keep our fingers crossed that a flip of the calendar brings warm weather and a soundtrack to go with it.

If you’re like me, most of your music ends up in an endless .mp3 “shuffle.” In order to preserve your valuable disk space, here’s what’s Ipod-worthy off War Angel :

Ipod-worthy: “Cocaine (feat. Robin Thicke)”

The 411: Aside from “Cocaine,” the album is generic, uncreative and repetitive. I am actually less interested in hearing Before I Self Destruct than I was a week ago. Clearly not 50’s desired effect, but there is simply nothing here that he hasn’t said before.

Final Score:  2.5   [ Very Bad ]