4. 50 Cent – The Massacre
Release Date: March 3, 2005
The Massacre was 50 Cent‘s second straight album to debut at number one on the Billboard Hot 200 chart following his unquestioned classic Get Rich Or Die Tryin’. It was nominated for a Grammy for Best Rap Album but lost out to Kanye West‘s Late Registration. Losing to Kanye West will be a continuing trend for the G-Unit general. The album went onto sell 1.14 million copies and is the second most first week sales for a hiphop album, behind former label-mate Eminem (The Marshall Mathers LP). Street records are a staple of G-Unit’s sound and The Massacre included classic records such as “Postion of Power,” “In My Hood,” and “Ryder Music,” which are all head-nodders still till this day. 50 Cents spits on the afromentioned “Ryder Music” song that, “I read somewhere, I’m homophobic sh*t/ Go Through The Hood, It’s Mad N****s On My Dick.” At that point and time in his career, he wasn’t lying. The Massacre was also 50 Cent’s intro to doing pop records (“Just A Lil Bit”, “So Amazing.”) Though he has garnered commercial success from doing more radio friendly records, it has taken away from his gangster persona over the years.
