When 50 Cent says that his fifth and latest album, Animal Ambition, is "about prosperity," I worry. Some rappers are all about excess, all the time, and their Black Card braggadocio celebrates rags-to-riches as a sort of absurdity, e.g., “Nigga, we made it!” With the legitimately entrepreneurial 50 Cent, however, a five-star sort of hotel lobby boredom comes to mind. Curtis Jackson is no Sean John. There’s little mysticism to his mythology, and whatever excess and vice 50’s indulging is quiet as kept. We’re ever left wondering what, exactly, passes for edge in the life of an increasingly mediagenic superhero who’s more so Bruce Wayne than Gatman these days.
Five years after his last album, Before I Self-Destruct, met a drought of interest from fans and critics alike, 50’s been renewing his influence via collaborations with SchoolBoy Q, Kendrick Lamar, J. Cole, Lil Boosie, and Fabolous. Yet Ambition seems a product of seclusion, insularity, safety. As Ambition’s subtitle, "An Untamed Desire to Win," isn't quite right—without doubt or question, Ambition is the tamest disc of 50's catalogue, one upshot being that it’s less anti-social than Self-Destruct, which, for sure, is a risky turn for a 50 Cent album.
Overall, “Ambition” clicks where the beats and rhyme styles are least contemporary—“Hold On,” “Irregular Heartbeat,” and the album’s title track. The soiree swag of “Hustler” is optimistic punctuation that Self-Destruct lacked, but then “Hustler” is a tasty shot that comes with two too many champagne chasers (“Twisted,” “Winners Circle”). “Hold On” is a strong start, but ultimately there’s nothing quite like the sneer and shit-talk of “This Is Murder Not Music,” an early promo cut that’s sorely missing from Ambition’s 38 minutes. The result is a decent listen—better than most of us were predicting, among the few of us who cared to begin with—but Ambition isn’t quite essential, nor (thankfully) is it the last we’ll hear from 50 Cent in 2014.
Marketing wunderthug that he is, 50’s already teasing signs of creative life beyond “Ambition.” The chaotic reunion of G-Unit at Summer Jam in New Jersey last weekend was but a preview, it seems, of a remix spree from the group, maybe even a new G-Unit album. Buck was telegraphing hints of such a reconciliation as early as January, dropping next-day freestyles over 50’s earliest leaks from the recording sessions for Ambition. 50 had long left Buck for dead, despite Buck’s humiliating pleas for mercy. Banks was bubbling for a New York minute back in 2013, even as 50 swore that Banks and Yayo were lounging out, too lazy to make moves without instructions from the general, who’d also abandoned Shady/Aftermath in February. 50 Cent had gone rogue.
Within a few days of 50’s headline set at Summer Jam, the reunified G-Unit dropped remixes to Drake’s “0-100” and Hit-Boy’s “Grindin’ My Whole Life,” accompanied by 50’s solo remix of “Cuffin’ Season,” which Fabolous debuted at Summer Jam this past weekend. Just 24 hours after the official release of Animal Ambition, 50’s two solo projects are suddenly overshadowed by the promise of a G-Unit studio reunion. The fans demand it, and so 50 Cent stands to profit.
It was Get Rich Or Die Tryin’ that launched 50 Cent’s stardom in 2003, but in the years before and after, G-Unit shined as a collaborative enterprise. From “Bad News” and G-Unit’s debut via rap’s greatest mixtape, 50 Cent is the Future, through 50’s run of post-Get Rich hits, including “On Fire” and “Hate It Or Love It,” it’s been clear all along that 50 Cent is at his best when holding court with his crew. The drama of G-Unit Radio, G-Unit vs. Game, G-Unit vs. Olivia, 50 Cent vs. everyone including his own bandmates is all a part of the show.
In a feature profile from this month’s GQ, reporter Zach Baron sketches 50 Cent as a solo mogul who’s estranged from associates, friends, family, and even his son. But at Summer Jam just this past weekend, the audience caught a long, raucous glimpse of 50 Cent in the element where he functions best: onstage, a headliner flanked by the fellow knuckleheads of his childhood plus an enthusiastically employed Young Buck, all performing while several anonymously gruff G-Unit associates roughed some poor soul for his chain behind the curtain. That’s a G-Unit production if there ever was one.
50’s been scheming for a while now. Lately, his Instagram taunts of Puffy and former nemesis Rick Ross. His baiting Steve Stoute throughout the promo tour for Animal Ambition. His cheeky commentary on Jay vs. Solange and T.I. vs. Mayweather. All 50’s tendencies considered, the unexpected reunification of G-Unit is a classic 50 move—he is, after all, hip hop’s burliest, surliest troll. Given the late resurgence of street rap and hip hop crews, just the spectacle of the stick-up kids getting back together is as captivating as ever.
G-Unit, assembled, will play a post-inning set at Mets Stadium in June, perhaps to preview their new album. Mind you, 50’s Street King Immortal solo LP is also due out by year’s end. For now, even without smashes to match the immortality of “In Da Club” or “I Get Money,” 50 may well bully his way back into relevance and mixtape rotation, much as Dipset is just about ready to give the game another go. And Lord knows if those two camps get to beefing again, well, maybe Animal Ambition will mark the late season renewal of a beautiful, lucrative drama starring 50 Cent & Friends.
RELATED: The 50 Best 50 Cent Songs
RELATED: 50 Things You Didn't Know About 50 Cent
