The sophmore jinx is a disease that often plagues our poor hip-hop artists.  Last year alone, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Terror Squad were afflicted, among many others who have some down with this illness recently.  Now, hip-hop's leading stereotype, 50 Cent, has to deal head on with the wall that has stopped many of his peers.  After the unbelievable success of Get Rich or Die Trying, it wouldn't be unexpected for his follow-up to face unreasonable expectations.  However, whether 50 could live up to the reasonable questions to his reign in hip-hop could only be answered by his second major label release, The Massacre.

The word previously used to explain the weight on 50's shoulders this album is a perfect definition of this album: expected.  Everything here is what level-headed viewers of Fiddy's career would have foretold: more gangsta tales, many good-to-great beats, a few spurts of brilliance, and an overall of feeling of unexceptional.  Those signs of greatness are far and few between, but they are there.  The conceptuality of "Toy Soldier" and "A Baltimore Love Thing" are signs 50 can actually write a real song instead of several great melodies and asinine lyrics.  Emotions running high on "Gunz Come Out" and "I'm Supposed to Die Tonight" reach back to similar feelings from Get Rich...'s "Heat" and "Many Men (Wish Death)", respectively.  The most memorable thing about his album is that 50's ear for hooks is still as sharp as ever, as even the horrific "Disco Inferno" and "Piggy Bank" are so inexplicably catchy, they will be sure to bounce around in any listener's head for weeks.  Then there's 50's other saving grace: his much-heralded ear for beats; "Ryder Music" and "Gatman and Robin" are up there with some of the best original tracks he's ever rhymed over.  However, while this album is not bad, it still certainly isn't very good.  That can be proven by the aforementioned "Piggy Bank", a song which such unbelievable hype that there was no way it could have ever lived up to it.  However, 50 could have at least tried instead of using about 6 bars on disses on a song that was supposed to be the next "Ether".  The singles here are worse than any he's released previously, as "Candy Shop" and "Disco Inferno" borrow so much from his previous work that it's surprising he didn't give himself sampling credit.  There are even two instances of songs using previously heard beats, as "Talk About Me" uses Ghostface's "Metal Lungies" track and "God Give Me Style" utilizes the beats of Cormega's "Glory Days"; this album just gives a bitter taste in the listener's mouth that screams, "We've heard this all before."

The Massacre is simply average.  That is the only way to put it.  It's undoubtedly not bad, and it is nowhere near good.  Maybe the hit-or-miss feeling of this album can be attributed to it's mind-boggling length (a whopping 22 tracks), but it is definitely neither the blemish that ends careers, nor is it the peak that generations will look to for generations to come.  Even 50 says it at the end of "Piggy Bank": "All that ... s**t you talkin, you gotta do somethin baby! I mean, come on, everybody listening! Everybody listening!"  Yeah 50, we are.  And we're not impressed.

iPod Worthy:  "Gunz Come Out", "Ryder Music", "Ski Mask Way", "Outta Control", "Toy Soldier"

Skip It:  "Candy Shop", "Just A Lil Bit", "Talk About Me", "Piggy Bank", "Disco Inferno"

Overall:  3 out of Six Shots

Check the official 50 Cent Massacre page here!