Whether he's deserving of it or not, 50 Cent is, at the moment anyway, easily the hottest hip-hop star this side of Slim Shady. Despite a mediocre major label debut in Get Rich Or Die Tryin', it's sold by the bucketloads, and naturally the millions who've bought into the 50 Cent philosophy want more music and information about the former Queens hustler. For those folks, Shady/Aftermath has quickly released 50 Cent's first stand-alone DVD (there was a limited edition DVD with 50's album, but it was in very limited quantities so only a few actually got it, including myself), aptly titled The New Breed. Clocking in at about 2 hours with quite a wide array of content, along with a bonus music CD, it's certainly an ambitious documentary/video collection. 50 fans will eat this up, and even those who didn't much care for his record might like it too, as it's quite interesting material.
Essentially, the DVD is split into 4 different sections. The first one features a pair of documentaries; one tells about the life of 50 Cent, discussing (in light detail) a lot of 50's musical situations, such as his being shot up before shooting a video for "Thug Love" with Destiny's Child for his unreleased Power of the Dollar record, then being dropped. It's rather short, at around 20 minutes long - but it's made up for with a nice widescreen presentation for videophiles, and it's quite interesting to see 50 portrayed as a pretty nice guy despite all his past situations.
The other half is a short interview with G-Unit member Tony Yayo, conducted in prison, where Yayo is serving a gun-possession related sentence. There's a load of "Free Yayo" propaganda thrown around in this segment and to be honest the interview is rather dry and worthless; just a vein of pimping out the G-Unit album coming later this year when Yayo (I keep missing the second Y, so hopefully I haven't been calling him Yao and reenacting the Yo/Yao Visa commercial this whole time!) esca...I mean is released from jail.
From here there's a nice selection of music videos, and naturally, a documentary about the making of the videos. Given that I don't watch music-video stations anymore (not that music video stations play music anymore, or anything), watching the videos for "Wanksta", "In Da Club", and "Heat" were fresh viewings for me. As much as I can't stand the actual song "Wanksta" the video is funny, featuring 50's son playing with a "wanksta" doll (a not so subtle nod to people who refer to Ja Foo...err Rule as an action figure version of 2Pac?). "In Da Club" is quite cool too, presented in widescreen and featuring Eminem and Dr. Dre overseeing the "creation" of 50 Cent; which is disturbing because 50 really does seem like another manufactured creation. Creepy. The final video, "Heat" is split into 2 editions; the "Street Edition" is a bit too intense for TV, apparently. The other version is likely to interest gamers, as it's a blatant takeoff of the Grand Theft Auto games, with an animated world and 50 rapping inside this world, while a couple dimwitted gamers (playing an Xbox, by the way - would it be cynical to ask how much cash Microsoft paid to feature an Xbox playing a GTA takeoff?) try to kill off some notorious thugs. It's a pretty amusing video, actually, though only presented in fullscreen like "Wanksta."
My only complaint about the video section involves edits; while there's a nice fat PA label on the case, the 50 videos are actually censored where they would be on television. I ask, why? It's supposed to be an uncensored/unedited version (a clean version is coming soon, apparently), so why not turn off the edited bits?
The best part of the DVD is easily the concert footage - recorded in February of this year in Eminem's hometown of Detroit. In front of a red-hot crowd of fans, this concert is actually quite cool to watch, though only 7 songs are picked off the concert - and not all of them are 50 Cent - the Obie Trice/50/Eminem track "Love Me" is performed, as well as D12, who perform "Rap Game", both from the 8 Mile soundtrack. The other 5 are off 50's record, though, including "In Da Club" and "Patiently Waiting." The Shady/Aftermath troupe really had fun on this one and it showed in the performances. Sprinkled around the concert footage is some behind-the-scenes stuff, with 50 at the local radio station answering questions from listeners, and a hilarious gag on the bellboy at a local hotel, with some other stuff too. No doubt, this is the strongest section of the disc.
The final DVD section is just some bonus material, featuring 50 and G-Unit, performing "Sessions @ AOL", on an online performance, I take it. The quality isn't really hot, though it's more about watching the guys rap and dance around while they're performing. Definitely, it's "just for die-hard fans" material, so I really didn't pay much attention to it. There's also a trailer for the 8 Mile DVD, if you haven't seen it yet.
As mentioned, The New Breed also comes with a CD of new 50 Cent music. It's only 3 songs, but somehow the 3 songs included are actually pretty decent. 2 of the 3 are actually G-Unit songs - "True Loyalty", discussing thug life, is a worthwhile listen, and "Eight Mile Road (G-Unit Remix) cops off Eminem's version from the 8 Mile soundtrack - though it's produced by Eminem himself, so it's not really a cop off. This song is only decent, saved by the great beats. The final song included is "In Da Hood", produced by Dre and starring Brooklyn who sings the hook and does a bit of rapping herself. 2 out of 3 ain't bad, as this final song on the CD is another decent, listenable cut, with Dre's production work shining through.
The Bottom Line
The New Breed is a fairly informative DVD on 50 Cent. It mentions how he left the gangster drug business to rap, and his first hip hop producers. He was also in the underground, a major part of why he is successful. It depicts how he was shot and he shows the wounds. The DVD also describes how he was dropped of Columbia records in 2000, and later created a buzz in New York with no major record label backing him up. The DVD also has concert performances and a couple of music videos. If you don't understand why he calls himself 50 Cent, the DVD will explain it for you. 50 Cent does describe some of his struggles, but the DVD would have been much better if it was more like a documentary. the downfall of it is that it doesn't describe his past well enough, or how important being in the hip hop underground was. Overall it's a fairly good DVD on 50, and he is shaped to be one those legendary artists like Biggie and Tupac. he is hip hop to the core, and that's why he has respect from the Rolling Stone.
THIS DVD IS BASICALLY A COLLECTION OF MUSIC VIDEOS AND LIVE PERFORMANCES WITH A BRIEF DOCUMENTARY THROWN IN AT THE BEGINNING. THE DOCUMENTARY ACTUALLY GIVES LITTLE INSIGHT INTO 50'S LIFE. IT'S THE MUSIC THAT MAKES THIS DVD GOOD. THERE ARE 2 UNRELEASED VIDEOS FOR ''HEAT'' ON THIS DVD. THE DVD ALSO HAS THE VIDEOS FOR ''WANKSTA'' AND ''IN THE CLUB''. ANOTHER THING TO CHECK OUT ARE THE LIVE PERFORMANCES WHICH ARE ENTERTAINING. THERE'S ALSO A BONUS CD THAT HAS 3 SONGS ON IT. THE SUPRISING THING ABOUT THE CD IS THAT IT TENDS TO FOCUS A LITTLE LESS ON 50 AND A LITTLE MORE ON HIS G-UNIT ROSTER. THE BEST SONG ON THAT CD IS THE G-UNIT REMIX TO ''8 MILE ROAD''. THIS WAS A LOT BETTER THAN MOST OF THE OTHER DVDS THAT WERE RELEASED BY RAPPERS THIS YEAR. IT'S WORTH BUYING. G-G-G-G G-UNIT!
50 cent is off the chain and his doing it in the "03". He has unbelieveable skills and his only going to get better with time. And now Beg for Mercy is out and with Lloyd Banks, Young Buck and Yayo, they are all showing off some of the skills they have. These young gifeted rappers will be around for a long time, I know I will always be bumping their music in my cd player. They are whats hot this year and they cant be stopped by no one. They give you sounds you can really dig and the lyrics with the music is even better, so if you want so truth some real music to listen too, go out and buy everything 50 cent has came out with. Beg for Mercy if you dont have that yet go get it, cause you are missing out big time. But 50 cent, Lloyd Banks, Young Buck, and Yayo is doing the damn thing. They puttin it down and giving you all kinds of flava. So dont miss out on anything these young talented rappers come out with and if you do its your lost.
Like I said before anything with 50 is on point! the documentary is hot, the music is hot....for get about it !! buy this, you'll love it.
