Before I Self Destruct is muscle-bound MC 50 Cent’s fourth record and in many ways it feels like it’s back to basics for the pistol lovin’ performer. While 07’s Curtis flirted with the mainstream by roping in the likes of Akon, Justin Timberlake and Mary J. Blige, this album retreads the bleaker but more familiar territory of guns, violence and murder. We’ll probably never know if 50 Cent made such a bloodthirsty album in a bid to rediscover his roots or if it was a knee-jerk reaction to the commercial flop of Curtis, but this writer for one is glad he’s left the pop world behind.
In essence Before I Self Destruct is 50 doing what he does best: spitting rhymes about death while backed by fresh beats and a swaggering bassline. Some of the lyrics may be a little on the obvious side but you can’t argue with the seething menace of ‘Psycho’, featuring his mate Eminem or the brooding ‘Gangsta’s Delight’ (a reworking of the Sugarhill Gang’s ‘Rapper’s Delight’). Before I Self Destruct mightn’t be 50 Cent’s best work, but it’ll help him claw back some much needed fans who felt left out in the cold by Curtis. Just don’t expect it to change your life.