G-Unit:
Beg For Mercy

Release Date: 17 November 2003

Reviewed By: Usman Sajjad

1. G-Unit

2. Poppin' Them Thangs

3. My Buddy

4. I'm So Hood

5. Stunt 101

6. Wanna Get To Know You

7. Groupie Love

8. Betta Ask Somebody

9. Foot Prints

10. Eye For Eye

11. Smile

12. Baby U Got

13. Salute U

14. Beg For Mercy

15. G'd Up

16. Lay You Down

17. Gangsta S**t

18. I Smell Pu**y

N.E.R.D. - Fly Or Die
Read Review

After the summer success for the mixtape breakthrough artist, 50 Cent is back with his group G-Unit, consisting of long time friends Tony Yayo, (currently in prison for breaking his parole terms), Lloyd Banks, and Young Buck, who formerly used to hang with Juvenile from Cash Money Records. The album features 18 tracks, and producers on the album include the ever-famous Dr Dre and Eminem, DJ Red Syda (G-Unit’s DJ), Hi-Tek, and Sha XL, plus a host of other producers.

The catchy ‘Stunt 101’, the first single released from the album, is produced by D12’s Denaun Porter, better known as Kuniva, who increases his list of production credits after producing a few of 50’s earlier hits such as ‘P.I.M.P.’ The gun rap of ’My Buddy’, contains elements of the famous gangster movie ‘Scarface’, and shows Lloyd Banks’ lyrical abilities at its best.

The serious outlook on G-Unit’s ‘gangster ‘image’ is shown on the record and in the video to their second release, ‘Poppin' Them Thangs’. Young Buck’s lyrics and dirty south flow stand out the most in this record, which come In the last 16 bars or so: “Look at the paper, look at the news/ We on the front pages/ Yeah we in the Bahamas with them thangs on the stage.”

The first guest appearance is made by R&B artist Joe, who adds his smooth vocals to a slower track, ‘Wanna Get To Know You’, where Young Buck again outshines the other G-Unit members, especially 50 Cent, whom I feel rhymes the weakest.

Young Buck’s solo effort, ‘Footprints’, is a superb effort, as is Lloyd Banks solo track ‘Smile’, a harder version of ’21 Questions’, which shows a soulful, cocky side to Banks. Both their efforts combine on ‘Salute U’, where the they show their loyalty to ‘the General’, whom I presume is 50, showing that the ‘In Da Club’ star is not needed to raise the standards of the record.

From there, the album begins to go downhill as records such as ‘Betta Ask Somebody’ and ‘Lay You Down’ are poorly structured and contain weak lyrics, in another attempt by 50 to convey his image of a ‘hard’ thug, making me want to reach for the ‘skip forward’ button.

However, 50 Cent makes up for his somewhat “lazier” rhymes on the track ‘Groupie Love’, co-produced by D12’s Swift. This has a brilliant rhythm, and 50 rhymes to the fullest, with Tony Yayo adding his long-awaited rap in the second verse.

The album is impressive and some tracks will blow you away, like the introduction of Lloyd Banks and Young Buck. Even though there is less of Tony Yayo, which I was disappointed at, I still feel his presence on ‘Groupie Love’ was amazing.

However, I find it deeply irritating that 50 Cent has a tendency to base all his records on an image of “don’t mess with us or we’ll kill you”, as this gets extremely worn out on this LP.

Overall, it is a good album, and is certain to leave many anticipating the solo efforts of Young Buck and Lloyd Banks. Anyone who liked any of G-Unit’s mixtapes should buy this, but it would probably be uninspiring to those who only favour 50 Cent and enjoyed his debut, because believe me, that is completely different.

Rating: 3 out of 5

Favourite Three Tracks:
2. Poppin’ Them Thangs
3. My Buddy
13. Salute U

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z