Various Artists: Get Rich Or Die Tryin'- The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

50 Cent says it all in "Hustler's Ambition": "I'll sell anything, I'm a hustler, I know how to grind/Step on grapes, put it in water and tell you it's wine." It's the theme song from his debut movie, Get Rich or Die Tryin', maybe his most definitive thug anthem so far. 50 Cent does his triple-beam dreaming over a blurry Seventies funk groove, boasting, "I cook crack in the microwave . . ./Call me Chef Boy-Ar-Fifty." Get Rich is his 8 Mile, a movie version of his life story, transplanted from Queens to the Bronx. Fiddy can't knock the hustle -- not only is the soundtrack his third release of the year, he's got a new book out, From Pieces to Weight, plus his Xbox game, bizarrely titled 50 Cent: Bulletproof, even though this guy's famous for getting shot nine times the way Ozzy's famous for eating bats.

50 Cent might be juggling, but he isn't dropping the ball, because the Get Rich soundtrack is another state-of-the-art installment of the Fiddy story, with guns, drugs, groupies, tips on crowd control ("With the shines on, niggas be looking like lunch meat") and recipes ("Pour Cristal in the blender and make a protein shake"). The tracks are his creamiest, produced by Dr. Dre and Hi-Tek, among others, featuring 50 himself on all but four of the eighteen songs. Young Buck gets the solo showcase, "Don't Need No Help," and guests on "I'll Whip Ya Head Boy": "Ask Satan if he got a car that I can borrow." 50 shines the spotlight on other G Unit regulars like Tony Yayo ("Fake Love") and Lloyd Banks ("Born Alone, Die Alone"), with guest shots from Mobb Deep, M.O.P., Olivia, Mase and the inexhaustible Nate Dogg. "Window Shopper" is a pop jingle calling out some of his enemies: Ja Rule, Jadakiss, Fat Joe, Nas. Thirty years old and still replaying penthouse and pavement fantasies that would sound equally facile from pros half his age, 50 never lets the strain show -- "Hustler's Ambition" is his drug, and from the plush beats to the singsong catch in his flow, it keeps him comfortably numb.