50 Cent, G-Unit Show "Mercy"

50 Cent's G-Unit crew will drop their debut, Beg For Mercy, on November 4th.

"It's like Get Rich or Die Tryin' times ten," says Young Buck, a member of the rap quartet that includes Lloyd Banks, Tony Yayo and 50 himself.

"Banks, Buck, and Yayo each bring something significant to the table," 50 says. "That's why I signed them."

The sixteen-track album features production from the usual suspects, Dr. Dre and Eminem, but despite those big names, there aren't a lot of guest spots. "When there are four of us, it doesn't make sense to bring a lot of guests on," explains Banks.

Yayo's presence is limited thanks to his ongoing incarceration, but each member of the G-Unit crew gets a shot at solo cuts. Still, 50 takes over for most of the hooks -- as on Banks' "Smile" and Buck's "Footprints in the Sand."

"Footprints" is an autobiographical look at how Buck, a native Southerner, got to where he is today, built fittingly on a Dirty South-meets-East Coast vibe.

• 
  MUSIC 100 Greatest Debut Albums
• 
  MOVIES 'Star Trek' Is Crazy Good
• 
  TV 10 Shows to Watch This Summer
• 
  POLITICS No Price Big Banks Can't Fix

Song Stories

“The Pretender”

Foo Fighters | 2007

This song wasn't part of the planned track listing for 2007's Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace, and was put together in a day. "It happened after we recorded a lot of stuff," said Dave Grohl. Yet it ended up as the album opener and the lead single. Grohl called it "a stomping Foo Fighters uptempo song with a little bit of Chuck Berry in it." The singer hinted at the lyrics' political overtones: "Everyone's been f---ed over before and I think a lot of people feel f---ed over right now and they're not getting what they were promised."

More Song Stories entries »

Twitter