Get Rich or Die Tryin'

1	Intro 0:06
2	What Up Gangsta 2:59
3	Patiently Waiting 4:48
4	Many Men (Wish Death) 4:16
5	In da Club 3:13
6	High All the Time 4:29
7	Heat 4:14
8	If I Can't 3:16
9	Blood Hound / Young Buck 4:00
10	Back Down 4:03
11	P.I.M.P. 4:09
12	Like My Style / Tony Yayo 3:13
13	Poor Lil Rich 3:19
14	21 Questions 3:44
15	Don't Push Me / Lloyd Banks 4:08
16	Gotta Make It to Heaven 4:00
17	Wanksta Bonus Track 3:39
18	U Not Like Me Bonus Track 4:15
19	Life's on the Line Bonus Track 3:38

Barnes & Noble

Rarely does an MC live up to this much hype. In recent years, the one rapper who did was Eminem. So perhaps it's only fitting that New York rapper 50 Cent -- who counts the Shady One as his mentor and "favorite white boy" -- has become buzz-worthy. On his long-awaited, survival-of-the-fittest debut, Get Rich or Die Tryin', 50 (né Curtis Jackson) paints a landscape ruled by the strong-armed (including his crew the G Unit) and inhabited by a score of sycophants, hangers-on, and sucker MCs, including archrival Ja Rule, whom 50 disses on the catchy "Wanksta." Like Snoop Dogg and 2Pac before him, 50 Cent scores big with his singsong cadences and his enthusiastically witty rhymes. Despite his Queens address, he boasts a decidedly West Coast sound, due in no small part to executive producers Em and Dr. Dre, who add credibility to the G-funk party and have made 50 Cent an heir to rap royalty. The lilt in 50's choruses is the perfect foil to Dre's menacing bounces on the club-thumpers "What Up Gangsta" and "In Da Club." Meanwhile, "Patiently Waiting," 50's duet with Slim Shady, is a superior us-against-the-world standoff. In such moments, 50 Cent's confidence isn't that of a bullet-riddled Queens Boulevard underdog but that of a reigning champion deserving of the accolades. Let's just hope he gets rich before he dies trying. Piotr Orlov

The Source

The Queens native's seamless, wired-jaw flow moves fluidly over proficient production on the boisterous "What Up Gangsta" and the melodic, piano-driven "High All the Time." Steven Williams