The world was watching as 50 Cent angrily left his home of Interscope, where colleagues, those responsible for his career, and most importantly his friends Eminem and Dr. Dre, resided. For the first time in over a decade, the self-proclaimed king of New York was solo once again. Now what? Although Fifty most likely knew exactly what he wanted to do, I think I speak for fans and even detractors alike when I say that I’m sure that question was on all of our minds. Here is a hip-hop heavyweight, placed amongst the leagues of some of hip-hop’s greatest acts, gone solo in an age where the heavyweights seem to be the majority of the artists still rocking with labels while it’s the young blood coming in to the game and creating a conglomerate all their own sans label. Well 50 had been itching to put out new music for years now so it wasn’t soon before long that we heard about his next effort and today we are presented with such an effort in the form of Animal Ambition: An Untamed Desire To Win.

And so continues the struggle for “older” rappers fighting to remain relevant and say something worthwhile. The most frustrating being those “older” rappers that brought something so new to hip-hop music finding themselves at a loss for words. Let’s be real, when 50 dropped “The Funeral,” it was crazy – I remember distinctly running to all of my friends, even those who didn’t care for 50 Cent, showing them this Jake One-produced jam and yelling “50 Cent is back!” Allow me to explain why I’m now sitting here writing this review and eating my words.

“The Funeral” is Power of the Dollar 50, Guess Who’s Back 50… “Many Men (Wish Death)” 50. This is the 50 Cent fans beg for – not the “Ayo Technology” and the “Straight to the Bank” laughing stock of hip-hop 50 Cent that has manifested itself after a game-seizing feud with Kanye West back in 2007.

We can all assume what happened, just look at the history: Fif stirred up the industry with his verbal sprays of disses towards every big rapper on “How To Rob,” he scores a deal with Columbia Records, gets shot, gets dropped from the label, conjures up “Guess Who’s Back” (which was gritty, New York City gangster rap at its finest), catches the attention of Eminem, gets signed to a record deal with Shady/Aftermath/Interscope, drops Get Rich or Die Tryin‘ featuring some of New York City’s much-needed storytelling hip-hop and hardcore flaunting, but with a catch…that in the club banging, resonant radio hit that was “In da Club.” 50 Cent got a taste of widespread acclaim through one of hip-hop’s definitive club jams and it definitely sold.

Fast-forward past two more huge singles through “21 Questions (feat. Nate Dogg)” and “P.I.M.P.” and 50 Cent was made. The Massacre followed up his solo effort and gave us more of that gritty city sound, more disses at big rappers, and even more radio-friendly sounds. The scales were tipping towards music more influenced by what sold rather than what 50 Cent was supposedly really about: drug dealing, gangsters and hardcore city living.

It seems now that all Curtis Jackson, III has left to rhyme about is his money, women, cars and alcohol. So is the life of a successful musician, entrepreneur and overall celebrity. Or is it? Animal Ambition‘s opening track “Hold On” is very misleading in that it presents a very vintage tone for the album that is easily broken by the dub step-influenced “Don’t Worry Bout It,” which also features the raspy vocals of Yo Gotti (who arguably works better on the beat than the main artist, himself). The mood is switched up once more with the weird, computer-generated concoction that is “Animal Ambition,” which features the terrifying sounds of lions, tigers and…elephants (oh my?).

HipHopDX published a piece about where all these beats came from. Turns out, a bunch of random, underground producers submitted beats to 50 Cent five years ago and he just now got around to releasing them. Ok, understandable, since we know the struggles he’s endured with Interscope releasing his material, but that’s not the biggest problem. These are beats from a bunch of random producers and so the sounds on this album are nauseatingly all over the place. Even with recognizable producers, like Dr. Dre and Dawaun Parker on “Smoke (feat. Trey Songz)” the beat sounds so off of 50 Cent’s true sound as Trey sings his heart away on the hook while grinding, club (EDM?) synths kick in under Ferrari F-50’s verse.

The strongest points of the album are exactly where 50 Cent led us to believe this album was headed; “The Funeral,” “Pilot,” “Irregular Heartbeat” (alongside Jadakiss), and “Hustler” (also produced by Jake One). These four songs really put this album in a light that sounded like the street-grounded rapper of GRODT, but we must understand that 50 is far removed from his days as a drug dealer. And so it’s in this light that we come to see 50 Cent creating epic finale-like club jams full of sappy guitar strings and sing-songy hooks (see “Twisted (feat. Mr. Probz)” and “Winner Circle (feat. Guordon Banks).” Some of the features help the album along, except for Kidd Kidd who’s offers some of the worst verses I’ve ever heard from the rapper (especially his nasally-delivered verse on “Everytime I Come Around”). But no verse is more significant that Jadakiss’ guest-stealing, but nowhere’s near stellar verse on the minimalistic “Irregular Heartbeat.”

With a great sigh, Animal Ambition is quite the opposite of its Untamed Desire To Win tagline. It’s underwhelming. It’s awkward (listen for 50 when he yells “turn up!” in between the hook on “Twisted.”). It’s sloppy, crudely put together and not 50 Cent at all. Actually, I think Before I Self Destruct could’ve used a title change to Animal Ambition and this album could be called the former because after hearing this, I think 50 is about to just implode with cockiness. However, it must be said that delivery-wise, 50 Cent has never been more technical and his potential for high lyrical dexterity is obviously apparent thanks to the songs below.

If you’re cup of tea is hearing a rapper say the same thing for many, many verses in the subject of flaunting how much money he has, how successful he is and how shitty we are, then Animal Ambition is the album of the decade. If, however, you’d hoped for the return of 50 Cent that we used to know and love, then I suggest you download but five songs and pretend the others never released: “Hold On,” “Pilot,” “Irregular Heartbeat,” “Hustler,” and “The Funeral.” Not even an Oxymoron-outtake as a bonus track could save this album. Now all we have to wait for is Street King Immortal and expect something of the same caliber or even worse.

P.S. Can we just get a Jake One and 50 Cent collaborative album? They seem to make good chemistry together and have made really strong tracks together. That’s just me…

5/10

Download Animal Ambition via Amazon

Tracklisting:

1) Hold On
2) Don’t Worry Bout It (feat. Yo Gotti)
3) Animal Ambition
4) Pilot
5) Smoke (feat. Trey Songz)
6) Everytime I Come Around (feat. Kidd Kidd)
7) Irregular Heartbeat (feat. Jadakiss & Kidd Kidd)
8) Hustler
9) Twisted (feat. Mr. Probz)
10) Winner Circle (feat. Guordon Banks)
11) Chase The Paper (feat. Prodigy, Kidd Kidd & Styles P)