Beg for Mercy

Beg for Mercy is the debut album by hip hop group G-Unit, composed of rappers 50 Cent, Lloyd Banks, and Young Buck, with support from Tony Yayo. The album was released in November 2003, 10 months after 50 Cent's debut album Get Rich or Die Tryin'.

Background

"I've been promoting G Unit since before I even had a record deal", says 50. "All the music I put on the mixtape circuit was 50 Cent and G Unit."^[1]

As the album was recorded, Tony Yayo was sentenced to jail on charges of gun possession, and so makes only two appearances on the entire record, on the tracks "Groupie Love" and "I Smell Pussy". His image is seen on the brick wall of the album cover because he could not be photographed due to the jail sentence.

At the time of the album's release The Game was put in G-Unit therefore he is not photographed nor does he make an appearence on the album, he does however make cameos in the videos for Stunt 101, Wanna Get To Know You & Poppin' Them Thangs. He was also mentioned in Poppin' Them Thangs when Young Buck states "You ain't no Crip like Snoop you ain't no Blood like Game".

Sales and certifications

In its first week of sales, Beg for Mercy sold 377,000 copies. It placed third, behind Tupac Shakur's eighth posthumous release, Tupac: Resurrection, which moved 430,000 albums, and Jay-Z's The Black Album, which sold 463,263 copies. Its bow was moved up from November 18 to thwart piracy as was G-Unit's "Beg for Mercy".^[2] It sold 327,000 copies in its second week to peak at number 2 on the Billboard 200,^[3] and 193,000 in its third week.^[4] It has now sold 2 million units in the U.S.^[5] and over 3 million copies worldwide.^[6][7] It has been certified 2× platinum by the RIAA.^[8]

Tracks listing

References