Get Rich or Die Tryin' (album)

Get Rich or Die Tryin'
Studio album by 50 Cent
Released	February 4, 2003
Recorded	2002
Genre	Hip hop
Length	69:32
Label	Aftermath, Shady, Interscope
Producer	Sean Blaze, Darrell Branch, Dirty Swift, DJ Rad, Dr. Dre (also exec.), Terence Dudley, Mike Elizondo, Eminem (also exec.), John "J-Praize" Freeman, Megahertz, Denaun Porter, Red Spyda, Reef, Rockwilder, Sha Money XL
50 Cent chronology
Guess Who's Back? (2002) Get Rich or Die Tryin' (2003) The Massacre (2005)
Singles from Get Rich or Die Tryin'
"In da Club" Released: January 7, 2003 "Many Men (Wish Death)" Released: February 7, 2003 "21 Questions" Released: April 29, 2003 "P.I.M.P." Released: August 12, 2003 "If I Can't" Released: September 16, 2003

Get Rich or Die Tryin' is the debut studio album of American rapper 50 Cent, released February 4, 2003, on Aftermath Entertainment under a joint venture with Shady Records and distribution by Interscope Records. Its initially planned release was pushed seven days ahead due to heavy bootlegging and Internet leakage. The album featured production from Dr. Dre and Eminem, among others and featured guest appearances from Eminem and then-newcomers Young Buck, Lloyd Banks and Tony Yayo.

The album debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart, selling 872,000 copies in its first week. It spawned five singles, including the number 1-hits "In da Club", "21 Questions", "Wanksta", and the international single "P.I.M.P.". By December 2003, Get Rich or Die Tryin' had sold six million copies in the United States and was certified sextuple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. As of January 2011, it has sold eight million copies in the US, making it the fourth best-selling hip hop album in the US.^[1] Upon its release, the album received positive reviews from most music critics and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rap Album, losing to OutKast's Speakerboxxx/The Love Below at the 46th Grammy Awards.

Contents 1 Background 2 Singles 3 Reception 3.1 Commercial performance 3.2 Critical response 4 Track listing 5 Personnel 6 Charts and certifications 6.1 Chart positions 6.2 Certifications 6.3 Chart procession and succession 7 References 8 External links

Background

In 2002, Eminem listened to a copy of Jackson's Guess Who's Back? mixtape album through Jackson's attorney, who was working with Eminem's manager Paul Rosenberg.^[2] After being impressed with the mixtape, Eminem invited Jackson to Los Angeles where he was introduced to producer Dr. Dre.^[3] 50 Cent signed a one million record deal with Dr. Dre and released his next mixtape, No Mercy, No Fear. It featured the 8 Mile single, "Wanksta", which was later put on Get Rich or Die Tryin'. Both Eminem and Dr. Dre had started working-productions on his debut album with addition help from producers Mike Elizondo, Sha Money XL and among others. The first single "In da Club" was the first of seven tracks he recorded in five days with Dr. Dre. The next single "21 Questions" was not inlikes to be on the album to Dr. Dre, he stated that he did not want the song on the album. According to 50 Cent, "Dre was, like, 'How you goin' to be gangsta this and that and then put this sappy love song on?'"^[4] 50 Cent responded saying, "I'm two people. I've always had to be two people since I was a kid, to get by. To me that's not diversity, it's necessity."^[4] "Back Down" and "Heat" were instrumentals originally composed by Rakim and Dr. Dre. They were both originally intended to be used on Rakim's debut Aftermath album, Oh My God, but due to creative differences was not released. Early pressings of Get Rich or Die Tryin' included a limited edition bonus DVD.

Singles

The album's lead single, "In da Club", was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), becoming 50 Cents' first song to top the Billboard Hot 100 for nine weeks and remained on the charts for twenty-two weeks.^[5][6] The track also reached number one on the Top 40 Tracks, Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, and Hot Rap Tracks charts.^[7] The song reached number one in Denmark, Germany, Ireland, and Switzerland and the top five in Austria, Belgium, Finland, Greece, Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. It received two Grammy nominations for Best Rap Song and Best Rap Song. This is considered to be one of the best rap songs of all time, introducing a new sound and rhythm to rap. It was listed at number 18 on VH1's "100 Greatest Hip-Hop Songs of All Time".

Its third single, "21 Questions", became 50 Cent's second chart topper on the Billboard Hot 100, where it remained for four non-consecutive weeks. It spent seven weeks on top of the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs charts. Outside the States, "21 Questions" reached number six in the United Kingdom. It was certified gold by the RIAA. The fourth single "P.I.M.P." was shipped with a remix featuring rapper Snoop Dogg and trio-group G-Unit. It was the third single that peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100 and number one on "Hot Rap Tracks", becoming the third single from the album to peak in the top then on the "Hot 100" chart. It also reached number one in Canada. It was certified Gold by RIAA. The album's final single, "If I Can't", peaked at number seventy-six on the Billboard Hot 100 and thirty-four on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs charts.

Reception

Commercial performance

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[8]
Blender	[9]
Entertainment Weekly	(B)[10]
The Guardian	[11]
Los Angeles Times	[12]
The New York Times	(favorable)[13]
Pitchfork Media	(7.0/10)[14]
Rolling Stone	[15]
USA Today	[16]
XXL	(XXL)[17]

Get Rich or Die Tryin' debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200, selling 872,000 copies in its first week.^[18] On December 9, 2003, the album was certified sextuple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, for shipments of six million copies.^[19] It was among the best selling albums of the decade, selling 12 million copies by the end of the year.^[20][21] It remains as 50 Cent's best-selling album to date, with sales of over 8,000,000 copies in the United States making it the fourth highest selling rap album of all-time in the United States.^[22] In Russia, the album was certified 5x platinum, selling 120,000 copies.^[23]

Critical response

Perceived as a classic upon its release,^[24] Get Rich or Die Tryin' has been called the most hyped rap debut in over a decade.^[8] Allmusic writer Jason Birchmeier called the album impressive and incredibly calculated in their positive four star review.^[8] Rolling Stone's Christian Hoard commended 50 Cent's undeniable showcase of skill, radio-ready tracks, and marketable thug persona in addition to the album's production for its dark synth grooves, buzzy keyboards, and persistently funky bounce.^[15] Brett Berliner of Stylus Magazine gave Get Rich or Die Tryin' a B rating and commended 50 Cent for his variety as a rapper.^[25] It is one of only 19 rap albums to receive a perfect rating from XXL magazine.^[17] The album has an average rating of 73/100 from Metacritic, based on 19 critic reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".^[26] "In da Club" earned the number-one spot on Billboard 2003's single and album of the year, the first since Ace of Base had both in the same year. Album cut "Back Down" was listed on XXL's list of the greatest diss tracks of all time.^[27]

In December 2009, Billboard magazine ranked Get Rich or Die Tryin' at number 12 on the magazine's Top 200 Albums of the Decade.^[28]

Track listing

• All songs were co-written by 50 Cent.

Sample credits

• "Many Men (Wish Death)"
  • "Out of the Picture" by Tavares
• "21 Questions"
  • "It's Only Love Doing Its Thing" by Barry White
• "Patiently Waiting"
  • "Gin and Juice" by Snoop Dogg feat. Daz Dillinger
• "If I Can't"
  • "Peter Piper" by Run-DMC
• "Poor Lil Rich"
  • "Your Life's on the Line" by 50 Cent

Personnel

Credits for Get Rich or Die Tryin' adapted from Allmusic.^[29]

50 Cent – executive producer Justin Bendo – engineer Sean Blaze – producer, engineer Darrell Branch – producer Tom Coster – keyboards Terence Dudley – producer Mike Elizondo – bass, guitar, keyboards, producer Eminem – producer, executive producer, mixing Ron Feemster – Fender Rhodes John "J. Praize" Freeman – producer Marcus Heisser – A&R Steven King – producer, mixing Tracy McNew – A&R

Megahertz – producer Red Spyda – producer Luis Resto – keyboards Ruben Rivera – keyboards, assistant engineer Rockwilder – producer Tom Rounds – engineer Sha Money XL – producer, engineer, executive producer Tracie Spencer – vocals Rob Tewlow – producer Patrick Viala – engineer Sacha Waldman – photography Ted Wohlsen – engineer Carlisle Young – engineer, digital editing

Charts and certifications

Chart positions Chart (2003)[30] Peak Position Australian Albums Chart[30] 4 Austrian Albums Chart[30] 16 Belgian Flanders Albums Chart[30] 3 Belgian Wallonia Albums Chart[30] 14 Canadian Albums Chart[31] 1 Dutch Albums Chart[30] 5 Danish Albums Chart[30] 6 Finnish Albums Chart[30] 11 French Albums Chart[30] 12 Hungarian Albums Chart[32] 17 Italian Albums Chart[30] 13 New Zealand Albums Chart[30] 3 Norwegian Albums Chart[30] 5 Swedish Albums Chart[30] 8 Swiss Albums Chart[30] 8 UK Albums Chart 2 US Billboard 200[31] 1 US Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums[31] 1

Certifications Country Certification Sales/shipments Germany Gold [33] 100,000 Japan Gold [34] 100,000

Chart procession and succession

Preceded by Home by Dixie Chicks Come Away With Me by Norah Jones American Life by Madonna

Billboard 200 number-one album February 16, 2003 – March 1, 2003 March 16, 2003 – April 5, 2003 May 11, 2003 – May 17, 2003

Succeeded by Chocolate Factory by R. Kelly Meteora by Linkin Park Body Kiss by The Isley Brothers feat. Ronald Isley

References

External links

• Get Rich or Die Tryin' at Discogs
• Get Rich or Die Tryin' at Metacritic
• Hip-Hop's Holy Trinity at PopMatters
• Album Review at Sputnikmusic

50 Cent Studio albums Get Rich or Die Tryin' The Massacre Curtis Before I Self Destruct 50 Cent's fifth studio album Other albums Power of the Dollar Guess Who's Back? Get Rich or Die Tryin OST Mixtapes 50 Cent Is the Future No Mercy, No Fear God's Plan War Angel LP Forever King Video games 50 Cent: Bulletproof Blood on the Sand Concert tours The Anger Management Tour 3 The Invitation Tour Related articles Discography Awards and nominations Eminem Dr. Dre G-Unit Shady, Aftermath, G-Unit 50 Cent: The Money and the Power Fourmula 50 Cheetah Vision

Billboard Year-End number one albums (1990–2009) 1990: Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814 – Janet Jackson 1991: Mariah Carey – Mariah Carey 1992: Ropin' the Wind – Garth Brooks 1993: The Bodyguard – Soundtrack 1994: The Sign – Ace of Base 1995: Cracked Rear View – Hootie & the Blowfish 1996: Jagged Little Pill – Alanis Morissette 1997: Spice – Spice Girls 1998: Titanic – Soundtrack 1999: Millennium – Backstreet Boys 2000: No Strings Attached – 'N Sync 2001: 1 – The Beatles 2002: The Eminem Show – Eminem 2003: Get Rich or Die Tryin' – 50 Cent 2004: Confessions – Usher 2005: The Massacre – 50 Cent 2006: Some Hearts – Carrie Underwood 2007: Daughtry – Daughtry 2008: As I Am – Alicia Keys 2009: Fearless – Taylor Swift Complete list (1956–1969) (1970–1989) (1990–2009) (2010–2029)