First thing to get out of the way is to
tell you all that this album doesn’t suck. It just doesn’t. A lot of people
will say it does but in all honesty they’ve got it wrong. Animal Ambition is
probably one of the better albums you’ll ever see from an artist who’s put out
as much high quality material as 50 has over the last 10 years. I mean how many
artists have a better 5th album than fourth album? Would anyone rate Animal
Ambition below Before I Self Destruct? Does anyone even remember Before I Self
Destruct?
Now before you all get ahead of yourselves
(or more importantly me) I will say this isn’t a great album. It has nothing on
50’s first two albums which were masterpieces. No one is going to mistake Don’t
Worry About It for In Da Club. Though I will say Don’t Worry About It isn’t
that far off from I Get Money. Which if we remember right was the song that
proved there was life for 50 post Massacre.
So why despite a bunch of songs that should
rekindle the public love affair people have had with 50’s music is Animal
Ambition not quite taking us there? Well there’s a bunch of reasons. For one
Hip Hop loves to root for people when they are winning but doesn’t necessarily
like to root for people who have won, a fact proven time and time again. You
see once you sold a zillion records and told us you sold a zillion records a
zillion times and bragged about your watches and cars and crushed all your
enemies you’ve won. And when you’ve won you’re the establishment and Hip Hop
doesn’t need you anymore.
50’s subject matter and his lifestyle are
so far apart the illusion of menace cannot be maintained. One thing that has always been instrumental in the success of musicians was that their lifestyle was
never shown to contradict their music. We didn’t know Bob Marley was a mega
millionaire until after he died. We had no clue how many Heavy Metal artists
were actually Christians. Imagine seeing images of Chuck D living in a Long Island mansion? Would we have been able to immerse ourselves
in P.E’s audio revolution if we full well knew the system the raged against had
actually worked out pretty well for them? . To some great extent we need suspension of disbelief to really enjoy some forms of music and 50's success has mad it all but impossible to suspend our disbelief in regards to his music. It's now at the point that it's easier to forget that Rick Ross wasn't a criminal than to remember that 50 was a criminal.
So here we have 50 clearly facing his
personal Walking with the Panther era and pardon the mixed metaphors but if
Animal Ambition isn’t a home run it’s clearly a stand up double.
All 50’s technical skills are there but he
may be at the point where he needs the sensibility of one the music industries
current taste makers to give him that spark and direction that he once provided
to the artists he worked with. Still even without this outside assistance
Animal Ambition proves that there is life for 50 after super stardom.
The Good
The G-Unit General delivers a well crafted
album instead of mailing it in.
The Bad
The old 50 energy has become the old 50 energy.
Definitely needs an update. And Kidd Kidd. To quote 50 “I never heard a n*gga
say they like him in the hood.”
Stand out track
The Funeral