Defsounds

In the beginning he was the true definition of a gangster. The nine bullet holes that once tore through his skin and nearly took his life now told the story of the dangerous life that he lived, his intimidating frame added credibility to his tough guy persona, and to top it off he had the rough voice needed to command the microphone.

At the time 50 was the perfect rapper for a perfect time in hip hop. Jay was talking retirement and listeners were beginning to grow tire of hearing countless tracks with Ja Rule hitting more high notes than his label mate Ashanti, while constantly rap/singing about thug love.

Before you knew it, wanksta was everyone’s new favorite song, and he was entering a full fledged beef with Ja Rule. We as fans ate it up, while at the same time crucifying Ja Rule for going pop. When In Da Club Hit, it was official- - 50 was the king of New York, and a new superstar of hip hop was born.

By the time 21 questions had came out, Ja Rule's reign was over, and a new blueprint for hip hop success was made. So after 50 jumped on to the scene and sold millions of records with Get Rich Or die Trying, every record exec had their artist putting out mix tapes, starting hip hop beefs and making party and female oriented tracks, hence formula 50 was born.

50 rode this wave of success using it to push other artist on his label. Artist like Lloyd Banks, Young Buck and for a short stint Game reaped the benefits of this full proof plan. Then before you knew it, the rapper who chastised Ja Rule for singing harmonies and constantly talking about falling in love, was now running on a beach with no shirt on, while Joe sang on the hook of his group album's (G-unit) second single. This sudden jolt to pop threw off hardcore 50 fans and sparked discussions of 50 getting soft. Now fast forward to his sophomore album The Massacre.

After breaking all kinds of records with his first album, 50 went back to the drawing board and using the same formula that he used on his first album, released two new singles for The Massacre. The first two singles were Just a Little Bit and Candy Shop. 50 cent fans everywhere once again scratched their heads, but hey! The songs were good so no one saw a real reason to complain. 50 continued to ride his wave of success as fans everywhere continued to have their musical thirst quenched from his magic formula. Things seemed like they could never slow down, but then the bottom fell out.

It all started out with what was supposed to be the first single off of his third album Curtis. With pressure to beat Kanye West in who would sell the most records and lackluster response from his first single Straight to the Bank, 50 went to his bread and butter putting out his second single Amusement Park, a song made to make the ladies swoon. But unlike other female and pop oriented songs that 50 had put out over his career Amusement Park received negative reviews from fans and never peeked higher than 21 on Billboards Hot 100 singles.

It was now becoming very clear that fans were slowly tiring of his predictable style and beginning to crave the taste of a new formula, with this in mind 50 released four more singles. The first of those singles was the track titled I Get Money. Not long after that, Ayo technology featuring Justin Timberlake was released then the last of his attempts at pop success Follow my lead featuring Robyn Thick.

Like Amusement Park, it received some fanfare but not what the South Jamaica rapper is used to. Kanye eventually won the competition between he and 50 outselling the G-Unit artist by over 200,000 records, in what would be the dethroning of 50 as the sound scan killer.

Fans that bought Kanye's album Graduation over 50's Curtis cited Kanye's content as the main reason for their selection. Although many of the people who bought Kanye's album were originally 50 cent fans they gravitated towards Kanye because many had finally grew tired of the same old routine from fifty, and felt Kanye was something that was fresh and pure, while 50 was still trying to catch lightning in a plastic bottle.

Despite this heavy loss it seems that 50 still hasn’t learned his lesson. With a new G-unit album on the way he recently released a track with Lil Kim Dubbed the remix to Magic Stick titled Wanna Lick. Despite 50 and Kim’s attempt to rekindle the magic that made Magic Stick such a success, Wanna Lick was not received as highly.

50 released 6 official singles for Curtis, had a highly publicized competition with Kanye West, and still struggled to go platinum. When Get Rich Or Die Trying came out, fans everywhere fell in love with the story of a true hustler starting a new life because of hip hop. Everyone ate up his stories and every song that he put out was a hit. By the time The Massacre was released 50 had solidified his strategy for selling records, and was implementing his formula more and more, but as he continued to quench the thirst of his listeners, there was no backlash.

Now that we have turned into another page in the never ending book of hip hop however, the thirst for 50's music that used to be so evident in fans everywhere has slowly died down. He's still putting out music, and he is still clearly sticking to the same formula, but unfortunately for him it seem as if the fans have finally grown tired of all the pop-ish love ballads.

The only thing left to see now is will Formula 50 work for G Unit's upcoming album, Shoot to Kill?