Articles:
Beg For Mercy - Rolling Stone Review
If 50 Cent's "get rich or die Tryin' " is hip-hop's Scarface, G Unit's Beg for Mercy aims to be its Goodfellas -- a gangster-buddy drama, complete with widespread violence and 50 Cent as head of the family. But unlike a Scorsese film, there's little that poignant or humanizing here -- Beg for Mercy is more about being at the top of the rap heap and loving it. The cinematic, bouncy production on Mercy is almost as full of life as Get Rich's; dark, hook-y funk is augmented by flutes, horns and soul choruses on tracks such as "Stunt 101" and the excellent "Footprints." Though 50 is the star of the show, fellow G Unit soldiers Tony Yayo, Young Buck and Lloyd Banks rhyme almost as deftly and viciously about guns, beef ("You shit on me/I shit on you"), platinum jewelry and the terrors of the hood. The result is stronger than most star-fronted posse records. Say hello to his little friends.
CHRISTIAN HOARD
(RS 937, December 11, 2003)
|
