Get Rich or Die Tryin'

Background

Prior to the release of his first studio album, titled Power of the Dollar, 50 Cent was shot nine times in Queens, New York, on May 24, 2000. He survived but was dropped from his label, Columbia Records, who canceled the album's release. Seeking to avoid another encounter with his shooter, 50 Cent traveled out to Westbury, Long Island, at the invitation of producer Sha Money XL and began recording mixtapes there. During this period, 50 Cent also recorded several songs that would ultimately appear on Get Rich or Die Tryin; he recalls that, when he completed a song that he was especially impressed by, he would decline to release the song and instead save it for his eventual studio debut.

According to 50 Cent in March 2002, he was already in talks with J, Universal, and Jive Records to release his debut album titled *Get Rich or Die Tryin''' via his own then imprint, Rotten Apple Entertainment. In 2002, Eminem listened to a copy of 50 Cent's Guess Who's Back? mixtape album through Jackson's attorney, who was working with Eminem's manager Paul Rosenberg. After being impressed with the mixtape, Eminem invited 50 Cent to Los Angeles where he was introduced to producer Dr. Dre. 50 Cent signed a one-million-dollar record deal with Eminem and Dr. Dre; 50 Cent then released his next mixtape, No Mercy, No Fear to gain more buzz. It featured his own 8 Mile single, "Wanksta" (in addition to appearances on three other tracks from the album), which was later put on *Get Rich or Die Tryin''. "Wanksta" began to attract attention from radio DJs throughout the United States, building hype for 50 Cent's forthcoming album.

Both Eminem and Dr. Dre had started producing tracks on his debut album with additional help from producers Mike Elizondo, Sha Money XL, and others. 50 Cent's second commercial single, "In da Club", was the first of seven tracks he recorded in five days with Dr. Dre. Eminem was featured on two songs, "Patiently Waiting" and "Don't Push Me". His songs also featured rappers within G-Unit such as Lloyd Banks ("Don't Push Me"), Tony Yayo ("Like My Style"), or Young Buck ("Blood Hound"). "Back Down" was an instrumental 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.

The album title originates as a tattoo on Sha Money XL's arm. The album artwork of Get Rich or Die Tryin was designed by Julian Alexander and Sacha Waldman. Featuring a shirtless 50 Cent standing behind a broken glass pane, it has been described as "among the most recognizable [album covers] in rap history". 50 Cent commented about the title:

Lyricism and composition

Lyricism

Get Rich or Die Tryin is a gangsta rap album. 50 Cent has stated that his goal was to write lyrics that were evocative enough to capture listeners' imaginations, while also being "vague enough not to daunt them". Despite this, he does venture into more explicit detail on some tracks, like "Many Men" and the Ja Rule diss "Back Down". On the whole, the writing on the album has been described as "smooth[ing] out" the feel of his mixtapes into a more generally accessible format; tracks such as "In da Club" show 50 Cent particularly aiming to depict widely relatable experiences. 50 Cent has stated that he limited the amount of vulnerability he would display on the album; on tracks like "Many Men", he aimed to balance the vulnerability of the lyrical content with aggressive deliveries and production.

The single "21 Questions" was initially added to the album's tracklist against Dr. Dre's wishes. According to 50 Cent, "Dre was, like, 'How you goin' to be gangsta this and that and then put this sappy love song on? 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." "21 Questions" has also been noted as, along with "Many Men", one of the few slow-tempo tracks on the album.

An earlier version of "Back Down" allegedly also targets Kenneth "Supreme" McGriff, Jay-Z, R. Kelly, Nas, Cam’ron and others; however, Dr. Dre considered the song too incendiary and told 50 Cent to tone down the lyrics and only target Ja Rule.

Singles and promotion

The album's lead single, "In da Club", which was released to digital download on January 7, 2003, was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), becoming 50 Cent's first song to top the Billboard Hot 100 for nine weeks and remained on the charts for twenty-two weeks. The track also reached number one on the Top 40 Tracks, Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, and Hot Rap Tracks charts. 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 Male Rap Solo Performance and Best Rap Song. It was listed at number 18 on VH1's "100 Greatest Hip-Hop Songs of All Time".

Its second single, "21 Questions", which was released to digital download on March 4 of that same year, 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 third single "P.I.M.P.", which was released to urban contemporary radio on June 24, 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 ten 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.

After the album's release, 50 Cent toured extensively in its support. Throughout 2003, he performed 84 concerts in the United States, Europe, and the Middle East.

Critical reception

Get Rich or Die Tryin received highly positive reviews from contemporary music critics. At Metacritic, it holds an aggregate score of 73 out of 100, based on 19 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

In his review for USA Today, Steve Jones believed that the album is worthy of the hype 50 Cent had attracted because of how he "delivers, in vivid detail, stories of the violent life he led as a crack dealer and speaks with the swagger of one who has been shot nine times and lived to tell about it." AllMusic's Jason Birchmeier described it as "impressive" and "incredibly calculated", and identified it as "ushering in 50 as one of the truly eminent rappers of his era". It is one of only 19 rap albums to receive a perfect rating from XXL magazine. Kelefa Sanneh of The New York Times wrote that 50 Cent is "an appealing, mischievous character" whose talent for threatening raps aimed toward rivals is also limiting thematically.

Robert Christgau was less enthusiastic in his consumer guide for The Village Voice and gave it a two-star honorable mention, indicating a "likable effort consumers attuned to its overriding aesthetic or individual vision may well enjoy." He cited "What Up Gangsta" and "Patiently Waiting" as highlights and said that 50 Cent "gets no cuter as his character unfolds" on the album.

Accolades

In December 2009, Billboard magazine ranked Get Rich or Die Tryin at number 12 on its list of the Top 200 Albums of the Decade. In 2012, Complex named the album one of the classic releases of the last decade. The single, "In da Club", earned the number-one spot on Billboard 2003's single and album of the year charts, the first since Ace of Base had both in the same year. "Back Down" was listed on XXLs list of the greatest diss tracks of all time. The album was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. *Get Rich or Die Tryin''' was also ranked as the 139th best album of all time on the *Billboard'' Top 200 Albums of All Time. In 2020, in their second revised edition of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list, Rolling Stone ranked ''Get Rich or Die Tryin''' as the 280th greatest album of all time.

In popular culture

In the 2017 video game Paradigm, one of the records found inside Paradigm's home is Get Rich or Die of Natural Causes, a reference to the album.

In 2024, media personality Charlamagne Tha God released his third book Get Honest or Die Lying: Why Small Talk Sucks, which models its title on 50 Cent's album.

Commercial performance

Get Rich or Die Tryin debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart, selling 872,000 copies in its first week. In its second week, the album sold an additional 822,000 copies. It was the best-selling album of 2003, selling 13 million copies worldwide to date. It remains 50 Cent's best-selling album, with certified sales of 9 million copies in the United States, and is the tenth best-selling hip-hop album in the country. The album was certified 6× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in 2003 for shipping six million copies in the US.

Legacy

Get Rich or Die Tryin is credited with restoring gangsta rap to prominence in an era when prevailing trends favored "slick, flashy ladies-man rappers" and radio-friendly R&B collaborations. Denaun Porter states that the album "shifted everybody's view of music" and led to a wave of stylistic imitators. 50 Cent's swaggering, unrepentant persona on Get Rich Or Die Tryin has led him to be described as "rap's most charming antihero since 2Pac".

In a 2013 retrospective, Billboard states that the album "rewrote the hip-hop rulebook". Neil Kulkarni of Crack states that Get Rich or Die Tryin combined "Southern-style textures with gritty East Coast lyrical content" in a way that many succeeding artists would strive to replicate, and argues that the album's success paved the way for future gangsta rap artists including Jeezy, Rick Ross, and the Game. 50 Cent has also been credited with inspiring later rappers to write more overtly about their "personal turmoil".

Sha Money XL credits the album's success to the memorability of 50 Cent's background:

Track listing

Elizondo}}

Notes

• – additional production
• – co-producer

Personnel

Credits are adapted from the physical album & AllMusic.

• 50 Cent – vocals/writer
• Justin Bendo – engineer
• Sean Blaze – producer, engineer
• Darrell Branch – producer
• Tommy Coster – keyboards
• Terence Dudley – producer
• Mike Elizondo – bass, guitar, keyboards, producer
• Dr. Dre – producer, executive producer, mixing
• Eminem – producer, executive producer, mixing, vocals
• John "J. Praize" Freeman – producer
• Steven King – producer, mixing
• Megahertz – producer
• Red Spyda – producer
• Luis Resto – keyboards
• Ruben Rivera – keyboards, assistant engineer
• Rockwilder – producer
• Tom Rounds – engineer
• Sha Money XL – producer, engineer
• Tracie Spencer – vocals
• Rob Tewlow – producer
• Patrick Viala – engineer
• Sacha Waldman – photography
• Ted Wohlsen – engineer
• Carlisle Young – engineer, digital editing
• Dj Rad – producer

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

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