G-Unit
Beg for Mercy
Interscope
This is the debut album for G-Unit - a collaboration between hip-hop hardman 50 Cent and fellow rappers Young Buck, Lloyd Banks and Tony Yayo, who is currently in jail on gun charges. And it's got it all.
There are the songs about why they're so respected on the street and the usual warnings about what will happen if you try to 'diss' them. Although the ridiculously glossy cover shots of 50 and the boys posing with guns, jewellery and wads of cash make this look almost like a parody album, the tunes are great. Introductory song G-Unit, Poppin' Them Thangs and I'm So Hood show off their harder sides, with tight rhymes and some nice interplay between the voices.
G-Unit delivers a big fat bass line that will undoubtedly have booties grinding away in many a club. But the boys don't mind having a bit of fun, as well. Groupie Love describes a famous rapper's life on the road and the hardships that he endures - not. There's even a tilt at the more soppy end of R&B with the softly sung Wanna Get To Know You - one of the least grating tunes you'll hear in this genre.