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And so it finally arrives. After two years in which his stock in trade has managed to fall as his celebrity continues to grow, and a series of delays blamed on ensuring the final product was just right (but which still gave off the whiff of slightly panicked indecision at the heart of Team Fiddy), "Curtis" emerges just as its maker manages to crest another promotional and publicity wave. Ever the shrewd marketeer, Mr Jackson deserves every bit of credit going: it takes a lot of preparation and plenty of suss to end up falling on your feet every time. "Curtis" finds 50 Cent back to the clinical, unflinching, almost monolithic modus operandi of his major label debut, "Get Rich Or Die Tryin'". Mistakes have been made, and lessons learned: the glimmers of introspection dotted about on the follow-up, "The Massacre", have been ruthlessly expunged. Gone, too, are this sharp-minded operator's discursions into the abstract - no songs from the point of view of the drugs in an addict's veins this time. Jackson returns to his original script to refine, hone and perfect it. This record exists to satisfy what remains of mainstream rap's commercial heartland, its bold purpose to rake in as many dollars as can be had. It is a record of calculated efficiency, and is, unsurprisingly, utterly joyless and almost robotically dehumanised. Timbaland and his seemingly inseparable mini-me, Justin Timberlake, drop in for "Ayo Technology", and "Come And Go" ticks the "produced by Dr Dre" box. "Amusement Park" is the obligatory bout of objectification, women being likened to fairground rides. "I Get Money" manages an original use of the much-sampled "Top Billin'" by Audio Two, and "Fully Loaded Clip" is this album's battle cut. "Man Down (Censored)" is rendered meaningless by the removal of almost every fourth word, which at least shows Jackson's intelligence and wit have been let off the leash briefly, but the track is too frustrating to work. This is a big, brash, lowest-common-denominator album, and as such represents the summit of 2007 mainstream rap perfection. Of course, none of this should come as a surprise. Think back to 50, recovering from the gunshots that all but killed him, determinedly rebuilding his voice, his body, his life: he's at it again here, responding to murmurings suggesting his commercial demise with a record that sounds like it had less to do with artistic inspiration than the musical equivalent of putting in hundreds of punishing hours on the treadmill, endlessly repeating the same formulas and motifs until the sounds, actions and reactions become instinctive. It is muscular and toned to perfection, and it's difficult not to be in some degree of awe of it: but "Curtis" doesn't sound like it was much fun to make, and it isn't much fun to listen to.Read full review
i have always been a fan of 50cent since he first released his In Da Club hit single. i have looked out for his tracks since then. i love the tracks ayo technology and Fire. they are both really sexy tracks that are great to dance to in any club. Once i listened to all the tracks on the album there were many rapping and gun shot music that is to be expected from Curtis but this is the only part of it i didn't like. i decided to buy this album because it had a few tracks on there that i love and i am very much into HIP HOP and subtle rap. i reccomend this CD to anyone who loves to dance at clubs and anyone who is into street HIPHOP.
I was dissapointed with this,mainly because I was expecting much better. I really hate Justin Timberlake so 'Ayo Technology' is a ruined song for me. I like and recommend it! Bets songs- Man down,My gun go off,Fully loaded clip (just to name 3) A good album overall!
I would give this 4.5 stars. Curtis is a good album as a whole, it has some great tracks and little filler, but it is all very similar. The intro is superb, from the brit flick 'Shooters'. It's the perfect intro and sets the scene for the opener, Gun Go Off. This has a great beat and some cool lyrics, an aggressive 50 really engages the listener. Next comes Man Down, which is censored on every album. This annoys me, why pay for an explicit album and get a censored song? If you ignore the censoring it's a good song, not his best but decent. I'll Still Kill is a gangstafied track with Akon providing a great hook. Stand out tracks for me are I Get Money, Come And Go, Straight To The Bank, Fire and Fully Loaded Clip. I get money is just plain boasting about 50's wealth, and he does this in an amazing fashion. Come And Go is a classic Dre beat and 50 makes it sound amazing, this will be a hit! Straight to the bank shows that 50 is capable of producing a west coast flow on a west coast beat, it's G Funk inspired and 50 manages it perfectly. Fire is a club track, good rhymes but i'd prefer more from Buck. Fully Loded Clip is great. A grower, but it has some very clever lyrics, i love the bit about trina and wayne. You'll get what i mean when you listen to it! Overall a very good album.Read full review
bought this cd for a christmas present on the 17th of december expecting it to arrive in time ,finally in the middle of jan after loads of emails blaming the postel service(which i new was rubbish)it arrived all the way from russia ,not a patch on the one i had allready bought from the shop for my nephew,not sure weather its a copy or they dont mind poor quility cds in the eastern block,put me off buying cds off ebay for a while.
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