College Times

Media Credit: Dave Hill

Poor 50 Cent hasn’t seemed tough for ages. He lost that race with Kanye West to see whose album sold the most, his ex-girlfriend sued him and his mansion burned down. I don’t even drink his Vitamin Water anymore.

But the worst thing is the disintegration of his rap outfit G-Unit due to a feud with Young Buck, its wryest ex-member. Buck left after this record was finished, so there are prime Buck rhymes and frisky flows in the slinky “I Like the Way She Do It” and the contagious “Rider, Pt. 2.”

Buck’s laments (“Even if 50 drop me/I still wouldn’t sign”) are dedicated to their boss in the face of inevitable downsizing. But by the time Buck gets to “No Days Off,” he’s no more than a rumor.

Rather than fold, G-Unit’s 50, Lloyd Banks and Tony Yayo take to the streets with handsome reassurance before them and jittering hip-hop behind them. The Yayo-led “T.O.S.” and the hard dance-hall of “Let it Go” are stunners. And 50? He can still send shivers with his cold flow and cocksure raps when he wants to. And though T.O.S. is no classic, it’ll do ’til the real deal comes along.

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