The Massacre


The Massacre is the second studio album by American rapper 50 Cent. It was released on March 3, 2005, by Shady Records, G-Unit Records, Aftermath Entertainment, and Interscope Records. The album debuted and peaked at #1 on the US Billboard 200, selling 1.15 million copies in its first week. Upon its release, The Massacre received generally positive reviews from music critics. The album was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rap Album, but lost to Kanye West's album Late Registration at the 48th Grammy Awards.

Background

The Massacre has a music video for every track on the special edition version of the album. The original title for the album was revealed as St. Valentine's Day Massacre and was arranged to be released on February 14, 2005. However it was postponed, and the album title was shortened to simply The Massacre. The censored version of the album censors out most profanity, violence, and all drug content. The track "Gunz Come Out" has inconsistency in the editing, and contains some profanity. The opening track "Intro" removes the shooting sequence, and is cut down to 20 seconds. In comparison, the album is not as heavily censored as his previous album Get Rich or Die Tryin', but it is still a very highly censored album ranking in severity with albums such as Jadakiss' Kiss tha Game Goodbye, along with Tony Yayo's Thoughts of a Predicate Felon and Nas' Stillmatic.

Commercial performance

The Massacre sold 1.15 million copies in its first four days of release, becoming the 6th-largest opening week for an album at the time since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking sales in 1991. This is the third best opening week for a hip hop album, behind Eminem's The Marshall Mathers LP, which sold 1.76 million copies in its 1st week, and The Eminem Show which sold 1.32 million copies in its 1st week. As of 2015, the album has sold 5.36 million copies in the United States and 9 million worldwide.
In 2005, The Massacre was ranked as the number one album of the year on the Billboard 200.

Critical reception

The Massacre received generally positive reviews from music critics; it holds a score of 66 out of 100 at Metacritic. Vibe magazine found it "full of finger-pointing panache" and wrote that "50 delivers a taut, albeit less explosive, album aimed at both silencing his detractors and keeping the ladies satisfied". NME observed "a new depth to the murderous lyricism" from 50 Cent on the album. Greg Tate, writing in The Village Voice, said that, like Tupac, 50 Cent is "a ruffian who knows the value of a good pop hook", and called The Massacre "the most diabolically sensous collection of baby-making gangsta music since Pac's All Eyez." Kelefa Sanneh of The New York Times found the album to be "nearly as addictive as its predecessor" and called 50 Cent "a crafty songwriter, specializing in obvious but nearly irresistible tracks that sound better the more you hear them." In his review for The Village Voice, Robert Christgau said that 50 Cent's "ugly gangsta lies" are "incidental to the mood of the piece, which is friendly, relaxed, good-humored, and in the groove."
In a mixed review, Nathan Rabin of The A.V. Club said that, although its strengths lie in 50 Cent's "dark charisma" and "fluid delivery", the album is marred by flaws typical of "big rap releases: At nearly 78 minutes, it's far too long, wildly uneven, and not particularly cohesive sonically or thematically." Uncut magazine wrote that, despite 50 Cent's "cool menace", "not even tight productions from Eminem and Dre can stop things from flagging midway." Lynne D. Johnson of Spin felt that it lacks "originality" and makes artistic concessions: "He's tryin' too hard to be everything to everybody." In a negative review for The Guardian, Alexis Petridis panned him as a lyricist and felt that the album lacks "any of the factors that make the best gangsta rap disturbingly compelling... There's nothing except a string of cliches so limited that repetition is unavoidable".

Accolades

The Massacre was nominated at the 2006 Grammy Awards for Best Rap Album, but lost to Kanye West's Late Registration. It was ranked the twenty fifth best album of the year by Rolling Stone.
According to 50 Cent, the album received more mixed reviews than his album Get Rich Or Die Tryin' because he was focused more on the hooks and song structure: "People fought love for the things they see are significant. Jimmy Iovine was a producer … he loves the significance of production. He loves Dre. I don’t give a fuck what I made … look, I made my whole second album as a 10-record. I knew they wasn’t my best verses but my choruses were right so I focused on my song structure."

Track listing

;Notes
;Sample credits
Credits for The Massacre adapted from Allmusic.

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

''The Massacre (Special Edition)''

Background

The album was re-released under the name The Massacre . It was re-released on September 6, 2005 with a remix of "Outta Control" featuring Mobb Deep. The remix replaces the original version of the song as track 8. The re-release included a bonus DVD with music videos for all of the songs, and the trailer for the movie Get Rich or Die Tryin'. Due to the ongoing feud between 50 Cent and The Game, the re-release does not include the twenty-second track, G-Unit's remix to "Hate It or Love It". The re-release helped the album re-climb the charts to number 2 in the United States. The original version was also re-issued using the special edition track listing leaving out the parts for the DVD.

Track listing

;Notes
signifies an additional producer.
;Sample credits
Informations taken from The Massacre liner notes: