In a lot of ways, the (relative) humbling of 50 Cent has done wonders for his art. At their best, the mixtapes he's released since he was the most popular artist in the country serve as a sort of state of the union of rap as seen through the eyes of someone who has experienced a few generational and regional shifts. On 5 (Murder By Numbers) 50 Cent has a song called "NY" that has the sort of dark twinkle that dudes on the East Coast loved messing with circa 2000, while "Can I Speak To You" features a very welcome appearance from Schoolboy Q and a lush sample that places it firmly in the dusky songs that could have been produced by Just Blaze and vaguely affiliated with Rocafella subgenre that we just made up. Think of this as the summer companion to Lloyd Banks' underrated The Cold Corner 2.
Download: 50 Cent, 5 (Murder By Numbers)
