Beg for Mercy

Following a murder attempt and the subsequent industry blacklisting, 50 Cent focused on releasing mixtapes throughout 2002. This allowed him to generate public interest in his music. "At the time, 50's music was inescapable in New York", wrote Complex. Several mixtapes were recorded and released under G-Unit, the group consisting of him and his childhood friends Lloyd Banks and Tony Yayo. His debut mixtape, ''Guess Who's Back?, reached Eminem. Impressed with the project, Eminem introduced 50 Cent to Dr. Dre and helped him sign a $1 million record deal. In 2003, 50 Cent released his debut album Get Rich or Die Tryin'''. By the end of the year, the album sold 12 million copies worldwide and was certified six-times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). While working on a follow-up album, 50 Cent decided to delay it and instead start production on G-Unit's debut album, Beg for Mercy. During production on the album, Tony Yayo was sentenced to jail in 2003 on charges of gun possession and bail jumping, and so he makes only two appearances on the entire record, on the tracks "Groupie Love", and "I Smell Pussy". "I Smell Pussy" originally appeared on G-Unit's mixtape "Automatic Gunfire" as the song "U Remind Me of My Bitch", and the mixtape version contained additional disses aimed at Murder Inc. Records. His image, which is from a photo taken from the photo shoot for ''Get Rich or Die Tryin''', is seen on the brick wall of the album cover as he could not be photographed due to the jail sentence. Around this time, Nashville, Tennessee-based rapper Young Buck, who worked with 50 Cent on the song "Blood Hound" from "Get Rich or Die Tryin'", developed a close working relationship and friendship with G-Unit, resulting in his induction into the group as a temporary replacement for Tony Yayo. ==Release==

Beg for Mercy was released on November 14, 2003, four days earlier than planned to combat piracy. Due to the rush release, some stores did not receive the album in time. The album was released on the same day as Jay-Z's The Black Album, which was billed as his final album before retirement. Although they had toured together earlier that year, rumors suggested growing tensions between 50 Cent and Jay-Z. The release date change for Beg for Mercy was announced a day after that of The Black Album, which had also suffered from piracy. ==Commercial performance==

50 Cent was confident in the commercial performance of Beg for Mercy and planned to set a first-week sale record with it. The album debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 chart with 377,000 copies sold in the first week, behind 2Pac's Tupac: Resurrection and Jay-Z's The Black Album. On the second week, Beg for Mercy peaked at No. 2 with 327,000 more copies sold, and another 193,000 copies sold in the third week. By April 2008, it had sold over 2.7 million units in the U.S. and has since been certified double platinum by the RIAA. ==Critical reception==

Comparing Beg for Mercy to 50 Cent's previous projects, Jon Caramanica in a review for Blender said that "50's signature wit is notably absent". Describing the album's lead single "Stunt 101" as a "glamour-happy" song, he believed that it does not represent the rest of the album, which "play[s] like a document of struggle, not a celebration of success". The Observer writer Kitty Empire agreed with him, calling it "50's second album this year". However, she was more critical, calling some of the album's tracks "creatively bankrupt depths" that are "labouring gangsta rap clichés with a total absence of humour, originality or self-awareness" and describing its production as "lazy rip-offs of Dr Dre's style". The album's themes were the main focus of Andy Gill's review for The Independent. "The lyrics to Beg for Mercy read like some grotesque cross between Hustler and Guns & Ammo", wrote the critic. In a retrospective review, Jason Birchmeier of AllMusic wrote that he views Beg for Mercy as an event, in context of its release alongside Jay-Z's The Black Album, and while "it's not quite as exciting" otherwise, it is still better than other 2003 rap albums. "Beg for Mercy is surprisingly solid, sounding very much like a whole rather than the usual hodgepodge of singles and filler", concluded the journalist. ==Track listing==

Samples • "G-Unit" contains samples of "Million Dollars" by Triumvirat • "My Buddy" contains samples of "Agony or Ecstasy?" by Ennio Morricone, and audio excerpts from the film Scarface. • "Wanna Get to Know You" contains samples of "Come Live with Me Angel" by Marvin Gaye. • "Groupie Love" contains samples of "Simply Beautiful" by Al Green. • "Betta Ask Somebody" contains samples of "Blue Leopard" by Pierre-Alain Dahan. • "Footprints" contains samples of "Walk with Me" by Martha Bass. • "Eye for Eye" contains samples of "Hello Love" by Eden Raskin. • "Smile" contains samples of "I Too Am Wanting" by Syreeta • "Salute U" contains samples of "Brandenburg Concerto #1 in F Major (Allego Moderato)" by Johann Sebastian Bach • "Beg for Mercy" contains samples of "Back Down" by 50 Cent • "Lay You Down" contains samples of "Doctor Marvello" by Klaatu • "I Smell Pussy" contains samples of "The Greatest Sex" by R. Kelly • "Collapse (G-Unit Freestyle)" contains samples of "'Till I Collapse" by Eminem ==Charts==

Weekly charts Year-end charts ==Certifications==