Diamondback Online - The University of Maryland's Independent Daily Student Newspaper

G-Unit's new album, T.O.S. or Terminate On Sight, is an excellent reminder that torture is alive and well in the United States.

The "Guerilla Unit," led by 50 Cent, makes their coin from songs about gangster life. But unlike Tupac Shakur, the late rapper who emphasized the, shall we say, more poetic aspects of the street, G-Unit struggles to achieve even skin-deep insight.

50 Cent's rap is absolutely effortless in that it seems it warranted absolutely no effort - or work or thought, for that matter.

Within the first minute of the first track on T.O.S., G-Unit sets the awful tone and never glances back in the direction of decency or creativity. In "Straight Outta Southside," a mediocre beat accompanies some of the lamest lyrics in rap history. G-Unit member Lloyd Banks starts the album off with this gem of a verse: "I'm a stormy night / You a rainbow ... I'm ridin' dirty but the Bent pimp clean / And got a body like I feed it creatine / My verse stones are diamond / My favorite color's green ..."

Yeats would be proud.

And there's plenty more where that came from, just Exhibit A in the laundry list of everything terribly wrong with T.O.S. Individually, the G-Unit members simply cannot link their lines together into a cohesive, 16-bar verse. They have nothing creative, intelligent or new to contribute to rap, so instead, they recycle lyrics from past mixtapes and albums. Their collective rhyme scene is unbelievably predictable and stupid (stop rhyming "man" with "man"!).

Just listen to their last album, Beg for Mercy, and you'll be convinced that, unlike European cars and fine wine, these rappers only get worse with age. We got it the first time - you make millions of dollars, you bomb cars, and you shoot people.

The production value on this album is also astonishingly low. Most of the beats are indistinguishable and easily forgettable, despite passable tracks care of Swizz Beatz and Rick Rock in "Rider Pt. 2" and "Get Down," respectively. Former G-Unit member Young Buck appears in four tracks here, and you can see why he chose to leave the group. Without question, he has the most talent of the lot, overshadowing 50 Cent and his posse (which has gotten progressively easier since Get Rich or Die Tryin').

Everything about T.O.S. is disappointing. Both 50 Cent and his G-Unit showed so much potential seven years ago when Dr. Dre and Eminem boasted their prodigal son, Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson. But ever since 50 has rejected the help of Dr. Dre and Aftermath, there has been a noticeable negative trend in his album quality.

Whether 50 and crew are getting worse, or everyone else is getting better, one thing is certain: The game is moving on without G-Unit.

davesmith229@gmail.com

RATING: 1?2 out of 5 stars.

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