In our recent interview with Game, he mentioned just how real the beef between he and 50 Cent was at the time. “Yeah. I’ll just be honest, when The Doctor’s Advocate came out, everywhere I went… I bought a bullet-proof suburban and no one ever shot at it,” the Game said. “I spent $500,000 on a bullet-proof suburban and no one ever shot at us. Pause. I say that because I wish I had my money back. I bought it prematurely. At one point in my career, I thought that me and 50 were gonna end up like Biggie and Pac.” That’s an intense admission, and it proves just how real things seemed at the time between Fif and himself.
Of course, after losing just about everyone, he went ahead and made The Doctor’s Advocate, an album that many consider his best work and a classic in its own right. It revived his career, which, before then, seemed like it might become a victim of the curse of 50. Instead, he stood stronger than ever, and a Cold War between the two seemingly continues to this day. This left us wondering, though: Which emcee had the better post-beef careers? Just like our last head-to-head article featuring Jay Z and Nas, we made an apples-to-apples comparison of the full-length LP’s that the two emcees dropped in relation to each other. That means none of 50 Cent’s G-Unit mixtapes or albums. Well, except one. We added both his G-Unit reunion project The Beauty Of Independence and Game’s strange 2014 compilation Blood Moon: Year Of The Wolf to the outlier section.
*Ties count as votes for both parties
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The Massacre vs. The Doctor’s Advocate
Release Date: “The Massacre” – March 3, 2005 | “The Doctor’s Advocate” – November 14, 2006
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Metacritic Scores: “The Massacre” – 66% | “The Doctor’s Advocate” – 73%
DX Scores: “The Massacre” – 3.5 | “The Doctor’s Advocate” – 3.5
Andre: The Massacrebegins with just that. Bullets spinning out of glocks that would, today, make everyone vomit because of the public shootings that have been happening over the past few years. 2005 was a more innocent time, however, and so the women screaming and bullet cases clinking along an imaginary floor barely raised an eyebrow. There was far less of the good Dr. on this one, something that both albums had in common, but 50 replaced him with over-the-top savagery and charm. “Candy Shop” saw us begin to worship a stiff, nearly morose Olivia, and with “Just a Little Bit” and “‘In My Car” running a stellar backup, the album tries admirably to make up for Dre’s absence. For-the-ladies attempts like “So Amazing” and “Build You Up” mar the album, but in my opinion The Massacre was even grittier than his debut sans those missteps. In that way, this album is Fif’s In My Lifetime Vol. 1, and despite Game’s inspired effort, I give this one a tie.
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Winner: Tie
Ural: Following his exit and later all out war with G-Unit, The Game mentioned in a recent in an interview with Justin Hunte how much against the wall his back was in the creation of The Doctor’s Advocate. Regardless of how much of a classic The Documentary is, he sounded comfortable and confident considering the company he kept. The Doctor’s Advocate couldn’t have been more defiant and a whole lot more personal. Meanwhile, The Massacre was 50 Cent furthering his dominant run that outsold first sales of his wrecking ball debut Get Rich Or Die Trying. Though never reaching the critical love his first outing received, the passage of time has made The Massacre an adequate follow-up. With the controversy revolving The Game, The Doctor’s Advocate should have been a catastrophe. However, “One Blood” and “Couldn’t Get Far” featuring Kanye West represented a stronger package than “Candy Shop” and “Disco Inferno.”
Winner: The Doctor’s Advocate
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Curtis vs. LAX
Release Date: “Curtis” – September 11, 2007 | “LAX” – August 26, 2008
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Metacritic Scores: “Curtis” – 58% | “LAX” – 65%
DX Scores: “Curtis” – 2.5 | “LAX” – 3.5
Andre: The showdown with Kanye’s Graduation ushered in the downfall of Fif. His signature antics involving antagonizing his opponents didn’t fair as well as he may have hoped as he stepped into the ring with a Kanye West ready to ascend to the throne. The album didn’t win the sales battle, but Curtis still had its bangers. “Ayo Technology” is right up there on anyone’s 50 Cent top song list, and “Straight To The Bank” felt tortured in a way despite Fif being in full bravado mode. Still, Curtis counting his riches couldn’t exactly stand up to Game’s third in spite of just how much of a mess it was. I’m still not sure how “LAX Files” made the album, but even with all the features and the sprawl, it was still a solid effort.
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Winner: LAX
Ural: I’m not going to lie, Curtis and LAX were both disappointments. Fiddy’s third full-length project was thoroughly uninteresting and lacked his signature aggression. No surprise that he came out as the loser during his sells battle with Kanye West. Disappointing considering some of the creative risks he took on Curtis. Going the Timbaland and Justin Timberlake route on “Ayo Technology” or even getting Mary J Blige for “All Of Me” were incredibly too safe. The same could be said for LAX which was almost just as straightforward. At this point, The Game’s third album felt as if he was going through the motions. And yes, “Game’s Pain” still serves as his worst single to date.
Winner: Tie
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Before I Self Destruct vs. The R.E.D. Album
Release Date: “Before I Self Destruct” – November 9, 2009 | “The R.E.D. Album” – August 19, 2011
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Metacritic Scores: “Before I Self Destruct” 62% – | “The R.E.D. Album” – 61 %
DX Scores: “Before I Self Destruct” – 3.5 | “The R.E.D. Album” – 4
Andre: The R.E.D Albumsaw a Game rejuvenated and reattached to Dr. Dre. The affiliation came in more than handy, as Game sounded confident and clever on most of the albums 21 tracks.
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50 slimmed down for Before I Self Destruct both thematically and feature wise, and the result was a more focused effort than Curtis. But although he seemed to double down on his strengths with tracks like “Death To My Enemies,” “Psycho” featuring Eminem and “Flight (187),” 50 couldn’t quite seem to find the magic that guided his first and, in my opinion, second affairs.
Winner: The R.E.D Album
Ural: To date, The R.E.D. Album may be my favorite album from The Game. It felt like a new start creatively and professionally for him. First, his newest reestablished relationship with Dr. Dre allowed him to have him serve as narrator throughout the entire project. The Great Doctor’s influence is present on each of the album’s 21 tracks. The Game’s narrative ability went into overload this time around. “California Dream” probably serves as the best first-hand account of his career. Lyrically, he transcended thanks to tracks like “Born In The Trap.” Then The R.E.D. Album also features his most diverse guest feature roster to date. For Christ sakes, everyone from Kendrick Lamar, Drake, Nelly Furtado, Wale, Rick Ross, Big Boi, E-40 and even Beanie Sigel are represented. Before I Self Destruct didn’t have any of the past issues The Massacre and Curtis endured. 50 kept the feature list incredibly short with just Eminem, Ne-Yo, and R.Kelly. Though more focused more on the streets, he started to sound a little too formulaic which hampered the project. Even the Jay and Game diss “So Disrespectful” was a poor use of the same Tha Bizness production that Killer Mike and Ice Cube better utilized on I Pledge Allegiance to the Grind II track “Pressure.”
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Winner: The R.E.D. Album
Animal Ambition vs. Jesus Piece
Release Date: “Animal Ambition” – June 3, 2014 | “Jesus Piece” – December 11, 2012
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Metacritic Scores: “Animal Ambition” – 53% | “Jesus Piece” – 66%
DX Scores: “Animal Ambition” – 2 | “Jesus Piece” – 3.5
Andre: OnAnimal Ambitionwe expected to hear a 50 that had been one hit away for some time to both embrace the changes that have occurred since his debut all while expanding his signature sound. That didn’t quite happen, though. We got 50, instead, at his most Jay Gatsby, lamenting his enormous wealth and responsibilities while searching for the green light across the bay. Sometimes success is a lot for a person to handle. But to hear 50 not even attempt to experiment with this sound made Animal Ambition a deeply flawed though worthy part of his canon.
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Jesus Piece was instead just plain fun. From “Ali Bomaye” down through “See No Evil” and “Celebration,” the album just sounded like the project Game really wanted to make. He got political as well, and while he did co-opt his co-stars on a few tracks, he retained his grizzly demeanor enough to pull things together.
Winner: Jesus Piece
Ural: For 50’s first go as an independent artist, one would think he’d run with his newly gained freedom on Animal Ambition. The end result was an album that sounded like an album that felt like Get Rich Or Die Tryin lite. Then there was the overabundance of guest verses from Kidd Kidd. Doesn’t mean it totally lacks some heaters thanks to the titular track and “Pilot.” Jesus Piece will probably be known as The Game’s most politically articulate work of art. On the flip side, “Celebration” is probably the best usage of Bone Thugs-N-Harmony classic “First Of The Month.” Though not his best work, it’s still a whole lot better than Animal Ambition.
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Winner: Jesus Piece
The Outlier Section:
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The Beauty Of Independence vs. Blood Moon: Year Of The Wolf
Release Date: “The Beauty Of Independence” – August 25, 2014 | “Blood Moon: Year Of The Wolf” – October 14, 2014
DX Scores: “The Beauty Of Independence” – 4 | “Blood Moon: Year Of The Wolf” – 3
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Andre: The Beauty Of Independence was50’s G-Unit reunion and it came out the gate independent and strong, surprising a lot of people. Kidd Kidd especially sounded like he’d stepped out of a hyperbolic time chamber, giving some of the best performances of his career. In contrast, Blood Moon: Year Of The Wolf was a world-class mess. Though we didn’t know it at the time, the album was apparently put out to get Game out of his obligations at Interscope. It showed, and an opportunity to add to his mostly stellar catalog was dashed.
Winner: The Beauty Of Independence
Ural: Regardless of how successful The Game has become as a solo artist, he’s had a terrible time successfully cultivating his own as 50 Cent did. The best example was Blood Moon: Year Of The Wolf which should have been a showcase for his Blood Money Entertainment label. Instead, the project comes off as a compilation that doesn’t put the label first as the feature list is out of this world. It’s the complete opposite from The Beauty Of Independencewhich is solely a G-Unit affair. Therefore, the project sounds like a great showcase for the newly reinvigorated collective. Serving as a replacement for Game, Kidd Kidd actually steps up to the plate beside 50, Tony Yayo, Lloyd Banks and Young Buck.
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Winner: The Beauty Of Independence
Overall Winner: The Game (8 Votes to 4)
Andre Grant is an NYC native turned L.A. transplant that has contributed to a few different properties on the web and is now the Features Editor for HipHopDX. He’s also trying to live it to the limit and love it a lot. Follow him on Twitter @drejones.
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Ural Garrett is a Los Angeles-based journalist and HipHopDX’s Senior Features Writer. When not covering music, video games, films and the community at large, he’s in the kitchen baking like Anita. Follow him on Twitter @Uralg.
