Released on June 1, 2002,
on Street Dance and Thurd World Muzic.
To the general public, it was with Get Rich Or Die Tryin’ in 2003 that 50 Cent emerged as rap’s new superstar, the defining figure of the early 2000s. The album was an instant sensation. It sold nearly 700,000 copies in its first week and debuted at No. 2 on the U.S. charts. Yet this triumph did not come out of nowhere. The album was produced and championed by two of rap’s biggest names, Eminem and Dr. Dre. And if those two had taken such a strong interest in the rising New York MC, it was because a series of mixtapes had already laid the groundwork for Curtis James Jackson III – most notably this one, the aptly titled 50 Cent Is The Future.
When it was released in 2002, 50 Cent stood at a crossroads. Having begun his career in the mid-1990s under the guidance of Jam Master Jay, his momentum came to a sudden halt after surviving a shooting in 2000, which led his record label to drop him. At the time, the music industry considered him too controversial, too radioactive. To find his way back, the rapper turned to the mixtape circuit. One of them, Guess Who’s Back – a compilation of previously recorded material – caught Eminem’s attention and made him 50’s benefactor. But the most significant release, the one that became the soundtrack of the summer of 2002 for rap fans, was undoubtedly 50 Cent Is The Future.
The mixtape borrows beats from a wide range of artists – Jay-Z, Mobb Deep, Ruff Ryders, Jadakiss, Ma$e, among others – and it chooses them well. But what truly stands out is 50 Cent himself. He doesn’t simply rap over other people’s instrumentals; he elevates them, making them hit even harder with his slightly slurred delivery – a lasting effect of the bullet that struck his face – and his smooth, effortless flow, which slips naturally into melody whenever he chooses. Nor should the other rappers be overlooked. As the cover, featuring three men, makes clear, this is not a solo project but a G-Unit release, with Lloyd Banks and Tony Yayo alongside 50 Cent, while DJ Whoo Kid serves as the mixtape’s principal DJ and host.
Given 50 Cent’s New York roots and the artists whose music he reworks, the mixtape is firmly grounded in the East Coast boom bap tradition. Yet it sounds strikingly modern, reflecting the lessons he had absorbed from the rapidly ascending Southern rap scene. His style – built largely on outsized, intimidating braggadocio – is looser and more flexible than the austere New York sound of the era. His larger-than-life persona embraces the same shameless materialism that characterized Southern rap, tempered with a knowing sense of humor. That Southern influence surfaces at several points, such as when he references Ludacris on “U Should Be Her,” and later on “A Lil’ Bit Of Everything UTP,” where G-Unit teams up with UTP, the group featuring future G-Unit member Young Buck alongside Juvenile.
50 Cent was the future. The title declared it, the music proved it, and history confirmed it, turning the G-Unit leader into the quintessential survivor: the street-hardened outlaw who became both a great rapper and a formidable businessman. The influence of 50 Cent Is The Future would extend even further. This release – later given an official CD edition – not only launched its creator’s career; it also established the mixtape, once and for all, as the definitive launching pad for any rapper hungry for success.
