50 Cent: Curtis - Kanye West: Graduation

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Artist: 50 Cent

Album: Curtis

Label: Shady Records/Aftermath/Interscope Records

After putting out two luke warm singles "Straight To The Bank" and "Amusement Park" (not to mention "Fully Loaded") his release date pushed back 50 Cent finally got everyone’s attention with his third single "I Get Money" produced by Apex where 50 spits "Have a baby by me baby/be a millionaire/I write the check before the baby come/who the hell cares" which seem to remind the fans of that vintage 50 Cent they first grew to love. An along with "Ayo Technology" featuring Justin Timberlake and Timbaland which was the first time 50 got together with a big name producer (outside of Dr. Dre & Shady of course) put him right back in a position to "Run New York" and the charts! But outside of all the hype leading up to September 11 and really getting a chance to just listen to the album I don’t think "Curtis" was his best effort to date by far. I love songs like "Follow My Lead" (which was leaked early along with the video), "I’ll Still Kill" featuring Akon, and "All Of Me" featuring Mary J. Blidge but after that, songs like "Fire", "Touch The Sky" and "Come & Go" (which is produced by Dr. Dre) are too much not to ignore especially coming from a talent artist like 50 Cent. Some other tracks that maybe in your rotation are "Movin On Up" and "Man Down".

Artist: Kanye West

Album: Graduation

Label: Roc-A-Fella Records/Def Jam Records

With two successful albums on his belt Kanye West is back with his latest album "Graduation" to add one more too it. Lead by his first single "Cant tell Me Nothing" (produced by Kanye West & DJ Toomp) which probably shocked many compared to releasing a "Gold Digger Pt.2" type anthem Mr. West went against the grain and Def Jam and won big not too mention with his follow up single "Stronger" that his label also disapproved as a second single but debut on the charts at #42 and shot up to #6. Everyone may not respect every outfit Kanye wears but you have to respect every album he puts out for example opening up to the world about his relationship with Jay-Z on "Big Brother" to "Everything I Am" with bars like "You see how I creped up/You how I’ll play a big role in Chicago like Queen Latifah" and last but not least "Good Life" featuring T-Pain where Mr. West and DJ Toomp show off their production chemistry at its best again. But even someone who is passionate about his music is not perfect clearly shown on "Drunk and Hot Girls" featuring Mos Def or the highly anticipated "Barry Bonds" featuring Lil Wayne which I felt was a good song compared to a possible great song. My personal favorite two songs on the album is actually the opener "Good Morning" and "The Glory" because of lines like "In two years Dwayne Wayne/became Dwayne Wade" or "So yeah, at the Grammy’s I went ultra Travolta/yeah, that tuxedo might have been a little greedo/but with my ego! I can stand here in Speedo and be looked at like a fucking hero". Other key tracks I recommend are "I Wonder", "Champion", and "Home Coming" featuring Chris Martin (of Cold Play).