It seems that those fans waiting so eagerly for 50 Cent’s fourth solo album were in fact, not so eager.
The album, entitled Before I Self-Destruct recorded disappointing sales that, earlier in the rapper’s career, would have made him imitate the album title and self-destruct out of shame. But, according to mtvnews.com, 50 Cent isn’t too bothered by the meagre release.
The album release was the lowest opening week of his lengthy career, premiering at #5 on 160,000 sales. 50 Cent is blaming some of these lackluster numbers on the fact that the record leaked weeks before the big debut, instigating an earlier-than-anticipated release date by the record company.
Boombox.com published the following sentiment that 50 Cent told DJ Green Lantern’s Siruis Satellite radio show in an interview:
“For myself, I’m asking myself, ‘What did you expect, bro? Your fans got it when it was available, at the first available opportunity,’ ” he said earlier this week. “For me this album is a prequel — it’s full circle. When the energy around a project is the way this is, you can’t really feel like it’s a failure. Like, I look at the numbers and am like, ‘What is this?’ I’ve already assessed that the album has been out a month before its actual release period [due to an online leak, and the album's early digital release due to the leak]. So when you got that, you go, ‘Well, what did you actually expect?’ ”
Apparently his attempted beef with rap mogul Jay-Z and public disagreements with Rick Ross weren’t positive factors in the light of publicity. Though 50 Cent has broken records with albums such as Get Rich or Die Tryin’, it appears that this newest release is more of a flop than a fighter.
