200 Bars and Runnin was a album-hype song for The Documentary. He released it underground late last year to get himself some hype.
Power of the Dollar was going to be released until he got shot…that’s when it just kind of disappeared.
I’m going out on a limb here, but I still think Banks could be better than 50 if he wasn’t part of G-Unit. His lyrics are just solid and his flow is tight, too. Buck is pretty hard, harder than 50 at times, but his problem was that he chose to veer away from Dre and Em on the production of his album, so it wasn’t as big a commercial success as it should’ve been, but it was bananas none-the-less. If 50 doesn’t get his stuff together Banks, Buck and Game will all be taking his spot here pretty soon.
As far as the label, saying they’re going down the crapper is a bit of an overdramatization. However, saying they’re trying to do too much is not. Look, they put out Banks, Buck, D12, 50, Eminem and Game all within like 6 months of each other. That’s doing way too much. That’s a lot of big names being released at one time and thus a lot of expectations to meet. When you’re trying to hype up new artists and then at the same time maintain the careers of some of the best ever (Em and 50), you’re destined to have to sacrifice somewhere. I think the label needs to slow down a little bit. They still plan on releasing Stat Quo, Busta Rhymes, Eve, Obie Trice and other albums this year. That’s a lot. Check out http://www.aftermathmusic.com to see all the releases coming out this year. Someone’s going to lose out here, unfortunately.
Oh yeah, if you go to http://www.rapreviews.com you’ll see the review on the new 50 album. He doesn’t mention the beef with Game, but he does give what I’d call a very fair review. He doesn’t blow the CD up to meet the hype nor does he bash it. I found it to be very fair and I think you will, too. Maybe a little better than I’d rate it, but fair none-the-less. Plus he makes a couple valid points as well. This guy reviewing the CD knows his stuff, too. If you read past reviews, he really hits the nail on the head on a lot of reviews and he isn’t really biased at all. I usually go to that site before buying any older CD’s personally.