A towering personality such as 50 Cent’s is rarely on the backburner for long. After a quiet period after his Elephant In The Sand mixtape, a barrage of news came out the camp including Young Buck’s dismissal. The recent turmoil would attribute the rapid fire coverage on the fast approaching Terminate On Sight, the latest album from his G Unit crew.

Those anticipating his latest mixtape, Sincerely Yours, Southside, to follow the beef and feature tough talk riddled through songs about the current trials and tribulations of the crew won’t find them amongst these selections. 50 Cent takes a different approach, by rapping over some soulful classics, and then letting the rest of the song play, acting more as a guide and DJ through the soulful tunes, instead of ripping on samples.

This isn’t to say that he doesn’t deliver some of the old 50 flame amongst the tracks. Curtis sets things off with “I’m Rising To The Top” with lines like "Go tell 'Preme I bought Baisely Park." On his verses on “This Is For You” (Shalamar – “This Is For The Love In You”) and ‘Cruising Music” (The Isley Brothers – “For The Love Of You”) you get some solid top flight 50 lyricism and panache. His topics range from his youth, to women, just his normal braggadocio swagger he delivers.

With music ranging from Beverly and Maze, Stevie Wonder, and many other soulful acts, 50 is at times outshined by the original masterpieces. His verse on “I Wanna Be Your Favorite” (Prince – “I Want To Be Your Lover”) fails to make any lasting impression. 50 also doesn’t follow the full theme and range of the original pieces which doesn’t always work well (“That Girl”).

It isn’t a secret that 50 loves to manipulate the press to cover his projects using some rash tactics. Thus, his latest project, the mellow Sincerely Yours, Southside is liable to really catch people by surprise. 50 keeps his verses short, and lets his favorites ride, reminding many of us of barbeques and family reunions of days past; and that’s never a bad thing.

50 Cent

"I'm Rising To The Top"

50 Cent

"This Is For You"