Despite using a sample from a 20 year-old hip hop standard, and subsequently sounding decidedly (and purposefully) retro, 50 Cent had never sounded as relevant or inspired as he did on "I Get Money".
Where some songs are the sample - like Cassidy's "I'm A Hustla" (a fine song, but nothing next to this) - "I Get Money" works itself around the hook and makes its point on its own merits. It's hard to decide what's more menacing about it - the whirring, dizzying keyboard hum that appears after the first measure and doesn't let up; the massive bass drum that kicks in at the same time; or the relentless Fifty himself, who boasts:
"Yeah I smell like the vault
I used to sell dope
I did play the block
Now I play on boats
In the south of France
Baby, St. Tropez
Get a tan? I'm already black
Rich? I'm already that
Gangsta, get a gat
Hit a head in a hat
Call that a riddle rap
Shit, fuck the chitter-chat
I'm the baker, I bake the bread
The barber, I cut ya head
The marksman, I spray the lead
I blood clot, chop ya leg
I used to sell dope
I did play the block
Now I play on boats
In the south of France
Baby, St. Tropez
Get a tan? I'm already black
Rich? I'm already that
Gangsta, get a gat
Hit a head in a hat
Call that a riddle rap
Shit, fuck the chitter-chat
I'm the baker, I bake the bread
The barber, I cut ya head
The marksman, I spray the lead
I blood clot, chop ya leg
Do not fuck with the kid"
He even has a new catchphrase to replace "It's your birthday", finally. ("I run New York!")
In a crowded field, he hits #4 for 2007, but in any other year this is easily a #1 or 2 song.
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