The Massacre (by 50 Cent, Rap)

Remove the sleeve of the deluxe edition of 50 Cent's THE MASSACRE, and you'll see a photo of the artist aiming a gun at the camera, surrounded by a display of firearms of all kinds. The booklet in the edited version instead includes a photo of the artist pouring water into the cleavage of a scantily clad woman. No surprise, then, when you hear the album, which begins with a girl's voice sighing over a valentine, followed by blasts of gunfire. With an intensity so overdone that it would seem like self-parody if his lyrics weren't so deadly serious, 50 Cent weakens the power of his talent by indulging in this fierce and fatal machismo throughout the CD.

Strong language and constant references to guns, violence, drugs, and explicit sex with objectified women combined with monotonous backing tracks and monotone delivery make The Massacre a hard album for any parent to love. It's too bad, because 50 Cent is a good songwriter. The instrumental tracks are beautifully produced and sometimes even mesmerizing; the lyrics are the work of an obviously intelligent, hard-working man. But they are also unrelentingly nasty, especially if you're female, and the lyrics send a loud-and-clear message that problems are best solved with violence. There isn't a young person in the world who really needs to hear this CD.