50 Cents Inspired by Biggie, Busta Rhymes for The Big 10 Mixtape

The G-Unit General 50 Cent is trumpeting a milestone for himself today (December 9) with the release of new music; Fif dropped his The Big Ten mixtape at noon to celebrate a decade since his breakthrough tape, 50 Cent is the Future, dropped.

“I wanted to create a specific time for everybody to get it right then,” he told XXL about releasing the tape, which you can download it right off his Facebook page, at noon. “My mixtape material will be mixed and mastered because I feel I can’t take back the errors. I hear slight errors in some of the old stuff. People know that stuff and adjusted to it sounding the wrong way. I’m sure the music will be here long after I’m here. Other artist will take it and create something based on it. Be influenced by it.”

50 said he was inspired by a few different artists when creating the project. “Stop Crying,” the first selection off the tape that leaked last week, takes from Notorious B.I.G.’s “You’re Nobody until Somebody Kills You.”

“The reason the first song that came on the tape was ‘Stop Crying’ is because I used a line from Big," he explained. "I thought about it and said, ‘what did he say I can change into a different context?' The whole tape, it feels like I’m going one way, then I go another way. I let the record start with the old school vibe then I go into a whole other element. I drew from different things. Busta Rhymes’ ‘Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Can See’, I drew from that on ‘Put Your Hands Up’ joint [off of Big 10]. It was really four days of work. I had pieces I compiled from older elements.”

50 says he was in the middle of the SK mixtape, then remembered his anniversary and started working on the Big 10. G-Unit family members Kidd Kidd, Tony Yayo and new Queens female MC Paris all appear on the tape. Jalil Beats,  DJ Khalil, Jake 1 and a gaggle of new producers provided beats for the project.

“Condom on my heart, muthafuck your feelings,” Kidd Kidd raps on “Niggas Be’ Schemin’.” On the track, Kidd also talks about getting shot and warns that no one should try him again. The warfare continues on “Shooting Guns” while the aforementioned “Put Ya Hands Up” is a party record where Fif insists that his swag is unlimited and that “you can tell a lot about a nigga by his bitch.” “Wait Til Tonight” samples the classic Bobby Womack “If You Think You’re Lonely Now."—Shaheem Reid