After the very lackluster, disappointing Curtis, and an embarassing defeat by Kanye West, there seemed to be some questions about where 50 Cent’s music career was heading.  Was he still hungry? Was he more into acting than rapping?  With the mixtape, War Angel, he shows that he’s still got some fire in his belly.  War Angel is an angry, violent, aggressive effort.  It’s 50 on a rampage.

“Talking in Codes” has a beat with horns and base so bangin’ you can almost tell 50 has to hold back his excitement a little bit.  ”There’s nothing to it/cock it, bang it and get rid a dat/…he won’t get a chance to twitter that,” 50 goes off on the track.  ”C.R.E.A.M. 2009″ is a down and dirty update of the Wu-Tang classic.  And “Better Come on Your A Game,” is 50 at his braggadocio best.

There’s not a lot of subtlety here.  The theme is pretty simple: Mess with 50, and he’s going to do very bad things to you.  It’s done with gusto, although the subject matter can get monotonous.  There’s a lot of murder, murder, murder, kill, kill, kill on this mixtape, like on the aptly titled “Redrum (Murder)”, for instance. Supposing you’ve been shot nine times, that’s going to be on your mind, but it can make for some disturbing listening.

“I’ll Do Anything” and “London Girl” are your tracks for the ladies, and there’s a lot of crass sex talk.  Not exactly creative songwriting; no fat-kid-that-loves-cake level metaphors here.

But that’s not what this mixtape is about.  It’s about 50 sending the message that he still wants to win (“Get the Message,” “I Gotta Win.”).  He sends that message in a very threatening and direct way.  It’s good to know he still feels he’s got something to prove.  It’s also kind of scary. - Stefan Schumacher