50 Cent flops with “Before I Self Destruct”

After the flop of his 2007 album, Curtis, expectations were big for 50 Cent’s next album, Before I Self Destruct. This album was supposed to be the one where 50 finally returned to the hardcore nature of his first album, Get Rich or Die Tryin’. In promotion of this album, 50 marketed it as a cross of his hardcore best and the type of music featured on The Massacre.

Coming into this album, it took him a while to find the right single. In October 2008, he released the single, “Get Up.” The song was supposed to be the lead single for Before I Self Destruct. The song got off to a slow start and the many 50 Cent detractors began to taunt him because of the lack of support. That prompted him to make a bold statement, saying that the song was going to be bigger than “I Get Money.”

Almost a year after the flop of that single and the frequent push-backs of his album, 50 Cent secured a release date for the album. On top of that, his single, “Baby by Me,” featuring Ne-Yo became a quick hit. Once that song took off and his “So Disrespectful” leaked, everyone expected 50 Cent to sell a lot of records with the album.

That did not happen, despite all of the hype and promotion, then the hit single, the album still flopped hard. Before the album’s release, 50 Cent spoke on the possibility of the album selling one million copies in its first week. As opposed to the one million copies, 50 only sold 159,000 copies in his first week.