I just had to get this off my chest because it's making me mad and it seems as if another trend is coming on (yall know that in rap, ANYTHING can become a trend). If you haven't heard already, 50 Cent has now said that his next album, Before I Self Destruct, may be his last one "if it doesn't make sense for me to continue and actually do it." What I want to know is, what does he mean by if it makes sense? Between his first two and making money off of all the other G-Unit members (both those that are still present and those that got left), not to mention all of his other money making ventures, we know that it doesn't have to deal with money. If he's talking about record sales, while he faired very well his last time around, I can't help but think that he wouldn't have sold nearly as much had it not been for Kanye, given how poorly the G-Unit album did.

However, 50 is jus the most recent artist to pull this stunt, so this is not just about him. He is at least the third or fourth major artists to claim retirement, or possible retirement, since Jay did it. While it worked for Jay, it hasn't really done much for anybody else. As I mentioned in another blog, although I can't really see Lupe saying this because somebody else tried it, we see that he backed out of his retirement statement. The Game claimed that LAX was his final album, however he has now come out and said that he is working on another album now.  While there were some joints on his last album I could get with, his sales were not affected very much by his retirement claim. And let's not forget, 50 claimed he was going to retire if he lost to Kanye, and that proved not to be true (which wasn't a surprise to anybody).

I'm wondering if there is something more than people just trying to sell records, though. We all know that the record industry is struggling, which  leads to no doubt in my mind that part of artists claiming retirement is to sell records, but is there something in addition to that. Have rappers genuinely become bored with rap? With all the retirement announcements, with autotune sung albums, with rapper-turned-rocker artists, could artists just be ready to move on?

It's normal for people eventally want to do something new, but what is scarty about this is that these are coming from artists who have not been in the game very long. Lupe has only dropped two albums, but he as talking about giving it up (he even dropped a rock song). The game was only three albums in when he was mentioned he was moving on. Lil Wayne was at his absolute peak in hip hop, but is now switcing over to rap (although most would argue that this is just his attempt to gain even more acknowledgement).

This could just be another effect of the lack of creativity and quality music coming out of this genre. Hopefully, when those that are deserving of admiration, acknowledgement, success, and exposure are brought to the forefront, everybody jumping ship will stop. Hopefully, when this economy gets turned around a few more people are buying albums, everybody jumping ship will stop. Until that time, we as hip hop fans can only hope that those that are giving up music worth listening to will continue to do hat they do best and that people will stop using retirement as an excuse for why people should buy their album.

How are yall feeling about the whole retirement thing? Is it getting out of hand or am I just making this stuff up? What will it take for people to stick around. Let me hear it, through comment or email (straightouttahiphop@gmail.com).


Peace.