Songoftheday 11/17/23 - Go, shorty it's your birthday, we gon' party like it's your birthday...

 

 

"In Da Club" - 50 Cent

from the album Get Rich Or Die Tryin' (2003)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #1 (nine weeks)

Weeks in the Top-40: 26

 

Today's song comes from the rapper who was also yesterday's SOTD artist, Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson, who broke through on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 with hit top-20 hit "Wanksta" from the soundtrack to Eminem's movie 8 Mile. Two months after the release of that song, 50 Cent returned with what would be the lead single from his debut album on Shady (Eminem)/Aftermath (Dr. Dre)/Interscope Records, Get Rich Or Die Tryin'. "In Da Club", written by Jackson with producers Dr. Dre and Mike Elizondo, is a mid-tempo party record, aiming for a wider audience but not so much as to slip a nod to his drug dealer past in the chorus at the get-go as he says "Look mami I got the X if your into takin' drugs". In the verses its brand porn and chest-puffing, as he name-checks Dr. Dre and Eminem as well as rapper Xzibit and 2Pac. And again unfortunately he has to slip in the f-word slur (possibly a jab at Ja Rule again) that is common in the genre but definitely takes this down in quality as unnecessary BS. The production is thankfully unobtrusive, with just the synth chords holding down the rhythm. The single radio version substitutes the slur and drug references without just bleeping it out, making an improvement. The music video for this is big-budget, eschewing fake CGI for location material, and with cameos of three of the name-checked friends (obviously no Pac) the stamp of legitimacy was there. As opposed to the aggression of "Wanksta", this was more a fun vibe, and with such conquered mainstream radio in a huge way...

"In Da Club" spent over two months at the top of Billboard's Hot 100 starting in March of 2003, while also spending nine weeks atop their R&B singles chart and twelve weeks at #1 on the Rap Songs list. On the radio, the song took four weeks at the top of the Mainstream Top-40 airplay chart, ten weeks at #1 on the Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop radio list, and nine on top of the dance/R&B-oriented Rhythmic format. Internationally, the single topped the charts in Germany, Australia, Canada (sales), Switzerland, Ireland, Denmark, New Zealand, and Croatia. It also reached the top ten in the Netherlands (#2), Belgium (#2 Flanders/#4 Wallonia), the United Kingdom (#3), Austria (#3), Norway (#3), Greece (#3), Sweden (#4), Romania (#4), Finland (#8), and Italy (#9), and hit #16 in both France and Hungary. The Get Rich Or Die Tryin' album, released in February of that year, spent six weeks at #1 on the Billboard 200 sales tally, and eight weeks atop the R&B Albums list, going on to sell over nine million copies, Billboard's biggest album and single of 2003. At the Grammy Awards in 2004, I mentioned yesterday that he was nominated for Best New Artist, losing to the rock band Evanescence, while "In Da Club" was up for Best Male Solo Rap Performance and Best Rap Song, losing both to his "boss" Eminem for "Lose Yourself". The Get Rich Or Die Tryin' set was up for Best Rap Album, which Outkast took home for their double-disc opus Speakerboxx/The Love Below (rightfully). 

Both 50 Cent and the Get Rich album will be back to the series.

(8/10)

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That same year, Beyonce did an unauthorized interpolation of "In Da Club" for her mixtape Speak My Mind subtitled "Sexy Lil Thug". It would be her first lead-artist solo appearance on Billboard's R&B Singles chart at #67 from just airplay, since it wasn't officially for sale...

 

 50 Cent appeared on MTV's Spring Break programming to perform the single...

Next up, supporting Eminem on tour in Detroit...

And lastly, at the BRIT Awards in 2004...

Tomorrow I'll have my top hit tunes from last week, and on Monday SOTD will be back with a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame rapper spreading the word.