The Massacre is the second studio album by American rapper 50 Cent. Originally scheduled for a March 7, 2005 release, it was ultimately released on March 3, 2005, via Interscope Records, Eminem's Shady Records, 50 Cent's G-Unit Records, and Dr. Dre's Aftermath Entertainment. With production from Dr. Dre, Eminem, Scott Storch, Sha Money XL and others, the album features guest appearances from G-Unit affiliates Tony Yayo, Olivia, Eminem and Jamie Foxx.
Supported by the singles "Disco Inferno" and the hit "Candy Shop" before release, the album debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200, selling 1.15 million copies in its first four days and staying atop for six weeks after its release. The Massacre received generally positive reviews from music critics upon release.
Background
The original title for the album was revealed as The St. Valentine's Day Massacre (titled after the 1929 North Side, Chicago murder spree of its gang) and 50 Cent intended it to be released on February 15, 2005, but Interscope was not interested. He would then leak Disco Inferno in order to force their hand, which ultimately resulted in the album being scheduled for a March 7 release.
Originally, songs intended for the album included "Hate It or Love It", "How We Do", "Higher", "Church for Thugs" and "Special" but the songs were eventually given to the Game's The Documentary, causing a majority of The Massacre to be reworked.
After 50 Cent released the Game from his G-Unit Records imprint on live radio February 21, 2005, a shootout occurred. Paul Rosenberg of Shady Records and Jimmy Iovine of Interscope worried that the album would underperform due to the negativity of the Hot 97 shooting. 50 and the Game later entered into a truce six days after The Massacre was released, but their animosity rose up again after Game made fun of G-Unit at Hot 97's annual Summer Jam, where he first launched the G-Unot phrase, later turning to a boycott.
Censorship
The censored version of the album censors out most profanity, violence, and all drug content. The track "Gunz Come Out" has inconsistency in the editing, and contains some profanity. The opening intro removes the shooting sequence, and is cut down to 20 seconds. The album cover also removes guns in the background behind the rapper, being replaced by motifs and a gradient background. In comparison, the album is not as heavily censored as his previous album Get Rich or Die Tryin' (2003).
Commercial performance
With a release in the middle of the sales week, The Massacre sold 1.15 million copies in its first four days of release, becoming the sixth-largest opening week for an album at the time since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking sales in 1991. This is the second largest opening week for a hip hop album, behind Eminem's The Marshall Mathers LP (2000), which sold 1.76 million copies in its first week. In February 2020, The Massacre was certified six times platinum for combined sales and album-equivalent units of at least six million copies in the United States. It has sold over eleven million copies worldwide.
In 2005, The Massacre was ranked as the number one album of the year on the Billboard 200. The album fell off after being Mariah Carey's The Emancipation of Mimi hit number one.
Critical reception
The Massacre received generally positive reviews from music critics; it holds a score of 66 out of 100 at Metacritic. Vibe magazine found it "full of finger-pointing panache" and wrote that "50 delivers a taut, albeit less explosive, album aimed at both silencing his detractors and keeping the ladies satisfied". NME observed "a new depth to the murderous lyricism" from 50 Cent on the album. Greg Tate, writing in The Village Voice, said that, like Tupac, 50 Cent is "a ruffian who knows the value of a good pop hook", and called The Massacre "the most diabolically sensous collection of baby-making gangsta music since Pac's All Eyez." Kelefa Sanneh of The New York Times found the album to be "nearly as addictive as its predecessor" and called 50 Cent "a crafty songwriter, specializing in obvious but nearly irresistible tracks that sound better the more you hear them." In his review for The Village Voice, Robert Christgau said that 50 Cent's "ugly gangsta lies" are "incidental to the mood of the piece, which is friendly, relaxed, good-humored, and in the groove."