G-Unit - T.O.S. (Terminate on Sight)

You either love G-Unit, or you hate them. There’s never been a group as controversial as the infamous G-G-G-G-G-G-G-Unit! (Was that the right amount of “G”s?). Brother against brother, mother against son, seemingly everyone’s picked a side. This not-so-civil war is largely the result of 50’s constant beef with anyone who breathes. But whatever the cause, the once impenetrable G-Unit has fallen on tough times, relatively speaking. First a dude wearing window-blind shades crushes their fearless leader’s album, then Young Buck gets a dishonorable discharge from the G-Army. It ain’t 2003 no more.  Like a … ...Read the full album review

You either love G-Unit, or you hate them. There’s never been a group as controversial as the infamous G-G-G-G-G-G-G-Unit! (Was that the right amount of “G”s?). Brother against brother, mother against son, seemingly everyone’s picked a side. This not-so-civil war is largely the result of 50’s constant beef with anyone who breathes. But whatever the cause, the once impenetrable G-Unit has fallen on tough times, relatively speaking. First a dude wearing window-blind shades crushes their fearless leader’s album, then Young Buck gets a dishonorable discharge from the G-Army. It ain’t 2003 no more. 

Like a true general, 50 has learned from his defeat at the hands of Commander West, realizing he needed to drop the Amusement Park rides and return to what made the Unit famous in the first place; shooting people. (Actually getting shot made him famous in the first place, but let’s not split hairs). With that in mind, Curtis, Lloyd Banks, and the now un-incarcerated Tony Yayo are back with a vengeance on their sophomore release Terminate On Sight.
       
Since the world is so divided for and against Mr. Jackson and the boys, I’ve decided to roll out, for the first time in album review history, a Choose Your Own Review! That’s right, it’s two reviews in one! Just scroll down, choose the review you agree with, and enjoy. Plus, I’m scared that if I wrote a purely negative review 50’d get jacked up on Vitamin Water and come beat me to death. He’s probably already taping my calls.

I’d say Terminate On Site uses every played-out trick in the “I’m a G” book, but in all fairness, G-Unit wrote the book. Just take the lead single Ridah (Part 2), an addictively produced track by Rick Rock. I know everyone and their momma is auto-tuning their choruses (a.k.a. “T-Pain-ing”), but the effect turns 50’s trademark growl into an adolescent “woah-woah-woah” that stays stuck in your head like, well, I’ll let Young Buck explain: “This G-Unit, f**k your click, like syphilis you’re stuck with this.” That’s right, he just said listening to G-Unit was the equivalent of catching an STD. Well done sir, well done. But that’s nothing compared to the shockingly bad Kitty Kat, a track whose chorus is, I s**t you not, a man adopting a feminine voice and purring “Ooh, I need cash for my kitty cat.” If this song was recorded in prison I’d understand, but otherwise, why didn’t they get an actual female for the hook? Only God knows. And despite what you may have heard, Straight Outta Southside is not a tribute to tragically slain Sean Bell, unless you call one line about police brutality a tribute. If anything, it’s a tribute to N.W.A, whose classic Straight Outta Compton is the basis of the Unit’s version, but even then it rides the thin line between tribute and style-theft. Come to think of it, forget this album and go buy Straight Outta Compton. It’s everything Terminate On Sight could only hope to be.

It’s ridiculous to say G-Unit’s fallen off, the truth is they’re as strong as ever. 50 may have lost to Kanye, but Curtis still moved an astounding 600,000 units opening week, and Buck’s tearful reaction to his dismissal proves just how powerful 50 still is. So rejoice Unit members, Terminate On Sight is exactly the adrenaline-filled street album you were hoping for. Where better to start then the title track T.O.S., a grinding track that opens with a cement hard 50 declaring, “I’m on that SSK s**t, shoot, stab, kill.” Fortunately the often-overlooked Tony Yayo proves to be a capable lieutenant, and along with the always-dependable Banks, T.O.S. is a banger, end of story. Of course G-Unit could always flip their swagger for the ladies, and I Like The Way She Do It is no exception. Any song that will become a strip-club anthem is fine by me, and it should inspire no shortage of stripper-esque movement in the clubs. But in the end The Way She Do It isn’t why you pick up a G-Unit album, Casualties of War is. Let’s just say that if I was riding around at two in the morning plotting a robbery, and I never am, I probably would be bumping Casualties. Yeah, it’s like that. G-Unit’s always been the hip-hop equivalent of a Kevlar vest, and on Terminate On Sight they’re as bulletproof as ever. 

So there it is. The battle-lines have been drawn, the flags raised, the reviews written. Which side are you on? Or are you one of the few who know better than to get drawn into meaningless wars? Your choice. What’s it going to be?

Listen to More: G-Unit     Written by Nathan S.