Nicole Scherzinger - Fire (2011)

As I mentioned in the previous posts from Nicole Scherzinger, before embarking fully on a solo career she dipped her toes in the water by appearing on other artist's records as a guest vocalist, and in 2006 and 2007 she graced quite a few songs with her presence. It was an eclectic mix, with 50 Cent sitting next to Shaggy, and Timbaland vying with P. Diddy for her attention, and if we gather up all the guest appearances that she made before the release of her official debut studio album in 2011 then we have a very enjoyable 45-minute album of prime R&B and reggae. Only one of these tracks eventually appeared on that debut album 'Killer Love', but as 'Heartbeart' with Enrique Inglesias was also released as a single in 2010 then I'm including it on here anyway.   

Track listing 

01 Don't Ask Her That (feat. Shaggy) [from 'Clothes Drop' 2005]
02 Come To Me (feat. P. Diddy) [from 'Press Play' 2006]
03 Fire (feat. 50 Cent & Young Buck) [from 'Curtis' 2007]
04 Heartbeat (feat. Pharrell Williams) [Madonna demo 2008]
05 Supa Hypnotic (feat. Shaggy) [from 'Clothes Drop' 2005]
06 Scream (feat. Keri Hilson & Timbaland) [from 'Shock Value' 2007]
07 Papi Lover (feat. Daddy Yankee) [from 'El Cartel: The Big Boss' 2007]
08 Numba 1 (Tide Is High) (feat. Kardinal Offishall) [from 'Not 4 Sale' 2008]
09 Lie About Us (feat. Avant) [from 'Director' 2006]
10 Heartbeat (feat. Enrique Iglesias) [from 'Euphoria' 2010]
11 Hotel Room Service (feat. Pitbull) [from 'Rebelution' 2009]
12 Coconut Tree (feat. Mohombi) [from 'MoveMeant' 2011]

50 Cent - Guess Who's Back? Again (2004)

50 Cent (Curtis James Jackson) had a troubled childhood, dealing narcotics at age 12 when his grandparents thought he was in after-school programs, as well as bringing guns and drug money to school. In the tenth grade, he was caught by metal detectors at Andrew Jackson High School, and in 1994 he was arrested for selling four vials of cocaine to an undercover police officer. He was arrested again three weeks later, when police searched his home and found heroin, ten ounces of crack cocaine, and a starting pistol, and although he was sentenced to three to nine years in prison, he served six months in a boot camp and earned his GED. In order to try to turn his life around in the late 90's, he adopted the name 50 Cent and began rapping in a friend's basement, where he used turntables to record over instrumentals, and in 1996, a friend introduced him to Jam Master Jay of Run-DMC, who was establishing Jam Master Jay Records. Jay taught him how to count bars, write choruses, structure songs, and make records, and his first appearance was on 'React' with Onyx, for their 1998 album 'Shut 'Em Down'. He credited Jam Master Jay for improving his ability to write hooks, but he left Jay in 1999, and the platinum-selling producers Trackmasters signed him to Columbia Records. They sent him to an upstate New York studio, where he produced thirty-six songs in two weeks, eighteen of which were included on his unreleased 2000 album 'Power Of The Dollar'. He continued to record, laying down over thirty songs for mixtapes to build a reputation, using the DJ circuit to his advantage by taking the hottest beats from other artists and flipping them with better hooks. His popularity increased, and in 2002 he released the mixtape 'Guess Who's Back?', and when Eminem heard it he was impressed enough to invite 50 Cent to fly to Los Angeles and introduce him to Dr. Dre. After signing a $1 million record deal, he released the mixtape 'No Mercy, No Fear', and in 2003 he issued his debut album 'Get Rich Or Die Tryin'', described by AllMusic as "probably the most hyped debut album by a rap artist in about a decade". It debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, selling 872,000 copies in its first four days, and it's lead single 'In Da Club' set a Billboard record as the most listened-to song in radio history within a week. Despite being signed to a label and having an actual record under his belt, 50 Cent carried on recording songs for his mixtapes, and in 2004 he released his next one 'Guess Who's Back? Again', featuring all new tracks from this most productive part of his career, so here it is for your enjoyment.  

Track listing

01 Intro (Shot Caller '04)
02 Here We Go
03 Doin' My Own Thing 
04 Guess Who's Back Again  
05 She Luv It
06 Die For Me
07 After My Chedda
08 G-Unit Soldier (Ride Out)
09 187 Freestyle
10 Flex Freestyle
11 No Introduction
12 As Time Goes By
13 Heaven/Hell
14 Gee's Up 
15 Gettin' Mine 
16 Bad News (Mixtape Version)
17 I'm A Soldier
18 Ching, Ching, Ching
19 Say What You Want (Outro)

50 Cent - Power Of The Dollar (1999)

50 Cent's first single was the  controversial 'How To Rob', which detailed how he was going to relieve some of the biggest rappers of the time, like Bobby Brown and Will Smith, of their wealth. The single got 50 Cent's name into the media, even though he didn't have an album out, and before long he'd been taken under the wing of producers Samuel 'Tone' Barnes and Jean-Claude 'Poke' Olivier - a.k.a. Trackmasters - who decided to record a whole album based on Cent's previous experience with armed drug dealers, gun fights, and robbery. They recorded 36 tracks in just two weeks, and hand-picked 18 of them to go on the debut album, which was to be released on the Columbia label. However, just before he was due to film a video for 'Thug Love', he was gunned down in Queens, and shot nine times, with one of the bullets piercing his cheek, giving his later rapping a distinctive slur, (which is obviously not evident on this album as it was recorded before the incident). As soon as the label found out about the shooting they suddenly got cold feet, feeling that they preferred a studio gangsta on their label to an actual one. They cancelled their contract just weeks before the proposed release of the album, and shelved it permanently, leaving it to the bootleggers to allow us to hear these unique recordings from 50 Cent, featuring guest appearances from Destiny's Child, Noreaga, Dave Hollister, Bun B and The Madd Rapper. 

Track listing

01 Intro
02 The Hit
03 The Good Die Young
04 Corner Bodega
05 Your Life's On The Line
06 That Ain't Gangsta
07 As The World Turns
08 Ghetto Qu'ran
09 Da Repercussions
10 Money By Any Means Ft. Noreaga
11 Material Girl
12 Thug Love Ft. Destny's Child
13 Slow Doe
14 Gun Runner
15 You Ain't No Gangsta
16 The Power Of The Dollar
17 I'm A Hustler
18 How To Rob Ft. The Madd Rapper

Suggested by 'The Greatest Albums You'll Never Hear' by Bruno MacDonald