The Future of G-Unit Records Pt 2: Lloyd Banks

Follow Lloyd Banks at @Lloydbanks


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If there's one thing Lloyd Banks can do, it's spit. His Top 5 or Better series has shown that. He's put out mixtape after mixtape and they've been consistently good. They've been a little sporadic since he started the series, but despite the time between them, there's definite quality there. You can tell that there was a level of thought put into the projects. But the problem is that it hasn't translated into a third studio album from the Queens rapper. That's something I'd like to see. I do like the mixtape Banks. He's pretty damn good with the punches and he deserves the credit that he gets. The haters really need to sit back on that front.

Back to business though. Banks has an actual, real single out, Beamer Benz or Bentley feat. Juelz Santana. It's a pretty tough record with a good video out. And it's a definite good look for him. I'm trying to figure out what label the album would be coming out on. Yeah, it's coming out on G-Unit, but who's going to distribute the album? G-Unit can't do it by itself, unless 50's going for straight digital releases. It would be a smart business move, but I know it'd be a blow to the oh so large pride of 50 Cent. Also there's just so many benefits to a physical release with heavy promotion. Which brings us to the main question, namely how marketable is Lloyd Banks now?

Rotten Apple didn't do the greatest numbers that the people at Interscope could have hoped for. With the way sales are now, can Banks do even those numbers in this sales climate? That's the question. Furthermore, can he do it with a reduced budget? He's not going to get the promotion that he did with Rotten Apple and he's definitely not going to get the promo he did the first time around. That was back when G-Unit was on top and 50 Cent could do no wrong. It was obvious that anything that 50 Cent touched turned to gold.

But these days, even 50 can't do the numbers that he used to. So why should we expect the same from Lloyd Banks? The short answer is that we shouldn't, but the long answer is that we should.

In the short game, he's not going to sell a million records like he did with Hunger for More. I have a feeling though, that selling a milli isn't Banks' objective. He's trying to get his foot back in the door and get back into the game in a major way. It'll allow him to rebuild his fanbase, which at this point, will defend heavily on whether or not his female friendly songs are up to par, and rework himself back up to those numbers. In the long run, he'll be in good shape.

Provided this album does what it needs to do. And there's a few things that he needs to do in order to make sure that happens:

Timb for a club sounding track, but nothing from Shock Value II.
A Dr. Dre track is a must, and if you can get two. One should be just a solo joint, the other, go back and forth with Em.
Havoc is always a good choice for the grimey NY sound
DJ Nasty or Sean C and LV as well.

When it comes to the females, the choice to grab Keri Hilson on Rotten Apple's Help was genius. Do it again. Get Ryan Leslie as well, for another song. Get a good R&B/Pop singer to go for crossover, like Justin Timberlake or Bobby Valentino. The remix to Slow Down was nice.

The rest of the album should be given to newer producers, not necessarily unknowns for the sake of the budget, but newer producers.

Either way, Banks has his work cut out for him, but I'm fairly confident that he can pull it off. He's got the hunger for more and a rotten apple isn't going to satisfy.

The Future of G-Unit Records Pt 1

By now, everyone, including supposedly impervious to criticism and negative thoughts 50 Cent, has to realize that G-Unit Records is in trouble. It's been a long time since the label has put out an album that has sold well, even considering the climate of sales and the overall slack of sales of music since 2006. Furthermore, the label itself isn't signing new talent to bring a resurgence to the label or to generate and drive more interest in the label. You add in beefs with other, lesser or equal high profile MCs that G-Unit isn't clearly winning and you can begin to understand why the pressure is on. But will they crack? Or better yet, have they already cracked and now we're just watching the spiral downwards?

A lot of the burden to succeed for the label and for the group falls on the leader, 50 Cent. Honestly speaking, with the exception of a couple mixtapes here and there, what has Lloyd Banks and Tony Yayo done in a while? Yayo's been sitting, just being 50's hypeman at concerts and only recently has there been talk of him getting back into the swing of things, with his new release, the Gunpowder Guru. Banks is another thing. He's been grinding on the mixtape scene, putting out multiple official mixtapes that have been keeping his name going, but the question is whether or not he's going to become a mixtape rapper permanently. That new Beamer Benz or Bentley joint of his is doing nicely and the video is good too. It's a good look, and I think he has the chance to break back into the game.

Mobb Deep are gone. M.O.P. are gone. Buck is gone too. Who's left on the label that you can name off the top of your head? Spider Loc has been signed since 2005 and has yet to put out a solo album. Hot Rod is another who's been on the label for a long time, 2006, and hasn't released anything significant, with the exception of a couple mixtapes, and a somewhat promising single that had Dr. Dre production that had to have been meant for a different artist.

T.O.S. was supposed to restart the reign of G-Unit and G-Unit Records. Before I Self Destruct was supposed to cement that return and line up the next series of solo albums for people on the label, or the first series for some. But those things have yet to materialize, really.

Over time, if you look at what Fifty's done with what has been given to him, he's a pretty damn good business man. I have faith in him that he can come up with a new strategy to take over the industry once more.