[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbM9EP2G0LM]

“I Get Money” is just 50 being 50—bored as hell and fully aware that the joke is on you. And I love every second of it, at least for today. He didn’t work hard, he worked smart. Another rapper might’ve tried to dandy up that sweet, gigantic beat—which apparently has some controversy attached to it—with some top-shelf rhymes or Hollywood-grade storytelling. Instead, 50 gives us a Glacéau reference, a silly/rude child-support quip, and a line about how he’ll “make your whole crew breakdance.” It’s a brutally efficient use of MC labor time; 50 gets paid in full without putting in the hours. And he put kids in the video, too. If anything, he should be commended for giving self-loathing hip-hop fans exactly what they want: a perfect example of why everything is going to shit. Even the weakest parts of Jay-Z’s Kingdom Come didn’t go there. Fuckin’ genius, I tell ya. I can’t get it out of my head.