The thing, though, is that 50 isn't exactly a rookie, and it's debatable as to whether or not Get Rich can be considered a true debut (see the unreleased Power of the Dollar and the Guess Who's Back? compilation ). Even so, Get Rich is indeed an impressive debut, not quite on the level of such landmark debuts as the aforementioned ones by Snoop or Nas - or those by Biggie, Wu-Tang, or DMX either - but impressive nonetheless, definitely ushering in 50 as one of the truly eminent rappers of his era.
In fact, the expectations were so massive that they overshadowed the music itself - 50 becoming more of a phenomenon than simply a rapper - so massive that you had to be skeptical, particularly given the marketing-savvy nature of the rap world. Probably the most hyped debut album by a rap artist in about a decade, most likely since Snoop's Doggystyle (1993) or perhaps Nas' Illmatic (1994), 50 Cent's Get Rich or Die Tryin' certainly arrived amid massive expectations.
