For the last week of 2011, we at Uptown Soldier have decided to bring our viewers some interesting topics to discuss and sit with as we get ready for 2012. Each day leading up to Sunday’s New Years Day we will be releasing a new article discussing a new topic about the Year In Review. The topics will be released about 2 hours before we drop the article each day so continue to check back daily for the newest topic. Today we figured no better person to start this series off with than Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson. This was a crazy year for Fiff with the music and with all the other stuff he’s got going on, but was it a successful year for Fiff. For Uptown Soldier’s Year In Review Topic #1, hit the jump!!!

YEAR IN REVIEW TOPIC #1: Was 2011 A Success For Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson?

The immediate response to this question might be, “No, he didn’t even drop a new album or anything.” But if you’re saying that, then you probably weren’t keeping tabs on the music game this year. Although Fiff did not drop his newest album as expected, he did create some crazy buzz for both his music and new businesses. Overall I believe from the beginning of the year until the end, Fiff maintained a stable position in the daily conversations of the hip hop fans and industry gurus.

Let’s start from the beginning of the year. Fiff was on an unreleased Em joint called “Syllables” that had people going a bit crazy (even getting occasional radio play) but otherwise wasn’t doing much. But once it hit February it was on for Fiff. From mid-Feb up until around mid-May, Curtis was dropping a dope new track pretty much every week. They may not have been Get Rich Or Die Tryin 50 Cent, but tracks like “Run Up On Me” “6 Out Of 6″, “The Paper (I Get It)”, and “I’m All Turnt Up” were getting a lot of love. I will go as far as to say that every track Fiff put out during this stretch was a quality track worthy of living on a mixtape or album. Dispute that if you want, but this got people excited for what Fiff had planned for 2011.

All this music Fiff was releasing was a great buzz-builder for his first single off his next studio album. Fiff got everyone talking about him whether it was criticism or love, he was in the conversation. Then in mid-June, he dropped “Outlaw“. This track set fire to the music world. Many were claiming that Fiff was back for good with this banger. It was a hard track like the old 50 Cent and had a dope, grimey, NYC beat. This seemed like the perfect single for Fiff’s new album and as expected the fan feedback was overwhelmingly positive.

Throughout the year Fiff did some of the best press I’ve seen in recent history. For an artist that did not have an album drop this year, Fiff was being written about in every publication, made appearances on a number of TV shows, and seemed like he was giving a new radio interview every week. This year everyoneeeee got to interview 50 Cent and it was for good reason (including publications you would never expect to see Fiff on). Fiff may not have been promoting new music, but he was promoting his new business initiatives. This is something that really made 50 Cent relevant this year. He launched two huge businesses, one being the Street King Energy Drink and the other being his new SMS Audio headphone line. Both have business structures which allow them to donate a big portion of their profits to charitable organizations or in the case of Street King, directly feed starving kids in Africa. These businesses officially solidified Fiff as one of the best Hip Hop businessmen and one of the more philanthropic businessmen out there today.

Another thing that had Fiff buzzing all year was his Twitter. Whether it was his disgust with Interscope about his album or whether it was beefing with T.I., Fiff stayed up on his Twitter game which most definitely added to his overall relevancy.

Continuing on with the music, Fiff capped off the summer with what many viewed as his second single for his expected November release for his new album. This was “I’m On It“. This track was also crazy like “Outlaw” but provided that bigger 50 Cent club appeal. The track still bangs in my opinion and I felt put Fiff on the right path for his album. With more speculation building as to whether his album would drop on time in 2011, Fiff brought some more new, free content. In mid-Sept he began to release more new music but this time he dropped tracks from his “in-the-works” Street King mixtape. By Halloween, we had over 7 new 50 Cent SK tracks that were deemed quality records. Fiff was able to combine his rapping style with his charitable SK initiative for some really good music. He also was up on his feature game as he dropped verses in big club tracks and some dope hip hop tracks like Pusha T’s “Raid“.

November hit and there was still no “official” word on Fiff’s album. From Twitter, many got the picture that Fiff was not happy and the album would be pushed back to 2012. So what was Fiff to do? Just chill until then? Come on you know Fiff better than that. Obviously Fiff stayed grinding and out of no where alerted the world that he would be dropping his long awaited mixtape, The Big 10. A lot of people were really excited for this, but I also got vibes that people really weren’t checking for Fiff anymore. Nonetheless, Fiff dropped the tape earlier this month and the feedback was more than solid. The 12 track tape featured some of Fiff’s new artists and some really good music that many were not expecting from Curtis. He has since released the most radio friendly song, “Wait Til Tonight“, as a single and has released visuals for 3 of the tracks. He also claimed that there is a video for every song so expect more soon.

Overall, this year was quite hectic and crazy for Fiff even though he didn’t even drop a new album. He flooded the streets with over 40 tracks of original 50 Cent music, jumped on a number of hot songs for a feature, was non stop promoting his brands and businesses via social networks, TV & radio appearances, and finally made sure that no matter what, he was still in people’s conversations day in and day out. (Don’t forget the movies Fiff appeared in with Bruce Willis and his crazy role in Things Fall Apart). There might have been more Fiff hate this year than normal, but people were talking about him. The people of the music community are definitely all interested to see what’s going to happen with Fiff and Interscope in 2012. Fiff really showed many this year that even without a new album, there is more to staying relevant in music.

Comments, criticisms, and opinions all welcome. Hit the comment section below.