This is a great debut album. I would't go as far to say 50 is in the ranks of pac and biggie, in fact he's no where near them but don't hate on fiddy for doing what he's doing. this is great album. i'm not going to make the call on a masterpiece i'll wait till his next album to do this. but this is a good album to listen to and jam to. i can only say that you will not be wasting your money when/if you buy this cd. go pick it up, the lyrics are up to par and of couse the beats are the best [dre did them], so if you don't have it by now, you missing out, don't do that to yourself, cop it ASAP.