It almost seemed like an expensive experiment: If all of the forces of the music industry lined up behind one clunky and workmanlike rapper, could they turn him into a towering star? Could they build a blockbuster around relatively off-putting presence? Was 50 Cent a one-off phenomenon, or could they build another 50 Cent, as long as they had active participation from the actual 50 Cent? They could. They did. The Game’s A-list stardom wasn’t fated to last, but he managed to make one beautiful, gleaming illustration of how powerful the world’s biggest rap producers were in the mid-’00s. The brand could not be managed, and the story won’t make anyone feel great, but the music banged.