The Hunger for More is the debut album by G-Unit

G-Unit

G-Unit is an American hip hop group originating from New York City formed by 50 Cents. G-Unit emerged on the New York scene by independently releasing several mix tapes...

 rapper Lloyd Banks

Lloyd Banks

Christopher Charles Lloyd , better known by his stage name Lloyd Banks, is an American rapper and member of the rap group G-Unit. Raised in South Jamaica, Queens, he dropped out of high school in 1998. G-Unit released two albums, Beg for Mercy in 2003 and T.O.S. in 2008...

, released June 29, 2004 on G-Unit Records

G-Unit Records

G-Unit Records is an American record label, specializing in hip hop music, founded in 2003 by rapper 50 Cent and his manager Sha Money XL. Upon its inception, it operated as a subsidiary of, and was distributed through, Universal Music Group's Interscope Records...

 and Interscope Records

Interscope Records

Interscope Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group that currently operates as one third of UMG's Interscope-Geffen-A&M label group.-History:...

. Banks had been featured on 50 Cent

50 Cent

Curtis James Jackson III , better known by his stage name 50 Cent, is an American rapper, entrepreneur, investor, record producer, and actor. He rose to fame with the release of his albums Get Rich or Die Tryin and The Massacre . Get Rich or Die Tryin has been certified eight times platinum by...

's multi-platinum 2003 album Get Rich or Die Tryin'

Get Rich or Die Tryin' (album)

Get Rich or Die Tryin is the debut studio album of American rapper 50 Cent, released February 4, 2003, on Aftermath Entertainment under a joint venture with Shady Records and distribution by Interscope Records. Its initially planned release was pushed seven days ahead due to heavy bootlegging and...

, and on G-Unit's Beg for Mercy

Beg for Mercy

Beg for Mercy is the debut album by hip hop group G-Unit, composed of rappers 50 Cent, Lloyd Banks, and Young Buck, with support from Tony Yayo. The album was released in November 2003, 10 months after 50 Cent's debut album Get Rich or Die Tryin....

 in November of the same year. And he had recently been named Mixtape Artist of the Year at the Mixtape Awards—for his appearances on G-Unit mixtapes as well as his own Money in the Bank series—when The Hunger for More was released by G-Unit Records and Interscope Records. In 2010, a sequel album, titled H.F.M. 2 (Hunger for More 2)

H.F.M. 2 (Hunger for More 2)

H.F.M. 2 is the third studio album by American hip-hop artist Lloyd Banks, released on November 22, 2010 through G-Unit Records and EMI.-Background:...

 was released.

Background

The hit singles from this album include "On Fire", "I'm So Fly", and "Karma". Features on this album include 50 Cent

50 Cent

Curtis James Jackson III , better known by his stage name 50 Cent, is an American rapper, entrepreneur, investor, record producer, and actor. He rose to fame with the release of his albums Get Rich or Die Tryin and The Massacre . Get Rich or Die Tryin has been certified eight times platinum by...

, Tony Yayo

Tony Yayo

Marvin Bernard , better known by his stage name Tony Yayo, is a Haitian American rapper and member of the hip hop group G-Unit...

, Eminem

Eminem

Marshall Bruce Mathers III , better known by his stage name Eminem or his alter ego Slim Shady, is an American rapper, record producer, songwriter and actor. Eminem's popularity brought his group project, D12, to mainstream recognition...

, Snoop Dogg

Snoop Dogg

Calvin Cordozar Broadus, Jr. , better known by his stage name Snoop Dogg, is an American rapper, record producer, and actor. Snoop is best known as a rapper in the West Coast hip hop scene, and for being one of Dr. Dre's most notable protégés. Snoop Dogg was a Crip gang member while in high school...

, Nate Dogg

Nate Dogg

Nathaniel Dwayne Hale , better known by his stage name Nate Dogg, was an American musician. He is noted for his membership of rap trio 213 and his solo career in which he collaborated with Dr. Dre, Warren G, Tupac and Snoop Dogg on many hit releases. Nate Dogg released three solo albums, G-Funk...

.

During the first week of The Hunger For Mores release, a distribution house in Manhattan was robbed of approximately eight boxes of the CDs (200 copies). A New York record store had nearly 100 copies of the CD stolen from its racks by a single perpetrator on the album's first day in stores, though they were later recovered.

Concept

During an interview Lloyd Banks

Lloyd Banks

Christopher Charles Lloyd , better known by his stage name Lloyd Banks, is an American rapper and member of the rap group G-Unit. Raised in South Jamaica, Queens, he dropped out of high school in 1998. G-Unit released two albums, Beg for Mercy in 2003 and T.O.S. in 2008...

 explained the reason behind naming the album. He said:

Recordings

http://www.mvremix.com/urban/interviews/lloyd_banks.shtml "I recorded about 50 tracks and I had 50 choose the tracks for the album. “Chips it down” meaning that when the finances are not there, you realize that you need money for everything, and you know that money can change everything. It is talking about the move from having nothing to having all the money and the cars and jewelry. http://www.sixshot.com/articles/3684/ When I'm doin' records for my album, I'm givin' you the same thing I'm givin' you on the mixtapes, but I'm also givin' material that I don't care about getting an (oooh or wow) at the crowd. I do it to basically to tell you stuff you need to know. You understand. If I said you need to know this is what to expect from my neighborhood its kinda like a message at the same time you see good news travel slower than bad news. Yanno so if you grow up in the suburbs or you out of the country or whatever maybe my personal experiences will make you appreciate your neighborhood better. So it's certain things that when I make a record or my album where I'm tellin' you I don't care about your *oooohs and ahhhhs* I just feel like you need to know this." http://www.sixshot.com/articles/3684/

Critical response

Upon its release, The Hunger for More received positive reviews from most music critics. At Metacritic

Metacritic

Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...

, which assigns a normalized

Standard score

In statistics, a standard score indicates how many standard deviations an observation or datum is above or below the mean. It is a dimensionless quantity derived by subtracting the population mean from an individual raw score and then dividing the difference by the population standard deviation...

 rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average

Weighted mean

The weighted mean is similar to an arithmetic mean , where instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others...

 score of 66, based on 10 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews".

Commercial performance

It was released in 2004 and debuted at number 1 on the Billboard 200

Billboard 200

The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...

 The Hunger for More, opened at #1 on Billboard's albums sales chart, with week-one sales topping 465,000. As of 2010 Hunger has sold 1.5 million units, respectively according to Nielsen SoundScan Banks had the feeling of having the album reach number 1 in the United States. "That's the kind of debut that veteran artists have," says Banks. "That showed me that following 50's moves and studying the way that he played the game had put me in an incredible position." The album has since been certified Platinum by the RIAA. The album also achieved Platinum status in Canada

Cria

A cria is the name for a baby camelid such as a llama, alpaca, vicuña, or guanaco. It comes from the Spanish word cría, meaning "baby". Its false cognate in English, crya , was coined by British sailors who explored Chile in the 18th century and were quick to describe the camelids onomatopoeically...

Track listing

#	Title	Producer(s)	Time
1	"Ain't No Click" (featuring Tony Yayo Tony Yayo Marvin Bernard , better known by his stage name Tony Yayo, is a Haitian American rapper and member of the hip hop group G-Unit... )	Havoc	4:25
2	"Playboy"	Ron Browz Ron Browz Rondell Turner, better known by his stage name Ron Browz, is an American record producer and rapper. He has his own record label called Ether Boy Records.-Biography/career:...	4:32
3	"Warrior"	Thayod Ausar	2:47
4	"On Fire" (featuring 50 Cent 50 Cent Curtis James Jackson III , better known by his stage name 50 Cent, is an American rapper, entrepreneur, investor, record producer, and actor. He rose to fame with the release of his albums Get Rich or Die Tryin and The Massacre . Get Rich or Die Tryin has been certified eight times platinum by...  uncredited vocals)	Eminem Eminem Marshall Bruce Mathers III , better known by his stage name Eminem or his alter ego Slim Shady, is an American rapper, record producer, songwriter and actor. Eminem's popularity brought his group project, D12, to mainstream recognition... , K1 Mil (co.)	3:07
5	"I Get High" (featuring 50 Cent 50 Cent Curtis James Jackson III , better known by his stage name 50 Cent, is an American rapper, entrepreneur, investor, record producer, and actor. He rose to fame with the release of his albums Get Rich or Die Tryin and The Massacre . Get Rich or Die Tryin has been certified eight times platinum by...  & Snoop Dogg Snoop Dogg Calvin Cordozar Broadus, Jr. , better known by his stage name Snoop Dogg, is an American rapper, record producer, and actor. Snoop is best known as a rapper in the West Coast hip hop scene, and for being one of Dr. Dre's most notable protégés. Snoop Dogg was a Crip gang member while in high school... )	Hi-Tek Hi-Tek Tony Cottrell, better known as Hi-Tek, is an American record producer and rapper from Cincinnati, Ohio. He is best known for his work with Talib Kweli on his Reflection Eternal album and on Black Star...	4:09
6	"I'm So Fly"	Timbaland Timbaland Timothy Zachery Mosley , better known by his stage name Timbaland, is an American record producer, songwriter and rapper.... , Danja (co.)	4:00
7	"Work Magic" (featuring Young Buck Young Buck David Darnell Brown , also known as Young Buck, is an American Southern rapper. Buck is a former member of the New York City Hip-Hop group G-Unit, also a former artist of G-Unit Records as of Nov 26, 2011... )	Scram Jones	4:27
8	"If You So Gangsta"	Chad Beatz & Sha Money XL Sha Money XL -Dream Big Ventures:With Distribution from The Orchard, Sha Money founded a new record label, Dream Big Ventures. Quickly upon its creation, Sha Money signed close Shady/Aftermath/G-Unit affiliates DJ Whoo Kid and Stat Quo, as well as former Young Money artist, Kidd Kidd. Sha is currently trying to...	3:31
9	"Warrior Part 2" (featuring Eminem Eminem Marshall Bruce Mathers III , better known by his stage name Eminem or his alter ego Slim Shady, is an American rapper, record producer, songwriter and actor. Eminem's popularity brought his group project, D12, to mainstream recognition... , 50 Cent 50 Cent Curtis James Jackson III , better known by his stage name 50 Cent, is an American rapper, entrepreneur, investor, record producer, and actor. He rose to fame with the release of his albums Get Rich or Die Tryin and The Massacre . Get Rich or Die Tryin has been certified eight times platinum by...  & Nate Dogg Nate Dogg Nathaniel Dwayne Hale , better known by his stage name Nate Dogg, was an American musician. He is noted for his membership of rap trio 213 and his solo career in which he collaborated with Dr. Dre, Warren G, Tupac and Snoop Dogg on many hit releases. Nate Dogg released three solo albums, G-Funk... )	Eminem Eminem Marshall Bruce Mathers III , better known by his stage name Eminem or his alter ego Slim Shady, is an American rapper, record producer, songwriter and actor. Eminem's popularity brought his group project, D12, to mainstream recognition...	3:38
10	"Karma Karma (Lloyd Banks song) "Karma" is the third single from Lloyd Banks's debut album, The Hunger for More, it features Avant on the video and radio version while singer Kevin Cossom appears on the album version of the song.-Background:... " (featuring Avant Avant Myron Avant , better known as Avant is an American R&B singer-songwriter. He is best known for hits such as "Separated" , "My First Love," which one version features KeKe Wyatt, and "Read Your Mind"... )	Greg "Ginx" Doby	4:38
11	"When The Chips Are Down" (featuring The Game)	Black Jeruz & Sha Money XL Sha Money XL -Dream Big Ventures:With Distribution from The Orchard, Sha Money founded a new record label, Dream Big Ventures. Quickly upon its creation, Sha Money signed close Shady/Aftermath/G-Unit affiliates DJ Whoo Kid and Stat Quo, as well as former Young Money artist, Kidd Kidd. Sha is currently trying to...	3:39
12	"Til the End"	Eminem Eminem Marshall Bruce Mathers III , better known by his stage name Eminem or his alter ego Slim Shady, is an American rapper, record producer, songwriter and actor. Eminem's popularity brought his group project, D12, to mainstream recognition...	5:09
13	"Die One Day"	Baby Grand	3:14
14	"South Side Story"	Diaz Brothers Diaz Brothers Lu Diaz and Hugo Diaz are brothers who form the Diaz Brothers music production team based out of Miami, Florida. Although they feel they are not limited to one type of music, their primary focus is on Hip-Hop, and are most famous for bringing the Cuban rapper Pitbull to fame...	4:10
15*	"Just Another Day"	Tone Capone	3:29
16*	"Take A Good Look" (UK United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...  Bonus Track)	J-Hen	2:53

Special Edition

• The album was also released in a special edition, which featured a bonus track and different packaging (including a CD booklet on dollar bill-style paper). It also included a 25-minute DVD with the video for "My Buddy", a clip for "Smile" and "A Day in the Life of Lloyd Banks."
• The Bonus Track on The Special Edition, "Just Another Day" Contains lyrical interpolations of Queen Latifah's song of the same name.

Charts

Charts (2004)	Peak position
Dutch Albums Chart	52
French Albums Chart Syndicat National de l'Edition Phonographique The Syndicat national de l'édition phonographique is the inter-professional organization which protects the interests of the French record industry...	37
German Albums Chart Media Control Charts The official music charts in Germany are gathered and published by the company Media Control GfK International on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindustrie...	45
Irish Albums Chart Irish Albums Chart The Irish Albums Chart is the Irish music industry standard albums popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on its behalf by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured electronically...	36
Swiss Albums Chart	65
UK Albums Chart UK Albums Chart The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...	15
Canadian Albums Chart Canadian Albums Chart The Canadian Albums Chart is the official album sales chart in Canada. It is compiled every Wednesday by U.S.-based music sales tracking company Nielsen Soundscan, and published every Thursday by Jam! Canoe and Billboard, along with its sister charts the Canadian Singles Chart and the Canadian BDS...	2
U.S. Billboard 200 Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...	1
U.S. Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a chart published by Billboard magazine that ranks R&B and hip hop albums based on sales compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The name of the chart was changed from Top R&B Albums in 1999...	1