The correct pose

As a convention of the genre the artist should have a serious facial expression like in the following album covers.

50 Cent notice the lack of emotion on his face.

A few examples of bad album covers

 this picture wouldn't work because the artist is smiling.

 This picture could work but its rare to find a side shot as an album cover i would prefer a straight shot so the fans can see his whole face especially as he is a new artist.

Perfect!