Who Is The Real 50 Cent?

Recently there has been quite a bit of controversy over 50 Cents (Curtis Jackson) new movie "Get Rich or Die Tryin'". The title alone suggests a negative connotation, let alone when you look at the billboard ads that are being used to promote the movie. For those of you who may have missed the billboard (though I don't know how), all you see is 50's muscular back with his arms spread far apart, with a gun in one hand and a microphone in the other. Do we really need more billboards in urban communities to reinforce all the violence that goes on in our city streets? When will rappers and rappers turned actors begin to show the positive side of our community? For far too long "gangster" rappers have made money off of young Black, Hispanic and White people with the message of violence, greed and the need to get rich or die tryin' kind of mentality. I think one of the more disturbing things about this whole gangster rap culture and the violence and lack of morals it often times promotes is that most of these men, 50 included aren't like their personas in real life. I was reading an article in Philly's Metro this morning about how the woman who interviewed 50 Cent about his new movie stated that she agreed with the comments of the movies director when he said "When I met Curtis, I felt like I knew him. I felt like he was wounded and needed protection." Since when did a real gangster give off this kind of aura to anyone, let alone the media?

I give kudos to those people in our communities that have been boycotting this movie or at least boycotting the placement of the billboard to advertise the movie in their communities. Here in Philadelphia a group of people led a campaign to get Clear Channel Communications to remove the billboard from their neighborhood. They were not only successful in getting them to remove the ad, but the ad was replaced with the picture of a young man who was killed by gunfire and a number to call if anyone had a lead as to who may have committed the crime. This is the kind of community organizing we need to have as it may be one of the key things we need to save our inner city streets, especially our Black brothers and sisters who are dying violently every day. Especially at a time where Philadelphia's homicide rate (as reported in the Metro 11/9/05) is at 323. There are only 365 days in a year, which means that we could well reach an average of one death to homicide every day for an entire year.

We no longer need movies like "Get Rich or Die Tryin'" as we have become inundated with violence from certain parts of rap culture. Fifty says that this movie is 70 % his reality. Well it seems that he's choosing a certain part of himself for that 70% because he has gotten rich and didn't die trying (though he almost did). Maybe he needs to focus more on how he beat the streets to make it to a successful rap career, without playing up the violence. At some point the masses of the Black community will get tired of our entertainers portraying us in negative ways to make money that goes to expensive cars, ornate jewelry and elaborate spending. Some give back to the community monetarily, but money isn't the only thing that's needed to improve the lives of our young. They are much more desperate for positive role models.