Stupid 50 Cent diatribe -- but is it racist?

and what does this say about ilm?

>Born Curtis Jackson and raised in Southside Jamaica, Queens, 50 grew up in a broken home. His hustler mother passed away when he was only eight, and his father departed soon after, leaving his grandmother to parent him. As a teen, he followed the lead of his mother and began hustling. The crack trade proved lucrative for 50; until he eventually encountered the law, that is, and began making visits to prison. It's around this point in the mid-'90s that he turned toward rap and away from crime.

I suppose anyone who blames 50 Cent for kids carrying guns are the same folks who blamed Marilyn Manson for the school shootings in Kentucky and Colorado and blamed Eminem for teaching kids the word "faggot".

it's all about context

Of course. But in making that statement (and the rest of your post) you imply that there's nothing wrong with that. Is that how you feel? Please explain.

How, exactly, are selling crack and having big boobs in any way similar?

And I promise its only gonna get worse for the folks that have such a hard time accepting these facts.

What exactly do you mean, "facts"? In what way is marketing a "fact" that needs to be accepted? That's just messed up. I don't need to accept the "fact" that SUVs are badass, and I don't need to accept the "fact" that 50's drug-dealin' past is awesome either.

I don't think the guy is racist--he's just pissed off, which makes people write in a pissed off way. But his complaint is perfectly valid.

50 Cent is doing well for himself. I think that anyone can see that. That is actually something kids could look up to - considering he's been shot nine times; eh?? If I had a child and he listened to 50 Cent I would just try to make sure he or she saw the positive things like that. 50 Cent is NOT threat to our society. jesus fucking christ..

This is only valid if she's had implants. Having naturally large breasts involves little moral agency.

"1. It makes me really mad that people think 50 Cent is a badass because he's been shot--when the reason he was shot is because he was a crack dealer. What's admirable about that?
2. Kids who admire 50 Cent probably think it's cool to carry guns and be criminals because 50 Cent was a criminal. That sucks.
3. Reebok should think about the bigger picture before using a former criminal whose songs are about breaking the law and degrading women to sell their shoes--even if he is popular.
4. If they're going to use a bad-ass outlaw image like this to sell their products, they might as well use people who are just plain old criminals, and not rappers too."

I mean, this seems perfectly valid to me. He might be taking everything a little too seriously, and he doesn't acknowledge 50's (presumed) talent. But what about this is objectionable? I mean, it is true that some of 50's songs are like, "I am a badass criminal, isn't that awesome?" I'm not saying I agree with this guy 100%, but I think it's a little over-the-top to call him racist. I mean, presumably even Reebok agrees with him, since one of their spokesman said ""Reebok does not condone every action, choice or view expressed by the athletes and entertainers who wear our products" in response to complaints about the ad in the UK. I mean, he does brag specifically about how badass it was to be shot, etc.

xpost

a) the ad (from what i've read of it) implies that 50 cent is doing well BECAUSE he was shot nine times;
b) since when does something have to be a Threat To Society for someone not to like it?

Right, but when you reword it like that, you're removing the tone and leaving just the content, and it seems like Roxy was reacting as much if not more to the tone. And the tone is obnoxious. I'm not positive it's racist, but invoking "ghetto" like that is definitely trading in code words (and right, 50 says he's "ghetto" too; he also says he's a nigga, which is likewise not OK for Oak Ridge dipshits to say). On the other hand, I hear the same kind of "no talent" blah blah venom directed at commercial country, so the obnoxiousness of the tone is not only down to its quasi-race-baiting.

Better question is whether it's worth the effort to argue with somebody who posts stuff like that. But I'm not always able to refrain either.

People can not like it all they want; but they sound like bitches whining about it and thats what I don't fucking like. Turn off the TV next time.

This is one of the greatest ever questions posed on ILX.

Also, I keep misreading everything here as "50s Songs" and I keep thinking: what's so racist about "Rock Around the Clock" and then I think "oh yeah".

As for the actual issue, the fact of the commercial makes me think less of both Reebok and 50 Cent.

i mean, i suppose that one COULD argue that this post has some coded racism. but w/t any context to judge that, how to judge?

where's dan perry when you need him?!?

The year 2000 called, it says hi.

What is more 'correct' an approach in the end -- condemning the idiocies of mainstream society with less overt self-review and nuance in the name of getting a point across, or demonstrating more self-review even though that may make the condemning of the idiocies etc. less effective because of that more complex and self-aware approach?

Right, but it IS perfectly reasonable (though I wouldn't make this choice) for a consumer to say "I'm not going to buy Reebok shoes, because their advertising seems to endorse values I don't like."

i gotta confess the jay-z one threw me for a loop the first time i saw it. i can't google up the text, but something about it felt like his story had gotten all changed out.

also, http://www.fashiongates.com/magazine/reebok-16-02-05-21041.html

also, "ebonics way of saying i degrade women"!!!

One might point out that the difference between The Sopranos and many rappers is that it's clear that The Sopranos are actors, whereas part of the selling of the *fantasy* in rap music is that you're told it's quite real -- some rappers really were drug dealers, and even some that weren't would like you to believe they were.

I have some issues with the way mafia is glorified in the movies as well (the romanticized way in which the mafia is always playing by its own *honor-based* set of rules -- i.e., they only harm people who deserve it and they're actually good guys). But The Sopranos isn't being marketed to a group of people who actually have a strong chance of joining the mafia.

This is the case from time to time i'm sure, but I imagine for the most part kids don't really hope to have to use it as anything more than leverage; "don't fuck with me, i have a gun," not "i want to go shoot people."

But The Sopranos isn't being marketed to a group of people who actually have a strong chance of joining the mafia.

You think the majority of rap listeners consider joining gangs because of rap?

speaking of which i know i'm getting curmodgenly when i start agreeing with greg tate this much, but his article on 50 is totally killer:
http://www.villagevoice.com/music/0511,tate1,62025,22.html

I don't have cable actually. I was only aware of it because the original post sounded slightly suspicious and I did some quick research which revealed the O'Reilly connection.

(i know this is completely tangential)

In a case of life imitating art, Robert Iler, the young actor who plays troubled Tony Soprano Jr. on HBO's The Sopranos, was arrested along with three other teens early Wednesday and charged with second-degree robbery and drug possession.

One might point out that the difference between The Sopranos and many rappers is that it's clear that The Sopranos are actors, whereas part of the selling of the *fantasy* in rap music is that you're told it's quite real -- some rappers really were drug dealers, and even some that weren't would like you to believe they were.)

(hah, xp)

Only having a mini-thing for hip hop always seemed kind of an insult to me.

I don't want to hear any cultural virtucrat ever again work up a lot of flatulent thunder about 50 Cent or The Game or gangsta rap when the biggest thug around is a middle-aged white man who swaggers through the House as majority leader, making his own rules, punishing his enemies, and using his power and position to lash out against a private citizen with a sneering bullying not seen since Roy Cohn rotted away.

OTOH this thread has taught me that I am 'objectively pro-O'Reilly', I am upset. Haven't felt this bad since I was 'objectively pro-Saddam.'

By Ros Wynne-Jones


A MUM whose son was shot dead has forced sportswear giant Reebok to drop an advert "glamourising gun crime".

Lucy Cope called for a boycott of their products over the TV advert featuring American rapper 50 Cent.

A shot is heard and he counts slowly up to nine - the number of times he was shot in 2000 in New York.

He asks: "Who you planning to massacre next?" then laughs and Reebok's slogan "I am what I am" appears. But Lucy, whose son Damien, 22, was killed in Central London in 2002, said that when she saw it "I felt physically sick, my heart stopped".

Backed by Mothers Against Guns, she launched a petition signed by 36 mums whose children were shot dead. Lucy, 48, of Southwark, South London, even urged stores to stop selling Reebok products.

More than 50 people complained to the Advertising Standards Authority and Reebok withdrew the ad in the UK. She said: "Kids look up to 50 Cent. They think if it's cool for him, it's cool for them. No one's a hero who is involved in gun crime. I wish Damien could have survived nine bullets. But one took his life."

Lucy has watched her son's last moments, captured on CCTV camera. She said: "Before he went unconscious, it was written on his face: 'I need my mum'. That's why I'll never sleep again."

Reebok said the advert was pulled after "a small number of people found it offensive". It is still being shown worldwide and was "intended to be a positive, empowering celebration of the right of self-expression".

Good for her?