50 Cent Sues Taco Bell For "Diluting the Value of His Good Name"

Rapper 50 Cent is suing Yum! Brands, and more specifically Taco Bell, after the fast food chain used his moniker in a hip-hop themed ad campaign without asking his permission or paying him a fee. In the lawsuit, Fiddy accuses the Bell of "diluting the value of his good name" when they encouraged the rapper to change his name to "79 Cent," "89 Cent" or "99 Cent" in an open letter addressed to 50 and distributed to the press. It's kind of like when Dr. Pepper penned that open letter to Axl Rose, offering free DP in exchange for Chinese Democracy, except that promotion seemed to make everybody happy. "As Taco Bell intended, many customers believed that 50 Cent had agreed to endorse Taco Bell's products. Indeed, postings on numerous Internet 'blogs' castigated 50 Cent for 'selling out' by his apparent endorsement of Taco Bell," the suit states. Yum! Brands has yet to comment.

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Song Stories

“Smells Like Teen Spirit”

Nirvana | 1991

"Smells Like Teen Spirit," named after a brand of deodorant marketed to girls, was Kurt Cobain's attempt to "write the ultimate pop song," he said, using the soft-loud dynamic of his favorite band, the Pixies. Cobain "had that dichotomy of punk rage and alienation," the song’s producer, Butch Vig, told Rolling Stone, "but also this vulnerable pop sensibility. In 'Teen Spirit,' a lot of that vulnerability is in the tone of his voice." Sadly, by the time of Nirvana's last U.S. tour, in late '93, Cobain was tortured by the obligation to play "Teen Spirit" every night. "There are many other songs that I have written that are as good, if not better," he claimed.

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