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50 Cent: Legit Novella Publisher or Poseur?

1/4/07, 6:01 pm EST

50 Cent

How many ways can you make a profit off of nine bullet wounds? 50 Cent, who has built an industry letting the public know about his ghetto cred, will call attention to the launch of his own publishing company—G-Unit Books—by signing copies of various hip-hop novellas in his stable. The books, which have titles like Death Before Dishonor and The Ski Mask Way, “dare to tell the truth about The Life (on the street).”

Fiddy offered this pithy tutorial to the street-lit concept: “The stories in the G-Unit are about our life on the streets and no one knows it better than us. Not to mention, when it comes to delivering authentic, gritty urban stories of the high and low life, our audience expects the best.” Precisely!

We’re all about street-life-inspired writing, (Langston Hughes rocks) but isn’t Fiddy’s own street cred getting a few pot holes? He was once a drug-dealing thug (on the real, yo!), but now he gets busted while touring in unregistered Lamborghinis around Manhattan and his crib is actually a Connecticut compound. That seems more Park Avenue than street to us.

We actually dig Snopp Dogg’s dog wear because it’s witty, but Fiddy is treading on Diddy-style selling out with this latest marketing of his ghetto past. What do you think? Does it make you think less of a rapper when he displays his past as a marketing technique? Or is this just part of the game?


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Comments

merik | 9/2/2007, 3:35 pm EST

hello world!

jonny2 | 2/15/2007, 8:31 am EST

jonny2

jonny17 | 1/19/2007, 2:14 pm EST

jonny2

Jesus | 1/8/2007, 11:59 pm EST

What a mug on this shine…looks like the backside of a turd. i liked him better when he was Buffalo Nickel myself.

LT | 1/8/2007, 7:44 am EST

I really dig what this guy is doing, let’s just hope this will encourage our kids to start reading so that we have well educated kids who’ll one day rule the world. Big up to you Fiddy

laura-ann | 1/7/2007, 11:32 pm EST

I don’t care what his background it as long as it gets kids to read. To often today fiction is based on white suburban families, or the ideal mix of races (1 African-American, 1 Hispanic, 1 Asian, and rest White). Why would an inner city kid want to read about a bunch of kids sailing threw time in their tree house, when they have never seen a tree house. Walter Mosley proved points out repeatedly throughout his books that each culture needs to have it’s own books, and that it can cross culture lines.

To 50 (and every author out there): Great, now if you really want to prove something put copies of your books in every inner city school for free, give them to kids for free… I LOVE buying books, when I was a kid we couldn’t afford to own books so to me it is the ultimate luxury. Be seen reading, carrying books, and reading to your son!

Laura-Ann

skfksjfsdskb@aol.com | 1/5/2007, 4:36 pm EST

Ummmm when did this become new Rappers have always market their past as much as they can, its been happening since the 80’s where have you been?

Jake | 1/5/2007, 2:36 pm EST

Not to try to sound so harsh or anything, but how much sympathy should we have for a man who was shot because he was a ruthless drug dealer and probably a murderer himself?

Congratulations, 50. Between “Candy Shop” and “Just a Lil’ Bit,” you’ve created two of the worst songs of all time.

duder | 1/5/2007, 1:46 pm EST

he already has his own shoe and clothing line…what did you expect? gotta take any hip hop that is shown on mtv with a grain of salt.

chloe | 1/5/2007, 10:04 am EST

In love with 50 cent mann!!!

BUNUEL | 1/5/2007, 7:27 am EST

Who is 50 Cent ? A musician, or yet another Somebody Famous for Being Famous like Paris Hilton? What next - a 50 Cent line of Hip-Hop
Menswear and Perfume? Like the Last Poets
chant, Wake Up!…

Chrysler Dodds | 1/4/2007, 10:12 pm EST

Rap sucks

PatBooneLover | 1/4/2007, 9:41 pm EST

No doubt 50 cent is tough, but y’all forget, Pat Boone is the toughest, baddest ass man on the planet.

Always has been. Always will be.

Because he’s down with Jesus.

LIKROPER.COM | 1/4/2007, 9:05 pm EST

hip hop and/or rap often tends to glorify depravity and almost make it acceptable so no one will want to rise above it, but it also shows that someone from a rough background can leave it behind and employ all their homies in the process…

fads12345 | 1/4/2007, 6:58 pm EST

rap has been doing the same thing for the last 15 years

Rowr | 1/4/2007, 6:28 pm EST

Selling out? Don’t you think that may’ve already happend with 50? I don’t know…maybe around the time he sold his first 10 million records? How about when he released a movie and videogame simultaneously? No, it must’ve been when he got his own flavor of vitamin water…

At a time when indies rock the O.C. and rappers are selling HP, I don’t even think the word ’sellout’ matters, does it?

The whole idea is just stupid…you can make money off of art up and only to a point?

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