50 Cent

[NTC]

I just checked out 50's new single "Straight To The Bank", and I have to say, my respect for him has some what risen.

Here he is, turning out a song in which he is basically admiting to 'not trying' and bragging about how he doesnt even have to try anymore to rake in $$$

Love him or hate him, 50 Cent is one of the smartest businessmen I've ever seen, he definatley knows what it takes to make a dollar. The funny thing is all the idiots out there who actually buy into this image that he's "gangsta", 50 knows he isnt a gangsta, he just knows what it takes to draw publicity, he knows what sells.

50 isnt about the rap game, he is all about the power of the dollar, he's always been about it, he's been slapping us in the face with it all this time, I'm just surprised I didnt realize it sooner (probally because I dont/didnt really care)

 

[Dark Hero]

50 business and marketing truly is one of the best he sells out fast but he is not the best, the best is Eminem.

 

[NTC]

<div class="quote_poster">lakersfan171 Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">50 is alright i like the way he raps and all but i always liked The Game more because of his westcoast rapping.But 50 is alright i own all his CD'S i like his new single too its cool.</div>

Well this topic wasnt started as a means to praise 50 Cent's rapping "talents", more so his business and marketing skills. In that respect, he really is the best in the business.

 

[Sasha]

Why do we still think that being a good businessman makes you a good entertainer. I could never tie the two together. He's one of the worst rappers I've ever heard, imo.

 

[Smitty]

^That wasn't the point he was trying to make..

We all know he isn't really a great rapper, but regardless, he still manages to make wads of cash, cause he's smart, because he knows what sells these days. Yeah, it's unfortunate, but true.

 

[phunDamentalz]

What makes you assume HE is the smart one? Maybe the marketers are the smart ones, by recognizing his credibility. You don't have to be smart to be rich. Sometimes you can just be LUCKY. I highly doubt 50 Cent is a marketing genius - the guy barely knows how to speak properly...

 

[Bobcats]

<div class="quote_poster">phunDamentalz Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">What makes you assume HE is the smart one? Maybe the marketers are the smart ones, by recognizing his credibility. You don't have to be smart to be rich. Sometimes you can just be LUCKY. I highly doubt 50 Cent is a marketing genius - the guy barely knows how to speak properly...</div>

I'm pretty sure he has a lisp because he got shot in the face.

 

[phunDamentalz]

<div class="quote_poster">Bobcats Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">I'm pretty sure he has a lisp because he got shot in the face.</div>
I'm not talking about the lisp

 

[B.e.]

Jay-Z is a better businessman.

and 50 used to be a good rapper.

 

[thedude9990]

when you get a water company to shell out 400 million to use your name, your good

 

[CLos]

Yeah getting shot in the jaw doesn't help you speak properly. Anyways, yeah 50 makes club songs that people will like. I mean look at In Da Club, 21 Questions, P.I.M.P., Window Shopper, Candy Shop, Disco Inferno, Just A Lil' Bit, Hate It or Love It Remix, Wanksta, etc. The lists goes on. These songs might not have the best verses as far as lines go but it does have nice beats that carry on to dancing and club joints that people listen to more often than people who can actually rap. I mean the guy isn't that bad of a rapper anyways.

 

[NTC]

The point im trying to make, is 50 Cent doesnt make songs, he makes money. Anything he releases will sell, simply because he as built this cool "gangsta" image, and there are millions upon millions of idiots out there who will only buy 50 Cent material, simply because its 50 Cent, they dont care about the songs, 50 doesnt care about the songs, to the consumer its about being percieved as "cool" and to 50 Cent is about making $$$$$

Do you really think 50 cares about being a "gangsta"? He doesnt give a damn, he's too busy living the high life in his Conneticut mansion.

 

[Bobcats]

<div class="quote_poster">phunDamentalz Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">I'm not talking about the lisp</div>

What exactly are you referring to then?

 

[Chutney]

I really don't see the need to respect these rappers for being smart businessmen. I mean, it doesn't take a lot of intelligence to know how to sell out and market yourself to the dumbasses who make up the mainstream rap audience. If you really want to get down to it, you should be giving more praise to dude's like Mims, Young Jeezy, etc., who don't have an ounce of 50's talent but are still making money and gaining notoriety.

 

[Karma]

I think he means improper grammer? But then 99% of rappers wouldn't be able to "speak properly" if that were the case.

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">
The point im trying to make, is 50 Cent doesnt make songs, he makes money. Anything he releases will sell, simply because he as built this cool "gangsta" image, and there are millions upon millions of idiots out there who will only buy 50 Cent material, simply because its 50 Cent, they dont care about the songs, 50 doesnt care about the songs, to the consumer its about being percieved as "cool" and to 50 Cent is about making $$$$$
</div>

That basically sums up what's wrong with the music (specifically rap) scene today. The "average customer" (a parallel to the "average NBA fan") wants to listen to catchy pop-rap they can bump in thier cars and in the clubs, while the hardcore rap listeners want rap to be represented in the mainstream through meaningful lyrics and solid beats. That's not going to happen. Timmy the 14 year old or Erica the 13 year old is not going to be buying a 50 Cent record talking about his connection with God or the problems associated with the prison system. Matter of fact, if any of these new rappers are considered a sex symbol (or have legions of females that are genuinely attracted to them), they can sell by just appearing shirtless somewhere. The songs don't matter, a catchy hook is all it takes.

I think the smartest businessman is Jay-Z (he's not a businessman, he's a BUSINESS, man!), followed by Eminem and then 50 Cent.

These rappers, more specifically Eminem and 50, realize that they could fart on a record and it would still sell. The best example for Eminem is Encore. That was one of the worst rap albums I've heard and it still managed to be a top seller and all he had to release was a song making fun of Michael Jackson and voila, the hype and his name carried it to millions of sales.

 

[Legacy]

<div class="quote_poster">Karma Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">
These rappers, more specifically Eminem and 50, realize that they could fart on a record and it would still sell. The best example for Eminem is Encore. That was one of the worst rap albums I've heard and it still managed to be a top seller and all he had to release was a song making fun of Michael Jackson and voila, the hype and his name carried it to millions of sales.</div>

Encore wasn't as bad of an album as everyone says. It still had a few good songs on it.

 

[Karma]

If you compare it to Slim Shady LP, Marshall Mathers LP or even The Eminem Show, that album was pure garbage. The only songs I genuinely liked were Crazy In Love, Mockingbird and Evil Deeds.

Like Toy Soldiers was annoying (I would have liked the song had the beat not been so damn annoying), Puke was probably one of the worst songs I've heard from him, Rain Main WAS the worst song I've ever heard from him (see the "football, putt-putt golf" lines), Big Weenie was ridicuously childish, Just Lose It was just his attention-grabber, Ass Like That was stupid, Spend Some Time was okay, and Encore had a nice chorus but nothing more.

Mosh is apperently a good song, but I never really bothered listening to it that much. I used to think Yellow Brick Road was good as well, but I forgot how the song goes now so I didn't include it in my list.

I would rather listen to 50's Get Rich or Die Tryin than Eminem's Encore.

 

[Sasha]

<div class="quote_poster">NTC Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">The point im trying to make, is 50 Cent doesnt make songs, he makes money. Anything he releases will sell, simply because he as built this cool "gangsta" image, and there are millions upon millions of idiots out there who will only buy 50 Cent material, simply because its 50 Cent, they dont care about the songs, 50 doesnt care about the songs, to the consumer its about being percieved as "cool" and to 50 Cent is about making $$$$$

Do you really think 50 cares about being a "gangsta"? He doesnt give a damn, he's too busy living the high life in his Conneticut mansion.</div>
So, then why are you making this thread? To show how he puts business first, and music second. That's not just 50, that's the whole music business, and especially the hip-hop genre.

When record companies are refusing to release artists (we'll call them this for the sake of being a bit fair) albums because they don't sound commercial enough, or because they might break the mold of current music, you know it's a whole different ballgame. How are we supposed to further and advanced the musical perspective when we're tied down by money-hungry corporations with no interest in the artists viewpoints?

These artists are much more concerned with how their tracks are going to correspond to ringtones then they are about making solid albums. So, in the end I don't know why your respect for this fluke of a rapper has risen. He's devaluing the hip-hop state. He's going on with the hitmaking formula so he can rake in the dough, all while spitting in hip-hop's face. The same hip-hop that gained him an outlet to make all this dough. It's disrespectful. You might not value hip-hop and music in general as I do, but anyone that does what 50 does has no dignity and a man without dignity is not a man at all.

i just want to innovate and stimulate minds
travel the world and penetrate the times
escape through rhythms in search of peace and wisdom
raps are smoke signals letting the streets know I'm with 'em

If only everyone treated hip-hop and music in general as a gift.

 

[Laker_fan]

Didn't he just sell his shares in the Vitamin Water company for $400m dollars? He's got to be up there with Jay-Z/Diddy now in terms of wealth.

 

[hustler]

I thought he has his own condom line too.

 

[Mamba]

<div class="quote_poster">Laker_fan Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Didn't he just sell his shares in the Vitamin Water company for $400m dollars? He's got to be up there with Jay-Z/Diddy now in terms of wealth.</div>

Uh, no. The vitamin water company itself was bought by Coca Cola for that much, not 50's shares.

 

[Ed!]

^ Nah, the company was sold for 4 billion. He was originally said to have a 10% stake in it, but it turns out hes actually making 100,000,000 instead of 400 mill.

 

[NTC]

<div class="quote_poster">Sasha Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">So, then why are you making this thread? To show how he puts business first, and music second. That's not just 50, that's the whole music business, and especially the hip-hop genre.</div>

No its not, I can name you hundreds of acts who put song meaning ahead of $$$

 

[Flow]

I don't like his songs usually, but yeah I have to admit that he has GREAT success in bussiness. In fact, he even has some listenable songs.
BTW, 50 Cent and his Gorillas are coming to Estonia in the 30th of July.

 

[AKIRA]

i really dont see the point of "musical artists" like 50 cent, if you can even call it music. i really disslike his aggressiveness towards everyone and the way he acts so touch and arrogant, though he hasnt really got any evidence of being cool or tough, just a facade. it seems very childish that someone his age would act the way he does. what are his songs about? every song is "i have alot of money, i like girls who dress like ho's, if you dont like it ill get you with my gang (which seems to only have 5 or 6 members, not very scary) and then i will then go to a club and touch woman at will and spend alot of money on drinks though i dont really care because i have alot of money". This is what i hear every time i hear his "songs", which is extremely rarely, thank god. I have always loved hip-hop, but people like 50 cent tend to ruin the genre by turning it against its basic message and values, that money isnt important, not to sell out, fighting for your rights etc. thats the hip-hop i like, any hip-hop artist who beleives in that message and expresses it through their art i truly admire, but people like 50 cent dominate the music and turn it into a commercial oppurtunity for any old person to make money out of, so long as they act touch and brag about it constantly so people will by their music. consumerism at its finest, or maybe at its worst.

 

[NTC]

<div class="quote_poster">AKIRA Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">i really disslike his aggressiveness towards everyone and the way he acts so touch and arrogant, though he hasnt really got any evidence of being cool or tough, just a facade.</div>

Exactly.

He knows he isnt any of those things, that image is just what sells.

 

[Mamba]

50 thinks he is hard, there is no way he's putting up a facade, he's a moron. His music blows hard, too. I can't believe this idiot is still around, I think his biggest buyers are those 7th grade - sophomore suburban kids who think it's cool to be a gangster. I've never seen a matured person even looking at a 50 cent cd.

The only cool thing he's ever done was being an amateur boxer.

 

[NTC]

<div class="quote_poster">Mamba Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">50 thinks he is hard, there is no way he's putting up a facade, he's a moron. His music blows hard, too. I can't believe this idiot is still around, I think his biggest buyers are those 7th grade - sophomore suburban kids who think it's cool to be a gangster. I've never seen a matured person even looking at a 50 cent cd.

The only cool thing he's ever done was being an amateur boxer.</div>

You' really thinks he thinks he has credibilty when he snitches to the cops, surrounds himself with heavy security and lives out in Connecticut? 50 has millions upon millions of dollars, I think being a street thug is the last thing on his mind, its just an image that sells records.

 

[Mamba]

I don't think it will sell records any more though, people are over him. He's not cool anymore, I'd be surprised if his new record dominated the charts for weeks in a row.

 

[Sasha]

<div class="quote_poster">NTC Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">No its not, I can name you hundreds of acts who put song meaning ahead of $$$</div>
Yeah, the underground cats. I'm thinking more of the mainstream. I really can't think of a mainstream act that values their art. It's an oxymoron in a way.