The American Dream. Despite its all encompassing definition, over the years it has meant many different things to many different people. Aspiring business people all over the United States have pursued it as if it were a warm embrace from a loved one.
While there have been many success stories in the music industry over the years, no rise to power has been more intriguing than that of Curtis 50 Cent Jackson. As his popularity ballooned and the public demand for him grew, the marketplace was continually flooded with all things 50 Cent; which means that by the time of the release of this journal-styled autobiography his story has been heard by everyone and their grandmother over a dozen times; whether in the musical, visual or written form.
What sets this project apart from all the other material relating to 50’s life story (including his 2006 autobiography) and allows it to stand on its own is the amount of effort put into every element of the book to make it as realistic and personal as possible. Amongst the pages of this thoroughly entertaining memoir, you get personal family photos, jotted down lyrics and mixtape covers presented like a family scrapbook.
No matter how meticulously designed the layout is, it would not be enough to cover for a poorly executed and bland artist biography. This is why it is a pleasant surprise to find that 50 is both an entertaining and descriptive storyteller, as he walks us through his eventful life. If 50 was this personable and revealing in his music it would have made his past two formulaic albums a lot more intriguing to say the least.
Following the murder of his mother (when he was only eight-years-old) and surrounded by poverty, he was not content with the idea of working a conventional blue-collar job. So young Curtis opted to sell drugs as his means of financial support; “Getting into selling wasn’t a moral decision for me. It was an economic one”. In the section titled I Gave You Power, he talks about the fact that he used to ask his mother’s old friends for sneakers and grew tired of that predicament. As he explains “It might seem f****d to give a child drugs to sell, but that’s where their money was coming from anyway, so in a large sense what they were doing was giving me financial independence.” You may not agree with 50’s earlier choice of work, however when the man himself explains his motivations for making such a life altering choice, you can at least appreciate where his intentions were coming from.
The story of 50 Cent wouldn’t be complete if he didn’t discuss his longtime beef with Ja Rule. While they had many common acquaintances the two never officially met until the summer of 1999 during a chance meeting at a club. As Fiddy recalls it, Ja was supposedly eyeing 50’s watch and disrespecting him.
After a quiet couple of months, the two met again outside of a hotel, which resulted in a brawl. The story ends with 50 walking off with Ja’s chain; “Ain’t that some funny shit? This n***a is there with his whole crew and I leave with his chain.” On a humorous side-note, a couple of days later 50 had his son Marquise wearing the chain.
The drama between 50 Cent and Ja Rule really escalated when 50 and a studio DJ were attacked by Ja and members of his Murderers crew during a recording session.
The bad blood between the two was never resolved, with 50 claiming that Irv Gotti and Ja Rule had him blackballed from the industry following their altercation. While there is no storybook resolution to their feud 50 seems to enjoy gloating over the career assassination he performed on Ja, Irv and Murder Inc once he made it to the top of the industry. In the earlier chapter The Road to Wellville, where he talks about his recovery from the supposedly Murder Inc-orchestrated shooting, he says “At that point I couldn’t even imagine destroying all of their careers and putting a permanent end to their finances the way I ultimately would.”
50 Cent seemingly came out of nowhere in the eyes of many when he became an international superstar in 2003. However, for those that thought it was an easy road to stardom for Curtis Jackson, 50 X 50 dispels those rumors as he talks about the almost decade long struggle to get his music heard. First was his unfulfilling stint on Jam Master’s Jay’s label, “most of the other young rappers around him were the types who were happy to sit around and smoke weed, chill, and wait. Not me.” As well as the insulting treatment he received at the hands of former Fat Boys member Prince Markie Dee and a Sony executive.
Working with superstar producers the Trackmasterz seemed to put him in the right direction, as did the beef inciting track How to Rob. However, following his well publicized brush with death, surviving nine bullets, neither his label Columbia Records nor his collaborators wanted anything to do with him. You can really appreciate the pain and betrayal he was feeling during this troubling time, as he states “None of the people at the label would call me back. It didn’t take long for me to figure out where I stood with them. I knew it was a matter of time before they dropped me. That was actually the worst pain that I dealt with from the shooting.”
Just like the script to a Hollywood flick, which Fiddy had in 2005, the book ends on a happy note, as he emerges a triumphant superstar, surviving through the bullets, beefs and betrayals. The way he has handled that success and carried himself since then has been debated by many though, it’s not an open and shut case, or more appropriately book. The 50 Cent saga is far from over.
While 50 X 50 may look like a large imposing tome on first inspection, it is a fun and light read. We’re not talking Tuesdays With Morrie here, not that anyone was expecting that from this release. Although it’s not an essential read it is captivating and certainly puts a human face on the 50 Cent phenomenon. Solid!
Click here for your chance win a copy of 50 X 50, courtesy of Simon & Schuster
