What might all these ‘upstanding’ African American entertainers have in common? Hip hop/gangsta rap, guns, and violence. Each of them thrives and derives their livelihoods from promoting those 3 items to varying degrees, and violence has followed each. Not that violence, drugs, and other base negative elements of life are an unusual event for the hip-hop rap community.
But of these individuals only one is apparently thin skinned. Funny enough it’s the one that survived being shot multiple times. You see, 50 cent is suing a company that he claims is using his image in another video game. Of course the purpose of the game is to shoot his image. I can’t see him being upset about that part. As a drug-dealing criminal I have no doubt he’s been shot at more than the one time he actually got hit. Yet Curtis Jackson is asking for $1 million in compensation and the end of this game. I would bet that it’s because his character is being shot, and not shooting. Basically they hurt his feelings. Boo Hoo.
I obviously have no pity. I hope he loses the case and the game takes off. Symbolically it sounds like (I have not seen or played the game) getting rid of gangsta rap. I’m sure that is not the intent, which is troubling in it’s own right, but that’s the image I want to have right now.
Something else I want to mention. I feel the name 50 cent is ignorant. I don’t like it. I realize that the gangsta rap sub-genre is filled with ill-spelled, self-aggrandizing, near English terms. The kind of names you might expect a 4 year old to write (which may be the inspiration of some of these names, who knows). That’s given, but this one just grates my nerves.
Why? It’s the meaning of the name. While I understand Curtis Jackson took the name from a robber from Brooklyn because
“I'm the same kind of person 50 Cent was. I provide for myself by any means.”
If by same the meaning is criminal, I can agree.
But what it means is something more. It is obvious that it instantly states that there is a lack of knowledge of the English language, since the s is missing. It infers a value (since it references money) of less than a whole. It signifies incompleteness. Half a dollar is not worth a whole dollar. A half dollar buy nothing thses days and is virtually worthless.
It could ber further understood to imply being half as worthy of manhood, or being half a man. If you take cent and substitute sense (similar in sound and depending on the vocalization, accent, and intelligence of the speaker similar in pronounciation) if can be infered to mean half a mind, or half intelligent.
I have no doubt that Curtis Jackson has no idea that any of this can be concluded from his stage name. I’m sure his thought began and ended with the fact he was copying the name of a tough criminal he was aware of. Perhaps most fans don’t realize this either. But words have meanings, and we learn and retain the meanings for life. So even on a subliminal level we all know that all the above is there in that name.
I have no love of gansta rap nor it’s performers. The lyrics are base, it’s music videos crass, and it’s dependance on drugs and violence sickening. Even so, I cannot stand by and fail to mention that of the ill-formed names available, there must be something better for Curtis Jackson to call himself. Traveling the world, more importantly his image and music do so, thus promoting an image of Black men as so ignorant as to not be able to speak their own native tounge better than the ability of a 4 yr old upsets me.
But those are my thoughts, what are yours?
1 comment:
Gangsta Rap is what it is. It represents what it represents. Though it may not always be 'politically correct' or 'socially acceptable' I personally applaud, if nothin else, the level of raw realism that it brings from the street to your speakers. However, '50 Cent' (Curtis Jackson) is an ignorant person, fitting of an ignorant name. In Addition, The original context in which the pseudonym '50 Cent' is derived, is in reference to $50 worth of crack-cocaine, Curtis Jackson's choice drug of sale. (Also known as a '50 piece', '50 pack' or '50 cent'.)
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