Idolator: 50 Cent

50 Cent Is Really Going Through With That Taco Bell Lawsuit

Maura Johnston — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 18:45:00 EDT

"50 Cent, whose real name is Curtis Jackson, accuses the Mexican-style fast food chain of 'diluting the value of his good name' and employing a guerrilla advertising campaign to fool consumers into thinking he had endorsed the chain, said the lawsuit, filed in Manhattan federal court. ... '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 lawsuit said." Wait, 50 Cent cares about what bloggers think? I thought his immense piles of money acted as soundproofing from the Internet hoi polloi, although maybe his associates' albums chronic stiffing has changed his perspective on things. [Reuters / Previously]

Smell like 50 Cent, Smell Like A Winner

Anthony Miccio — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 15:45:00 EDT

So what if G-Unit's Terminate On Sight sold less in its first week than Tha Carter III did in its fourth. 50 Cent is a winner! You can go against him, but you're going to lose! You can go hard... but he'll just go harder! Even when he thinks he's going to lose, he wins! Because he's a winner! It's just what he does. You think you're so great? Well, where's your body spray, huh? I don't see people lining up put some "Pure Blog Reader" on themselves! G-G-G-UNIT! [YouTube via Songs For Soap]

Khia Hates On Janet And Broke-Ass Record Execs, Craves Lil Wayne's Lollipop

Anthony Miccio — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 10:15:00 EDT

Khia, disqualified Miss Rap Supreme contestant and author of "My Neck, My Back," has launched a busload of blog beef, occasioned in part by her leaving Big Cat Records two weeks before the release of her new album, Nasti Muzik 08. She claims that the label wrote her a bad check and gave her nothing in the way of promotion. "So guess what????? Say hello to my little Jewish friend........ You know dat Im gonna laugh all the way to the bank dontcha??? Yall betta have all yall receipts, invoices and budgets together.... Cuz Im bout to sue the hell out yall assess!!!!!!" Khia also takes issue with those who haven't signed her, like Jermaine Dupri, who claimed on Hot 97 that Khia was "ungrateful" for the attention she received from being on Janet Jackson's 2006 flop "So Excited." Khia, unsurprisingly, thinks the real problem is that Dupri's gay and Jackson's menopausal. "Now run and tell dat!!!!!! Nasti Muzik 08!!!!!"

Nowwwwwwww...... Jermaine Dupri...... I hear you was on Hot 97 in New York... Talking bout how I was ungrateful............. And Miss Jones was FIRED right after dat!!!!!! If I'm ungrateful about anything its about the fact of how I SAVED the day for JANET..... And I couldn't even be in the VIDEO.....But dats old news so why are we even still talking about it????? Janet's album Flopped and DATS dat!!!!! I'm sorry....... Janet.....I hear you been going thru the CHANGE.... So maybe dats why you were MOODY and didn't want me in the VIDEO dat day!!!! I guess 40 is not the new 20????

If I am disappointed about anything......... Its because you DIDN'T sign me, after I had already proven to you that I can sell records!!!! Is it because I am not little like BOW WOW??? Is it because I don't wear my pants backwards with my boxers showing like Kriss-Kross??????..... You are Michael Jackson's little sister's boyfriend!!!!!! Is Chris Stokes your cousin??? Now dats the REAL disappointment!!!!! Are you gonna join Janet at the Jungle dis weekend, the hot GAY bar in Atlanta?? If so, I will see you then!!!! SOUND OFF....... And Noooooooo...... I don't wanna buy no DAMN BOY SCOUT COOKIES!!!! It's something funny bout GROWN men running around with little boys in uniforms..... Tell Janet to lay off the HUSTLER and COCO DORM SEX Tapes!!!!! Another man is beating YOUR TIME!!! Give it to em raw and RINSE dat strap off.........Now run and tell dat!!!!!! Nasti Muzik 08!!!!!

While Khia may be "sick and tired of FUCK Niggas claiming to produce albums and take credit for shit dat dey wish dey could do," she does still dream that someday her prince may come.

50 cent where you at??????? At least then I couda got a DAMN VIDEO!!!!!! GGGGGGG-UNIT!!!!!!!! Im da BITCH ya need... But dats okay cuz after Nasti Muzik drop on July 22nd, I aint gone need nann nigga for shit!!! If I make it....... We all make it.... Nasti Muzik 08!!!!!!

Hell, her prince may have already came.

...All yall dats leakin the album.... Thank you.... Cuz all yall leakin is dat straight fye.......... Yall haterz leaked my baby's album too and he sold a 1Million copies the first week!!!! Yall heard what my baby Weezy said......... Yo neck, Yo back..... It's funny how dat song aint got old yet????? To us......It's only just begun....... Thank you for the plug.... DADDY!!! I love licking the RAPPER....... Forward and backwards.......Nasti Muzik 08!!!!!!!!

Trina has yet to comment on that one.

Big Cat BROKE ASS RECORDS, Jermaine Dupri and Wacky Hoe done tried the QUEEN!!! [Khia's MySpace]

50 Cent's Lawyer Claims The Gatman Doesn't Own Any Firearms

Anthony Miccio — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 17:00:00 EDT

Young Buck, T.I., Taco Bell—none of these annoyances can compare to ex-girlfriend Shaniqua Tompkins for 50 Cent right now. First they fought over child support, then they fought over her living his house. Then the house burnt down. Then she said he did it. Then he sued her for $20 million. Then she got a restraining order. It's too soon to say whether he'll get that money (dude, doesn't she have to take care of your kid on $6,000 a month?), but she's already got that restraining order, with the presiding judge also ordering that 50 Cent turn over all guns that are in his possession. And how many guns does the author of "Gunrunner," "Gunz Come Out," "Gatman And Robbin," 'Fully Loaded Clip" and "My Gun Go Off" own? According to his lawyers, not one.

Mr Jackson's lawyer, Brett Kimmel, said he would contest the order. "To my knowledge, he has no guns," he said.

Wnat he has, Young Buck to the contrary, is a heart.

"He's the reason I'm successful," Fif said of his son Marquise. "My son is my motivation. He's the reason why I changed directions."

"It's crazy, I go through so much with his moms," he continued. "We're not friends anymore. It's a huge adjustment when you have a person who has a sense of entitlement because she was around during that time period when I didn't have much. She feels like she should be entitled to the world."

Wait, so not only does he not own guns, but $25,000 a month is "the world" to him? This isn't the 50 Cent we fell in love with.

U.S. Judge Issues 50 Cent Gun Ban [BBC]
50 Cent Reacts To Ex's Restraining Order, ''She's Trying To Use [My Son] To Hurt Me As Best She Can'' [SOHH]

If A Hip-Hop Artist Leaves A Label, Will Either Make A Sound?

Dan Gibson — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 16:15:00 EDT

Billboard reports today on a few "top rap acts" with expiring contracts and a taste for more direct streams of cash. Although Jay-Z has proven that hip-hop can venture outside the traditional record-label world, what does that mean for acts like Outkast, LL Cool J, and the always delightful 50 Cent?

Thankfully, none of the article's four reporters throw the already regrettable phrase "Radiohead model" around, but you have to wonder if that In Rainbows wasn't at least a little on the mind of the acts profiled.

LL Cool J will complete his three-album deal with Def Jam with the Aug. 5 release of "Exit 13." By the end of the year, 50 Cent is expected to put out "Before I Self Destruct," the fourth and final album on his Interscope deal. OutKast owes LaFace/Zomba three more albums under the duo's four-album contract, with all three releases expected out later this year and next year.

Tiphanie Watson, co-manager for OutKast's Big Boi, says the duo hasn't decided yet whether to seek another deal with a major, but adds, "It's much more beneficial to do it on your own. For an artist with an established fan base, there's more than one way to come up with strategic branding."

LL Cool J is hardly a hot property these days—even if Def Jam is partially to blame for his decline, as he seems to think—but you'd have to think there's some life left in 50 Cent; Outkast, even after Idlewild, seem to be capable of several successful albums if they can stay in the same room long enoughe. However, one decidedly non-major label would like to let any and all acts know that there's always a home for them at Koch.

Signing with an indie label is the best option for hip-hop stars nearing the end of their deals, says Alan Grunblatt, GM/executive VP of Koch Records, which has charted with Jim Jones, DJ Khaled and Yung Berg. "With a major you'd get an advance, no masters and the deal would be based strictly on royalties," Grunblatt says. "Koch would do a licensing and/or a P&D deal."

If there's any justice in this industry at all, 50 Cent will end up on Koch, a label he famously referred to as a "graveyard". Then again, wasn't he supposed to retire or something? What happened to that?

Top Rap Acts Weigh Options As Record Deals End [Billboard]

50 Cent And Taco Bell, Continued: Now With Extra Beef

Maura Johnston — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 08:53:00 EDT

So that lighthearted, if kinda stupid, offer from Taco Bell to 50 Cent, in which the MexiMelt pushers offered to feed a restaurant and given $10,000 to charity in exchange for a 24-hour name change and a widget-inspired freestyle? Curtis has gotten wind of it, and he is is not pleased. "This is a sleazy and ill-conceived publicity stunt by Taco Bell's president, Greg Creed, whose disingenuous offer was leaked to the press before it was even presented to 50 Cent's agent yesterday," one of 50's PR reps told AllHipHop.com. Yes, how dare anyone try to garner attention from the use of your client's name without his permission! I mean, talk about nerve!

"When my legal team is finished with them, Taco Bell is going to have a new corporate slogan: 'We messed with the bull and got the horns,'" 50 Cent told AllHipHop.com in a statement.

While I'm all for people backlashing against things that are aggressively dopey—and reading the "offer letter" to 50 confirms that this stunt definitely falls under that rubric—I don't know if 50 should be talking about adding lawyers to this bad-publicity burrito. First of all, I'd think they'd be somewhat busy with his other problems; secondly, if there's anyone who right now should not be talking about things being leaked to the press against his will, it's Curtis Jackson.

Taco Bell Offers 50 A Deal; Rapper Not Amused [AllHipHop; HT Nah Right]

Young Buck Responds To 50 Cent's Taped Conversation With "Taped Conversation"

Anthony Miccio — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 16:30:00 EDT

Despite Young Buck's manager claiming that his client was too much of a "real man" to respond to 50 Cent's recording of Buck crying over the phone, Buck has already released a track, "Taped Conversation," which offers his side of the story. Buck claims that the conversation was from "about a year ago" and that while the tape reveals the "emotional" side of Buck, it reveals a very unflattering side of 50. "I know you think this makes you look big, it really makes you look bad...You don't know me!" 50 Cent has since released the entire recording of their conversation, including mentions of an upcoming show in Canada this weekend, which would suggest it was not recorded "about a year ago." [Sandra Rose]

Taco Bell Thinks 50 Cent Is Worth At Least As Much As One Of Their Bean Burritos

Maura Johnston — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 13:30:00 EDT

Taco Bell is asking 50 Cent to change his name for the good of the world, saying that if he takes one day to upgrade his nom de guerre to 79 Cent, 89 Cent, or 99 Cent and drop by one of their drive-thrus for a freestyle into the microphone they'll comp the meals of anyone who happens to be in said location and donate $10,000 in his name to "the charity of his choice." (Given recent events, you'd think that said charity would be a legal fund of some sort.) It's too bad, however, that the Taco Bell president's embarrassing riff on "change" ("We know that you adopted the name 50 Cent years ago as a metaphor for change. We at Taco Bell are also huge advocates for change." Ha... ha? What?) didn't include an invitation for Curtis to join the pantheon of musicians appearing in Taco Bell commercials that includes Young MC and a certain Man In Black.

Obviously, this Jingle was not produced by Rick Rubin.

50's Name-Change Challenge! [OK]
1990's 1992 Taco Bell Johnny Cash Commercial [YouTube]

50 Cent Stays Classy, Releases Tape Of Young Buck Bawling

Anthony Miccio — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 16:30:00 EDT

Come on, Young Buck. I know you're afraid of what will become of you now that you've been kicked out of G-Unit. But don't demean yourself by crying over the phone to 50 Cent about your IRS problems and how confused he makes you—especially because as befitting a celebrity who's rapidly losing his superstar status, 50 is pulling a Nixon and evidently taping his conversations, and he's not above sharing them with Miss Info. Stop crying, Buck. Just look at the bright side. You've still got fans, and you've still got a record contract with G-Unit. And you didn't have to appear alongside Cap'n Curtis in one of the gayest videos in recent history.

The tears start falling around 4:45, but he's clearly on the verge from the very beginning.

It's not clear when exactly this conversation about Young Buck's "confusion" happened, but it was probably before Buck was yelling "Fuck G-Unit!" at shows.

Around the same time 50 was reading forum reactions to the tape and giggling, Young Buck put out a track about the split, "My Whole Life." The forgettable track covers many of the same grievances he shares in the phone conversation, though in a tone more irritated than blubbery. If only he'd thought to let the song cry.

50 Cent Leaks Tape Of Tearful Phone Conversation With Young Buck [MTV]
50 Cent & Young Buck Phone Call (Young Buck Tears Up NEW!!) [YouTube]
Young Buck screaming '' FUCK G-UNIT '' (Without The Show) [YouTube]

50 Cent Has Beef With T.I. (Big Surprise)

Dan Gibson — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 15:30:00 EDT

50 Cent—who apparently still records music, despite what he might have said previously—has decided to take on T.I., because the Atlanta MC isn't going to spend as much time in prison as Curtis would like. To spare you the trouble of picking up the new G-Unit disc, the "controversial" lyrics regarding T.I. are below the cut.

So, what does Mr. Cent have to say about T.I.? According to blogger "That Bitch", here are his insights.

Nowaways this rap shit ain't adding up/ How n—--s get caught with 10 machine guns, only get 12 months?/Oo-weee, don't talk to me/ If you talking to him, you talking to them.../I got the best lawyers that money can buy/ they say at best they woulda got me 10 or maybe 9./I said, how do you explain how the homie breezed?/They said, you keep your mouth shut or you eat the cheese.

Now, why would 50 Cent have called his lawyers recently? One can only guess.

In any case, a comparison of recent material from both parties might be in order:

T.I., "You Know What It Is":

50 Cent, "Get Money":

Stay tuned, at very least, for a week or so, until the entire affair becomes dull and 50 Cent puts out another boring record.

50 Calls T.I. A Snitch [Rhymes With Snitch]

A New York judge ordered 50 Cent to hold ...

Maura Johnston — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 11:45:00 EDT

A New York judge ordered 50 Cent to hold on to the Long Island property that formerly housed a 5,200-square-foot home, which burned to the ground last month after being the center of a protracted legal battle between 50 and his ex-girlfriend Shaniqua Tompkins. Also, any insurance proceeds from the fire have to be put into a trust. Suffolk County arson investigators are still looking into the fire, which is naturally falling into the "highly suspicious" category. Somewhat related: Anyone else think it's somewhat morbid that Newsday's Web site is providing a map to the house, complete with allowing users to calculate directions from their present location? I'm all for news that you can use, but this seems a bit "ugh." [Newsday]

50 Cent's ex-girlfriend Shaniqua Tompkins, ...

Maura Johnston — Fri, 30 May 2008 15:30:00 EDT

50 Cent's ex-girlfriend Shaniqua Tompkins, who lived in the Long Island house owned by 50 that burned to the ground early this morning, told reporters that 50 threatened her last night and that she thinks he's "obsessed" with the house. Also, to cover all the character-assassination bases, she added that he's a bad father. I'm sure those arson investigators listened to every word Tompkins said very carefully. [TMZ]

A Long Island house owned by 50 Cent burned ...

Maura Johnston — Fri, 30 May 2008 09:15:00 EDT

A Long Island house owned by 50 Cent burned down this morning, and six people went to the hospital as a result of the blaze, according to Newsday. 50 had been trying to evict his ex-girlfriend, Shaniqua Tompkins, and their 10-year-old son Marquise from the six-bedroom house in Dix Hills after he demanded that she pay $4,500 a month in rent to stay; in response, Tompkins took Curtis to court, saying that the rent payment demand constituted breach of contract because 50 had promised to put the house in her name. It was unknown whether or not Tompkins was living in the house as of this morning; you may not be surprised to find out that, according to Suffolk County police, arson investigators were on the scene this morning, trying to figure out just how the fire started. [Newsday]

50 Cent Comes And Joins His Fellow Man

Anthony Miccio — Thu, 29 May 2008 14:30:00 EDT

A group of soldiers in an Army barrack excitedly watch G-Unit's "I Like The Way She Do It" on TV until they hear footsteps and hurry back to their beds and stand at attention. Soon comes Captain 50 Cent, his hat tilted sideways. The Cap'n pumps his fist, surveys his recruits and gives the camera a mincing "grrr!" before announcing "Wo, wo, wo, wo, wo, wo! Wo, wo, wo, wo, wo, wo! I done told ya boy, I'm a soldier boy! I got no choice but to be a rider! I approach you, boy, with the toaster, boy! Get to point blank range and fire!" How is he not holding a riding crop during this? To paraphrase Four Four, I wasn't looking for gay in the video for G-Unit's "Rider, Pt. 2," but gay found me and snapped me on the ass with a wet towel. [OnSmash via Nah Right]

50 Cent Runs Out Of Talentless Friends, Plans MTV Reality Show To Find More

Anthony Miccio — Thu, 29 May 2008 11:30:00 EDT

Ish Entertainment, the folks behind T.I.'s upcoming docuseries Crime Doesn't Pay, But This Does, is also joining with MTV to bring us "a hip-hop Apprentice" hosted by 50 Cent. Are You The Next Questionably Charismatic Hip Hop Mogul? will feature a house full of contestants lifting weights, wearing purple blouses, thinking up brand names and networking, networking, networking in hopes of winning a bottle of Vitamin Water and getting to be part of an XXL cover story titled "G-Unit: Return Of The Champions." What will 50 Cent's variation on "you're fired" be? "You're out of da club?" "Kill yourself?" "I hear Black Wall Street Entertainment is hiring?"

Ish Entertainment is behind the untitled 50 Cent show, which will center on 16 contestants as they live together and compete in challenges that relate to street savvy and business smarts. Show - kind of a hip-hop 'Apprentice' - will end each week with 50 Cent narrowing his search. Ish's Michael Hirschorn, Stella Stolper and Chris Choun exec produce with 50 Cent and Chris Lighty. Eight episodes have been lined up.

Diddy, the original murmuring hip-hop mogul, is getting ready for Making The Rock Band, a guitar-conscious spin off of Making The Band in which Diddy, as well as guest stars along the lines of Travis Barker, Dave Navarro, Pete Wentz, and Scott Ian, will search for the new Fuzzbubble.

50 Cent Joins MTV For Mogul Search [Variety]

50 Cent Could Be Getting Some Fox Attitude

Maura Johnston — Thu, 15 May 2008 13:30:00 EDT

Like the Timex Social Club, I spend a lot of time lamenting the rumors that surround me every day. How do they get started? And where do they get crazy? In Truthmongerer, I'll try to suss out the kernels of truth in the rumors that are taking up airspace in gossip columns, blogs, and our tips inbox.

THE RUMOR: News Corp is signing 50 Cent and the rest of his G-Unit posse to a $300 million deal that includes "a large stake in every aspect of 50's businesses," 50 signing to MySpace Records, a G-Unit book deal with HarperCollins, and Curtis becoming one of the media company's largest shareholders.

TRUTH THRESHOLD: 20%.

LIKELY TRUTHS: I dunno, maybe Lloyd Banks is playing a MySpace secret show sometime soon? Or 50 called in a favor for some tickets to the American Idol finale?

LIKELY FALSEHOODS When I heard that 50 Cent's official site, ThisIs50.com, was the source of the 50/News Corp rumor, my first thought was, "That seems a little gratuitously self-promotional, even for Curtis." (Well, OK, that was actually my second thought after "So this is Uncle Rupe's big bounceback after losing out on Newsday, huh? Someone's feeling a bit emasculated!") But as it turns out, the "sourcing" was merely the result of ThisIs50 Hoovering up the RSS feed of the ever-reliable MediaTakeOut, then repurposing it for page-filling-out purposes. Good old Internet content, always circling its own drain. Anyway, file this one under "probably not even vaguely true," especially since, well, do you think that Bill O'Reilly would let this stand?

50 Cent Reportedly In Talks For $300 Million Deal [HipHopDX]

50 Cent's Chain Snatcher Gets Pinched

Maura Johnston — Tue, 06 May 2008 11:15:00 EDT

The man who swiped 50 Cent's chain from his neck during a performance at the International Peace Festival in Angola was turned in by his own parents (!) after the footage of his crime wound its way around the Web. Bruno Carvalho (pictured at left) will face criminal charges for his foray into the jewel-thief world, charges that will probably be kind of hard to evade. Especially since his pool of character witnesses seems to be a bit, shall we say, shallow. [Angola Press via AllHipHop]

50 Cent To Lil Wayne: Too Many Bad Sexual Metaphors Drive Listeners Away

Maura Johnston — Mon, 05 May 2008 13:30:00 EDT

50 Cent thinks that the path Lil Wayne is currently traveling down—while it may have led him to his first career No. 1 single—is a dangerous one, because it's one that Curtis sees as similar to the path he traveled down in recent years. You may remember that era, when he released "Candy Shop" and "Amusement Park" back to back, only to see the latter greeted by yawns that were so loud, they pushed Curtis' release date back by months. So is 50 saying that "Lollipop" is a crummy song propped up by a persona that's as calculated as the supplement list in a bottle of Vitamin Water, and that No. 1 lightning doesn't strike twice on those sorts of combinations? As if! He's under the impression that the masses rejected "Amusement Park" because it just gave the audience too much sexy after the lick-heavy metaphors of "Candy Shop"... and that people will do the same to Weezy's next track from Tha Carter III if he isn't careful.

"I was fascinated with the idea of creating content that was sexual from a male perspective that wasn't obscene and vulgar in any way," 50 told SOHH. "So, I went back to create 'Amusement Park.' The metaphor within 'Amusement Park' and being sexual [and] 'Candy Shop' and being sexual was too close."

According to 50, the public could not accept another female record from him. "If that record came from someone else they would've accepted it like, 'Lollipop,' 50 says of Lil' Wayne's current smash single.

"Because it's the first time that [Wayne is] doing it they go, 'Ok, we like it?' 'Don't we like it?' 'We like Wayne right?' And they agree to do it but he won't be able to do that again."

I have no idea what that argument-with-the-self Curtis is having at the end there actually means, but I guess it's nice that even in the face of commercial indifference dude still sort of believes in his "art."

SOHH Exclusive: 50 Cent Warns Lil' Wayne, No More "Lollipop" [SOHH]

Angolan Concert Attendee Steals 50 Cent's Chain, Feeds Family For A Month

Anthony Miccio — Mon, 05 May 2008 11:20:00 EDT

At 1:40 in this clip of 50 Cent performing in Angola, you can see someone jump on stage and swipe the chain off Curtis' neck. Not shown and possibly imagined: 50 Cent, having his crest stolen, fell to the ground powerless, as The Game ran away laughing, screaming "X THE EEEELIMINATOR!" as he dangled from a rope ladder off a getaway helicopter that read "G-UNOT!" on the side. [YouTube]

50 Cent Befuddled By Alicia Keys' 'Classical Music Shit'

Anthony Miccio — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 11:00:00 EDT

Alicia Keys clumsily claims that the concept of "gangsta rap" was a concoction of the government/media in a Blender interview, and uncommercial maverick artists like 50 Cent get in a tizzy over the idea that they might be playing into some sort of conglomerate-approved caricature. "I don't like Alicia Keys no more though ... the same reason why I said that I don't like Oprah Winfrey." moaned Fid, "I'm prejudice(d). I don't like people who don't like me." Maybe he's just bummed he hasn't been asked to play her boyfriend in a music video. Not that he likes that "classical music shit" she's been putting out.

If she don't like that, (then) I don't like that classical music s—- she be doing. At some point she's playing some s—- that don't relate to me. ... We listen to it and try to figure out why people actually enjoy it. I am trying to enjoy it. That statement changes my perception of Alicia Keys totally. But the magazine is standing behind it, which means they probably have a tape of her in conversation saying it. It's just not really a bright comment anyway."

Bright or not, it's sad to see allegedly unapologetic thugs get het up over the fact that someone doesn't respect their work. HipHopMusic's Jay Smooth posted a response to her claims last week that is unsurprisingly more thoughtful and sympathetic than what 50 Cent came up with.

50 Cent Defends "Gangsta Rap" [Showbuzz]
Alicia Keys: Tupac Biggie Gangsta Rap Conspiracy [HipHopMusic]

50 Cent has thrown Young Buck out of his ...

Anthony Miccio — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 13:30:00 EDT

50 Cent has thrown Young Buck out of his G-Unit crew for public insubordination. While the rapper is still signed to to G-Unit records, his recent public complaints about his diminshed presence on group mixtakes struck his employer as disturbingly "Game"-like in their whininess. Said Fid: "In order to validate himself as a man, he feels he has to go against what I'm doing, similar to some of the things we've seen from Game..." And the empire of Curtis crumbles a little more. [MTV]

50 Cent has succeeded in kicking his ex-girlfriend ...

Anthony Miccio — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 11:30:00 EDT

50 Cent has succeeded in kicking his ex-girlfriend and son out of a $1.5 million dollar home he owns, complaining that she was living there with a new beau. "To have her living there with her boyfriend and several other people is inappropriate," said Fid. "She had a sense of entitlement over me because she was around before I had success." Her entitlement may also stem from the fact that she's raising his son on $6,700 a month in child support. The cash ain't bad, but kind of paltry from a guy who claimed to be worth "about a billion dollars" at her eviction hearing. [New York Post]

50 Cent, MC Breed Set Bad Example For Babydaddies

Anthony Miccio — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 13:30:51 EDT

What kind of man invites ladies to the candy shop and the amusement park, only to kick his child out of his home? Shaniqua Tompkins, 50 Cent's ex-girlfriend and mother of his son Marquise, has filed court papers to keep the erstwhile Curtis from taking back a $2.4 million house she and her child have been living in. "This is somebody who was with him when he was shot in 2000 and who nursed him back to health," said Tompkins' lawyer. Surely you've got enough Vitamin Water money to cover this, Fid.

In an even more extreme case of babymama drama, MC Breed has been arrested for refusal to pay child support.

According to The Flint Journal, Breed was picked up on a warrant at around 4:00 p.m. on Thursday by Genesee County Sheriff's deputies as him and a film crew left the Music Planet record store on Carpenter Rd. Police knew where to find the rapper, who now lives in Atlanta, after he mentioned that he would be signing autographs at Music Planet during a previous interview with The Flint Journal. Authorities say Breed owes $220,000 in back child support. Because of the arrest, Breed missed a 7:00 p.m. show at the Perani Arena with headliner Lil Wayne. The arrest is not the first of its kind for Breed. The MC previously served eight months in prison on a parole violation related to a separate child support case.

A recidivist! To be fair, the last minute of Breed's "Gotta Get Mine" should have warned women that he wasn't to be trusted.

Stay classy, guys.

50 Cent sued for eviction claim [BBC]
MC Breed arrested for failure to pay child support [XXL]

Radiohead Social Network To Bring The Circle Jerk A Little Closer Together

Maura Johnston — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 11:05:00 EDT

Radiohead fans, are you tired of congregating everywhere on the Internet to sing the praises of Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood, and those other dudes? It doesn't seem like it, from the way that you'll take to any comment section in any far-flung blog, but the boys in the band are betting that you'd love to find just one place to get together and find people just like you! (Plus, now that Thom et al have already changed the music industry forever and ever, they need to give their Web team something to do.) Head on over to Waste Central, Radiohead's safe space for fans to bond over their shared ownership of the In Rainbows box set. The best part about the site? It shows that the trailblazing band isn't afraid of following in the footsteps of Fall Out Boy, 50 Cent, Kylie Minogue, and other artists who have decided to "monetize their userbase" by cutting them off from the rest of the Internet and plopping them inside boutique social networks that are emblazoned with lots of e-commerce links.

The social networking component gives fans a reason to hang out on a site and visit more often than they would a standard Web site. And artists can sell advertisements on their sites and offer downloads and merchandise for sale — options they don't have on MySpace or Facebook. Plus, they own the content and data on how fans use their site, which they don't get on other social networks.

"The thing that separates Thisis50 from MySpace is we control the e-mail database," says Chris "Broadway" Romero, director for new media at G-Unit Records, which handles Thisis50. "We can e-mail members if we want to."

Thisis50 isn't meant to be a fan club, but rather a platform for 50 Cent to showcase his music and music he likes, and comment on news and user profile pages. Ludacris' WeMix.com, on the other hand, is more of a hub for aspiring artists to upload their music.

The artist networks aren't meant to replace MySpace or Facebook, which tend to attract a broader audience and more users.

"(Artists) think about MySpace and Facebook as funnels for their own social networks," says Gina Bianchini, CEO of Ning, a company that provides social networking tools for Thisis50, Sara Bareilles and others. "They take and use services where they don't know the users, don't have access and don't have full control, and funnel those fans to something they do control."

With the idea supposedly being that those fans will eventually only want to hang out in those artist-controlled spaces, at least until the promotional cycle for the artist's current album ends. (Can you imagine what the Sara Bareilles social network will look like once November rolls around?) But I have to question the long-term viability of these sites for the simple reason that people only have so many hours in their day—wouldn't they want to be in a space where they can interact with as many people as possible? (And in the case of Radiohead, don't they already have a thriving fan community, albeit an unofficial one?) It just seems like "branded social networks" is the Web 2.0 iteration of the "official site with message boards and chat rooms and free e-mail," and if anything it's giving some programmers and "community managers" a chance to keep their jobs for another couple of months, which I guess isn't a bad thing given that the economy's in the crapper right now. But I wouldn't bet on them for anything resembling a long-term strategy for keeping music fans engaged (that's code for "spending money") on a long-term basis.

Musicians start social networking sites [Reuters]
Waste Central [Official site]
Friends Or Enemies [Official site]
This Is 50 [Official site]
KylieKonnect [Official site]

The low first-week sales totals of Fat Joe's ...

Maura Johnston — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 09:15:04 EDT

The low first-week sales totals of Fat Joe's Elephant In The Room can mean only one thing: 50 Cent finally has someone to razz about crummy SoundScan numbers. [XXL]

50 Cent will be a guest at Wrestlemania XXIV ...

Maura Johnston — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 13:30:54 EST

50 Cent will be a guest at Wrestlemania XXIV on March 30, where he'll accompany boxing champion Floyd Mayweather—who apparently uses "I Get Money" as his entrance music—to the ring before Mayweather's match with the seven-foot, 400-pound wrestler who goes by the name The Big Show. On a business level, it's smart for 50 to bring his music to new audiences, but part of me thinks that this appearance is an odd one as far as PR goes, given that 50's name popped up in a performance-enhancing drugs investigation a few months back. Maybe he just misses the excitement offered to him by trumped-up conflicts that are egged on by an all-too-eager public? [MTV]

What's next for 50 Cent's apparel line G-Unit ...

Maura Johnston — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 12:45:23 EST

What's next for 50 Cent's apparel line G-Unit Clothing? The blog associated with clothing store Dr. Jay's—which sells a fair amount of G-Unit-branded merch—is saying that something is up, with marketing and design staff being given (unwearable) pink slips. The brand is currently a joint venture between Marc Ecko and 50 Cent, and the deal between the two entities expires this Friday. Whether it's closing or not is being debated right now, although the odds would be on 50 teaming up with another apparel-industry partner given that the company reportedly brings in about $75 million a year. [Dr. Jay's via XXL]

50 Cent is now denying that he recently requested ...

Jess Harvell — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 11:30:44 EST

50 Cent is now denying that he recently requested that Paris Hilton "get the fuck off the stage" while he was performing, making Paris tear up on her very own birthday. Oh great, the first thing 50 Cent has done in years that's actually earned him some widespread affection, and it turns out to not be true. [MTV]

This Just In: Musicians Not Particularly Good At Picking Believable Fake Names For The Purposes Of Drug Trafficking

jharv — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 14:45:13 EST

Special "you're shitting us, right?" update! From the Albany newspaper story that initially broke the news of 50 Cent, Mary J. Blige, and other musicians ordering illegal steroids through a shady online pharmacy:

"Between August 2005 and January 2007 Blige allegedly received multiple shipments from an Orlando pharmacy of Jentropin, a human growth hormone, and Oxandrolone, an anabolic steroid, in orders sent to her at the Beverly Hills Hotel, MGM Grand in Las Vegas, and Clay Gym in New York City.

At least one of the orders was mailed under the name "Marlo Stanfield," which is the character name of a drug kingpin on the Baltimore-based HBO crime drama "The Wire."

"[50 Cent] is alleged to have received shipments of steroids at his mansion in Farmington, Conn. in July 2006 an order was mailed to his residence under the name "Michael Jordan" and also at a residence on Oakmont Drive in Los Angeles. Steroids in his name also were mailed to the office of a Long Island chiropractor."

I wonder what alias Wyclef used. Maybe H.R. Pufnstuf? Tiffani Amber Thiessen? Pras Michel?

Steroids Beyond Sports [Times Union]

Musicians May Be Trading Their Personal Trainers For Steroids

jharv — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 10:30:59 EST

When one thinks of pop star scandals involving drugs, one doesn't usually first think of the "performance enhancing" variety, but at least three musicians have now been "named in connection with an Albany-based steroid investigation." So who's ditching their Hip-Hop Abs workout videos to join the sports world's finest anabolic abusers?

The Times Union of Albany cited unnamed sources in a Sunday report that R&B music star Mary J. Blige, rap musicians 50 Cent, Timbaland and Wyclef Jean, and award-winning author and producer Tyler Perry may have received or used performance enhancing drugs.

Albany District Attorney P. David Soares launched a Albany-based investigation into steroid trafficking last year. Law enforcement officials have said evidence does not indicate that the celebrities broke the law. Officials are focusing on the doctors, pharmacists and clinics that provide the drugs.

50 Cent is understandable. (How often do you think he looked at the cover of The Massacre and wished he really had those inflatable pecs? Gangstas can have body image issues, too.) Even Wyclef we can maybe see. (Why should Lauryn have all the post-Fugees drug fun?) But Mary J? We know she kinda, uh, puts her all into her performances, but not like this! Thankfully all three have a chance to reform their quick-fix workout ways without the threat of a jail stint, as they are not part of the Albany D.A.'s "ongoing criminal probe" into Signature, an infamous Orlando-based online pharamcy handing out illegal 'roid scripts.

50 Cent, Mary J. Blige And Others Said To Be Named In Steroid Report [NY Daily News]

A "best of '07" list from someone who clearly ...

mjohnston — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 09:15:49 EST

A "best of '07" list from someone who clearly isn't a Z100 listener: "Who came out and did something cool / unique / effective to sell the stuff they made in this rapidly bursting bubble (down another 15% in 2007) that is record sales? Here are my humble opinions on this question.... I left music quality and integrity opinions totally and completely out of it, making this possibly the only 'top songs of the year' gimmick that includes Daughtry, 50 Cent and Miley Cyrus." [AndrewJStone]

The Best Way To Make Big Money In The Music Business: Mix Yourself A Drink

mjohnston — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 09:40:28 EST

In its latest bid to inflame class war, Forbes has published a list of the top 20 "celebrity paydays," i.e. days during which the rich and famous got even richer, if not more famous. Most of the deals either involve real estate being flipped and/or people who first made their names during the tabloid era of the '80s (seriously, every time I see Donald Trump's name invoked in a positive way somewhere, I feel like we're all living a bad We Got It Made rerun on endless loop). But! Somehow, three out of the top five spots were taken by musicians... although when you see what the source of those paydays was, you'll realize that their musical roots were merely stepping stones on their way to big cash. No. 2 was 50 Cent, whose Vitamin Water payday netted him $100 million; No. 4 was Jay-Z, who made $82 million when he sold Roc-A-Wear; and No. 5 was Sammy Hagar, who made a cool $80 million when he sold an 80% stake in Cabo Wabo Tequila to Gruppo Campari. Madonna was at No. 8 for her $43 million Live Nation deal, although $25 million of that came in the form of stock—so there may need to be some recalculations done there. Anyway, get your class consciousness all whipped up and kick yourself for not buying that Manhattan penthouse when you could have with the full list, which is after the jump!

1. George Lucas, $200 million
2. 50 Cent, $100 million
3. Howard Stern, $82 million
4. Jay-Z, $82 million
5. Sammy Hagar, $80 million
6. Oprah Winfrey, $74 million
7. Oscar De La Hoya, $55 million
8. Madonna, $43 million
9. David Geffen, $37.5 million
10. Vera Wang, $35 million
11. Dwight Freeney, $30 million
12. Courteney Cox & David Arquette, $27 million
13. Tommy Hilfiger, $26.5 million
14. Floyd Mayweather, $25 million
15. Donald Trump, $25 million
16. Hugh Grant, $23.5 million
17. Mel Gibson, $23 million
18. Mario Lemieux, $21 million
19. Don Imus, $20 million
20. Wayne Gretzky, $18.5 million

The biggest celebrity paydays of 2007 [Forbes]

50 Cent: I Get Street Team

jharv — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 17:45:18 EST

Just in case you ever wondered what ~~a day~~ several weeks in the life of the Curtis promotional team was like. All that money and donated muscle, from Queens to the White House lawn, and he still got flattened by Kanye. A shame, really. (Also, would it have killed him to hire someone who knows how to hold a video camera steady?)

Curtis Needs Promo [Nah Right]

Not to piss on everyone's "50 Cent supports ...

mjohnston — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 15:59:31 EST

Not to piss on everyone's "50 Cent supports filesharing LET'S ALL HAVE A PARTY" parade, but is there anyone out there who can translate this article in which he allegedly made that statement from Norwegian to English? Because call me crazy, but I have a feeling that a translator who was contracted by TorrentFreak.com would maybe just have a little bit of an agenda at play while conducting said translation. [kjendis.no via TorrentFreak]

Croatian Interviewer Interrupts 50 Cent's Tender, Sniffly Moment

mjohnston — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 10:30:04 EST

You'll need to skip to about the 1:30 mark in this video of 50 Cent being interviewed by a C. Everett Koop-looking Croatian TV correspondent for the "shocking" footage of Curtis—or, at least, his associates—being barged in on while leaning over a table and sniffing very loudly, although it's almost worth it to see 50 bound out of the dressing room with the most awkward "whoops, you caught me with my hand in the ~~cocaine~~ cookie jar!" smile ever on his face. And here we thought his charming personality was only fueled by Vitamin Water!

50 Cent: Kokain prije zagrebačkog koncerta?! [YouTube]

Hip-Hop: Now "Illegal" In Iran

jharv — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 16:15:26 EST

Congress may be fretting over Iran's nuclear capabilities and its ability to put a stranglehold on the international oil market, and Iran doesn't have much love for the U.S. either what with our economic sanctions and Great Satanism and the like. But at least our estranged governments share some common ground when it comes to hating on the rap music. But while Iran also feels that rappers, whether homegrown or American-born like "U.S. rapper '50 Cents,'" are contaminating young minds with "obscene" lyrics and "decadent" values, the country has gone a step further than Bobby Rush and crew and just banned hip-hop entirely. And Iranian rappers need to watch their back because the government is coming to get you.

"In coordination with the police, illegal studios producing this type of music will be sealed and the singers in this genre will be confronted," he said.

Dashtgoli said a large number of illegal rap singers have been already identified.

The Islamic republic's hardline officials have repeatedly complained about a "cultural invasion" by "decadent" western music which they believe diminishes Islamic values.

The culture ministry official expressed his frustration that rap artists were finding low-cost ways to publish their music on the Internet. "We should find a solution for this."

We told you the democratic/D.I.Y. potential of the Internet was trouble. As with most conservative/repressive regimes, especially in a country where you need the goverment's OK to hold any sort of concert or release your music for public consumption, hip-hop has flourished in Iran's countercultural underground, but with the country "currently in the midst of its most severe moral crackdown in years, which has seen thousands of women warned for slack dressing, several bootleg music stores shut and "decadent" mixed-sex parties raided," it's unlikely that rap will earn the necessary nod from the ministry of culture any time soon. But hey, they're that much closer to approving that Chris de Burgh concerrt!

Iran Cracks Down On "Obscene" Rap Music [AFP]

50 Cent Committed To Decrying Questionable Standards Applied To Sexism, Homophobia, Pointless Violence

jharv — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 15:30:00 EST

Curtis is still anguished over MTV censoring the title of Akon collabo "I'll Still Kill" to "I Still Will," and he's not going to shut up until he's indicted everyone who's ever benefitted from the confusing standards that somehow allow former teen star trainwrecks to turn anti-female slurs into celebrated pop cultural catchphrases. Or something.

"I guess they have their rules that apply individually to each artist separately: 'Oh no, he can't say that, 'cause he feels like that about that person,' " he said. "But it's not a rule that applies to everybody else. Matter of fact, my next single, I'm going to start it [with], 'It's Britney, bitch!'"

Silly! But still no mention of Maroon 5?

[MTV]

Teenage Substance Abuse Finally Explained: 50 Cent Wants To Get Your Kids Drunk And/Or High

jharv — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 09:15:44 EST

Forget degrading women for a minute, because labcoats at the University Of Pittsburgh School Of Medicine have alighted on a wholly different evil lurking in the lyrics of popular songs. "Tobacco in movies, for example, is now known to lead to smoking," one doctor told Reuters. "We started realizing adolescents are exposed to two and a half hours a day of music. What's in the music?" Booze, apparently. Lots and lots of booze. And weed. And huffing glue. And stealing whippets from the mall. And pop stars are shamelessly peddeling all of these to your underage children.

Primack and his team, who presented their findings at a medical meeting, looked at the top 279 songs on the Billboard charts in 2005. They found that 33 percent made references to alcohol and drug use.

Nearly 80 percent of rap songs mentioned substance use, followed by 37 percent of country music lyrics, 20 percent of R&B/hip-hop and 14 percent of rock songs. Only nine percent of pop songs referred to drug or alcohol use.

The researchers only included songs that clearly referred to using drug and alcohol. They also named the substances which included alcohol, marijuana, cocaine, prescription drugs, inhalants, hallucinogens, and substances of unknown origin.

"If someone says, 'I had one of those pills,' and you don't really know what that was, we call that non specific," Primack explained in an interview.

So what does this mean? Well, nothing at the moment, as "the next step will be to see if there is a relationship between lyrical content and behavior." Still, from my own anecdotal evidence in a test conducted just minutes ago, they might have a point. I just listened to a George Thorogood song, and I'm drunk. Conincidence?

Third Of Hit Songs Mention Alcohol, Drug Use [Reuters]

50 Cent is heading to Mumbai this month for ...

jharv — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 12:15:13 EST

50 Cent is heading to Mumbai this month for his first-ever Indian gig. Just think, a whole new subcontinent he can subject to "Ayo Technology." Curtis may outsell Graduation yet. [HHNLive]

50 Cent's Martyr Complex Overshadows His Kinda-Valid Point

mjohnston — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 08:53:21 EDT

50 Cent is telling anyone who'll listen that he's pissed off at MTV and BET for forcing a name change on his new single, the Akon collaboration/best track on Curtis "I Still Kill," in order for it to get airtime on the two stations' video shows. In response to the song being rechristened "I Still Will" by the higher-ups at Viacom, 50 actually made kind of an astute point about the channels' malleable standards regarding the English language, although he couched it in so much "look at me, ma, I'm dangerous! rhetoric that it's impossible to not roll your eyes at the whole thing.

I don't think they have a problem with the group the Killers being called the Killers ... I don't think anyone's protesting that Guns N' Roses is called Guns N' Roses. I just think that their perception of me is dark, so they're going to ask for those things to be changed, you know what I mean?

Well, the last time Guns N' Roses put out an album, the standards and practices department at MTV was a lot more, uh, lenient, so their name is probably grandfathered in. But if I were him, I'd save my complaints for when MTV starts cutting arbitrary nouns from his songs, instead of words that they're obviously running scared from. Or maybe he should just change all his references to "killing" to "being drunk," since the higher-ups over there have no problem with that sort of thing.

Second Memoir Heralds Fitty, Littérateur [NYM]