Does 50 Cent Have A Point?

As is well documented on this blog, I am not a 50 Cent fan at all. I think that he is part of the reason that hip-hop is getting a bad rap from its detractors and fans. But, today, I came across an interview that 50 did with XXL where he makes an interesting point about "conscious" rappers. From the article:

What percentage of MCs in hip-hop do you think are actually intelligent?
You have different kinds of people. You have people that are extremely book smart that lack common sense so they don’t know what’s going to affect their audience. They have more information than me based on reading. For instance, Nas is a really smart guy. He reads books constantly. We were around him on the Nastradamus tour. He was almost weirder than me ’cause we would go to breakfast and he’d be there reading a book. Conceptually, I think that’s what made him drift away from what his initial audience enjoys from him and why he’s not hot right now.

Because he reads too much?
Yes. He’s feeding you too much information in the music and they don’t actually want it. He’s like a teacher. I was in love with KRS-One when he came with “Criminal Minded” and “The Bridge Is Over.” That was theme music to what was going on at that time. And when he started teaching, he lost them. ’Cause it was like, “What is he talkin’ about?”

The point that 50 makes here is fairly obvious: you try to educate, you only alienate fans. The proof is in the pudding on this one. KRS-One lost a lot of the street when he started talking intelligently. Nas talks about Kush and ancient African empires, but cats don't feel him. Neither of these top ten rappers have major record sales anymore, as they wish to go platinum while 50's routinely going multi-platinum pushing Diamond (10 million plus sales).

Even though 50's right on this point, does it really make it a good thing that kids aren't up on rappers who actually try to put a little bit of knowledge in their rhymes? Personally, I'm going to hedge this question. I like intelligent rappers. I like rappers who have a sense of self-awareness as well as cultural awareness and can reference something other than the street. BUT, and there's a huge but here, I don't like rappers who preach over beats. KRS-One started preaching over beats. This is what alienated a lot of his old-school, BDP audience. This wasn't a problem for me because KRS-One, even while preachy, can slay about 97% of the rappers out now. On the other hand, I don't think that Nas is a rapper who preaches over beats. Nas does make intensely academic references such as the one to Kush, but this is not his fault. Nas is literate, as 50's willing to admit. But, as the interview would later go on to say, 50 thinks that this education is a literal fault within their music:

But they’re still getting information from you.
Right, but in different ways and in pieces. Anything [that] changes too fast is no good—[the audience] isn’t sure what’s going on. It’s like you watching an actor portray a character in a film that you really enjoy. Then afterwards, he sits on the couch on a talk show and this guy is so artistic that you’re not sure if you [really] fuckin’ like him.

Why, ’cause they’re acting?
Yeah. They’re doing something that’s totally… That may not even be a small portion of their actual character. And then when you see them after the fact, they give you something that’s so artsy.

50 seems to imply that actors who aren't their role are in some strange way false, fakes. As a film person, I think this is bullshit. Actors' job is to pull you into the role. An artist, which an actor is, can make you believe that they are that person. This is their job. Nas does this very well as he is one of the few rappers who can actually pull a listener into an alternate world where he is the narrator to a street saga. Nas spins street tales. That's what he should do as a rapper. Nas doesn't boast about how amazing he is. He raps about what he sees and what he knows and is a storyteller of the streets. This is what any good rapper should do. And Nas does it with great flair and style.

This factual point brings up another question to be answered: if people are so averse to conscious rap coming from legends like Nas, what will become of the hip-hop game? There is only so long that you can listen to rappers talk about how much money they make and how many dudes they've killed, especially when you, like myself, are doing neither. I'm not saying that every rapper needs to become dead prez or something like that, but I do think that a diversity of topics is a positive for the rap game. Unfortunately, heads try to act like this derivation from the money, guns, hoes, and blow rap formula is the worst thing on the face of the planet. Rapping isn't always about selling records, as 50 would want you to believe. Don't get it twisted: making money is nice, but also having a lyrical supremacy over all comers is important too. If you ask any rap fan, rapping is about loving the form and wanting to see it and its participants thrive. Nas and KRS-One want this. Chamillionaire wants this. Little Brother wants this. Many on the underground and many in the mainstream want this too. I would think that, for his long term success, 5o Cent would want this too. Unfortunately, this interview shows that he doesn't.

This is Why Hip-Hop Is Dead

With these two videos, T.I. and 50 Cent have further dug the grave for hip-hop. Firstly, they are completely inarticulate. Secondly, T.I. does have a good point in saying that some people do want rappers to teach their children. I don't, but this doesn't let the rappers off the hook so fast. Just because you aren't raising my kids doesn't mean that you don't hold a responsibility to not glamorize a lifestyle that leaves so many of our young Black men dead or in jail. T.I. justifies the brutality of his rapping by saying that was his life and he rose up from it. But, in flaunting that lifestyle and glamorizing drug dealing and excessive vanity, T.I. is just adding to the ire of the conservative others who are actually trying to shut down rap.

50 Cent also does a terrible job of trying to defend hip-hop as well. He tries to reference the war and the other forms of violent imagery in America. The last time I checked, people have been complaining about violence in films for a very, very long time. I can't think of a time when someone wasn't complaining about the violent nature of a film. Also, 50 Cent needs a fact checker or someone who can feed him correct information about the DC Madam scandal. He called the ESCORTS embroiled in this scandal hos when they didn't need to be; they are escorts. It just shows you that 50 Cent has no idea of what he's talking about nor has Curtis thought about how he sees himself as an artist and how others see him as an artist. Also, his defense of the violent, misogynistic, homophobic content of rap is made analogous to painting the American flag without red paint. This, flat out, does not make sense. Rap has existed without all of the violence and misogyny. Some of the classic albums in the game have existed without this. Has everyone forgotten Paid in Full? Strictly Business? The Low End Theory? The Cactus Album? Paul's Boutique? Long Live the Kane? Do I need to keep on?

50 Cent tries to call hip-hop a mirror on society. What part of rapping about putting huge rims on your car, completely tricking it out are part of most people in the hood's experience? Is that a part of Black people's harsh experience in America? Additionally, why is 50 Cent talking about reality in the hood? He lives in a huge house in Connecticut. Curtis is not hood anymore, but he still talks about shooting people and bullshit. Cormega, a dope MC, came from the same background as T.I. and 50, but has some positivity in his raps. So, with raps devoid of positive images and continuing on talking about the same bullshit that White America wants rap to talk about, what does this make him other than a minstrel?

50 Cent also talks about rap not being successful if it isn't racy. This is true. Public Enemy released very racy albums, but those albums were driven by the politics of a downtrodden Black public. The whole Native Tongues clique dropped albums based in a radical political framework. Additionally, when dudes like NWA were dropping their work, they were that life. They were radical at their time because they were not the party rappers that dominated the late 1980's. They were offensive, but, since that time, they matured, recognized their errors of their ways primarily through the death of Easy-E to AIDS. 50 Cent is unwilling to do this. T.I. is also unwilling to do it, even though he has five kids.

In the end, I'm not surprised that either of these men said what they did because it is what I would expect them to say. And that is the most depressing part of it all. T.I. and 50 Cent are two of the largest selling artists in America right now. They get their music heard by millions of people around America. But, neither of them are willing to be responsible and say, yea, this is how I used to live my life but I have moved past that, I got my life clean, and I'm not about a lot of junk anymore. I should rap about how my life has become better and how I got out, focusing on my craft instead of trying to keep a street edge. If dudes in the street feel you, they feel you. But this requires an ability to assess one's own image in society and be responsible for it. Neither T.I. nor 50 Cent is really willing to do these things. They are only concerned with how much money they make and these comments have made that viewpoint crystal clear. Frankly, I'm disinterested if you want to rap about violence because it does happen in society. But, talking about violence like it is cool or what is done to solve problems is ridiculous and is leading to the demise of hip-hop as a form. And just to prove my point, this is the second verse from "Ryder Music" off of 50's The Massacre:

Last year I woke up with good luck, damn it feels good
On the low, I done fucked like half of Hollywood
Had yo' favorite actress, from yo' favorite shows
In my favorite position, you know how it goes
And my Bentley bumpin Prince shit, this is "When Doves Cry"
This is what it sounds like when hollow-tip slugs fly
Homey this is somethin you can ride and smoke to
Stay on point, cause niggaz will ride and smoke you
Jealousy's for women but some niggaz is bitch made
They make you wanna run across they head with a switchblade
They point the finger at me, sayin I'm bugged
My flow's crack, you listen?  Your fuckin brain's on drugs
Look ice drippin on my neck, hands grippin on a tec
Fool trippin threw a set, you can get yo' ass wet
Cards messin up my deck, screws loose show respect
You try to come at me kid yo' ass better come correct

Now, do you understand what I mean in saying that 50 is a minstrel. This bullshit is what White America wants Black artists to say. It keeps them superior, and it keeps our people subjugated.