In Southside, don’t mess with 50 Cent

the.point.is. news agency

On September 11, 50 Cent, the rapper from Queens, released “Curtis”, his new album.
50 Cent, who was born Curtis James Jackson III, is at the epicenter of a new rap war and initially threatened to retire if he was not selling more records than Kanye West.
A reporter for the.point.is. news agency encountered 50 Cent as the was touring his old neighborhood. The meeting was quite eventful.

Southside (Queens). The warning came from a young man, who was walking through Rochdale Village, a project in Queens’ Southside (photo Jean-Cosme Delaloye). “If you want to find people, who could tell you about 50 Cent, check the strip. But it might be hard for you to find somebody to talk to considering the fact that you are White”, he said before politely declining a request for an interview. The “strip” is in fact group of a dozen of shops on the other side of the Guy Brewer Boulevard, where the rapper 50 Cent was arrested in 1994 for selling drugs to an undercover police officer.

In Southside, Queens, 50 Cent’s “hood”, young people respect the millionaire rapper, even if “Fif’” has been thumped by rival Kanye West in an epic sales battle following the September-11 release of their latest LP’s. In the first two weeks, West has sold 957,000 copies of his Graduation compared to the 692,000 copies of Curtis sold by 50 Cent. For the young people of Southside, the new hip-hop war can only have one winner: 50 Cent.

Inside Butter Cutter barbershop, a few tattooed young men were getting a haircut on a Saturday morning of September 2007. “I am getting my due done, you know what I’m saying”, said a man called Pop. The 25-year old man who describes himself as a milkman added he respected Fif’s “word game”. As he was talking to this reporter, 50 Cent, who had decided to pay a surprise visit to his old neighborhood, walked into the barbershop. “Oh shit, shouted Pop. I cannot believe it. Yo Fif’, I love your new album, man”.

One of the unwritten rules of Southside, is that you cannot walk up to 50 Cent and ask him to talk about his neighborhood without asking permission. “Who allowed you to that?” the former boxer asked this reporter, when the latter asked him a question. “I’ve got nothing to say”. After a couple of pictures with kids from his neighborhood, the star walked out. Next try.”50, can you tell me about the impact of Southside on your career?”, the reporter asked. “(expletive) yourself”, replied 50 Cent (Listen to the encounter with 50 Cent here). One of his bodyguards shouted something about the media looking for controversy before the rapper quickly left the barbershop in a black SUV.

What 50 Cent would not talk about, is that Southside was an epicenter of gang wars in the 1980s. At the age of 8, 50 Cent, born Curtis James Jackson III, lost his mother. The cocaine dealer was murdered at the age of 23 over drugs. The violence has subsided in the neighborhood but drugs and gangs continue to be a problem in certain areas of Southside. In 2000, 50 Cent was shot in his neighborhood. Asked before 50 Cent walked into the shop, how kids could make it out of Southside, one of the barbers had replied: “You go to school and you sell drugs”.

Kanye West’s background is very different from 50 Cent’s. He was born in Atlanta and grew up in Chicago’s middle class. Ray West, his father, was one of the first black photojournalists at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and is now a Christian counselor. Kanye’s mother was an English professor before serving as Kanye’s manager.

50 Cent had first claimed he would retire from making solo albums if West won the sales battle, but in Southside nobody believed he would stop making music. 50 Cent has already backed down from this claim. His next album is due next year. Its title: “Before I self-destruct”.

Jean-Cosme Delaloye

This story was broadcast in September 2007 on Couleur 3, on Swiss Public Radio.

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