50 Cent

I have a problem with 50 Cent.

Not a personal one, obviously. I don't know the dude, and he could be a very nice person to be around and know. That isn't the issue.

He propelled himself to infamy with his song "How to Rob a Nigga," about himself gettin' his hustle on and stealing from various members of the hip hop community like Jay-Z, Mariah Carey, Master P, Brian McKnight, Mase (or Ma$e, depending who you ask), and Big Pun. This was the beginning of what I like to call "beef fame." With a background in drug dealing and his strive to be famous, he basically made a song that targeted a bunch of famous people to see who would respond. Jay-Z responded slightly, and someone anonymous responded in a huge way by shooting him 9 times.

After this, he got back up and got discovered by the duo of Eminem and Dr. Dre and the rest is history. But is this really a good example for rappers on the come up, especially those coming from the impoverished "ghetto" regions of America? Battling has been a big and important part of rapping for a long time (I mean, early ass beefs like KRS-One vs MC Shan and LL Cool J vs Kool Moe Dee led way to even more amazing and lyrical battles later down the line such as Jay-Z vs Nas and Ice Cube vs every rapper during the early to mid 90's). Rhymefest and Eminem came up as battle rappers, but there's a difference between genuine beef and rapping against someone for respect and 50's use of beef. To me, 50 Cent uses his beef to constantly remain street in the eyes of several people, which overshadows his lyrical ability, and then uses his music to make commercially viable music like "Magic Stick" and "Candy Shop" so he can make easy money. Rappers can't touch him, however, as 50's weekly mixtapes are his weaponry to always have a song ready to start or to keep fueling any beef between him and any rapper who questions him. Nobody else can pull that off, he's using an amazing strategy, but it isn't rap. Once LL Cool J crossed over into pop-oriented music, he didn't keep establishing his street cred by making another Radio. He kept doing his thing, despite his thing not being the greatest in the world anymore. I suppose that LL saw the strategy, however. 50 Cent is executive producing LL's next album.

In my opinion, I feel that Common and Talib Kweli and Jurassic 5 are doing the right thing by having their words and music speak for them all across the board. If they have a commercial hit, then so be it. They'd rather keep making music and let the street's say whatever they want. Being yourself in rap is more important than keeping your assets in check and starting beefs to keep them up there.

- UnFan out