Curtis Jackson was born and raised in the South Jamaica neighborhood of Queens, New York. He was raised by his mother, a cocaine dealer and a lesbian. She died when he was only 9, and he moved in with his grandparents.
It didn’t take long for him to get involved in the street life. “When I wasn’t killing time in school, I was sparring in the gym or selling crack on the strip,” he recalls. At the age of 16, he was caught with a gun while walking through the metal detectors at his high school. His grandmother found out, and sent him to a correctional boot camp.
He soon left, and gave himself the nickname 50 Cent, a metaphor for “change”. At 21, he began rapping in his friend’s basement, and quickly recognized his innate talent for making music. Three years later, in 1999, a group of producers working for Columbia Records noticed him and signed him to a record deal.
But it didn’t last. On May 24, 2000 Jackson was in the car with his friend. He got out to fetch some jewelry from his grandmother’s house. When he returned, he sat back down, and another car pulled up beside them.
A gunman got out, walked up to the left side of Jackson’s car, and proceeded to empty the entire clip of a 9mm handgun through the window. Jackson was hit 9 times, including a shot to the head that split through his left cheek and left a bullet fragment in his tongue.
He was rushed to the hospital, where he made a miraculous recovery and was released just days later. The bullet fragment was left in his tongue, however, due to caution for the many nerve endings in the area. When he got out, he was informed that Columbia Records had dropped him and shelved his upcoming album. They wanted to distance themselves from the violence and controversy that now surrounded his name.
Rather than getting discouraged and giving up his hopes and dreams, Jackson proceeded to shift the bleak circumstances into his favor. He started by retreating to his girlfriend’s house in Pennsylvania to recover, avoid the men that put the hit out on him, and plot his return to music.
He made a game plan. When he was fully healed, he headed to Canada, where he could record music under the radar. Jackson proceeded to record song-after-song. He reinvented himself, embracing his violent street rep and his newly realized voice, which featured a distinct hiss – a side effect of the remaining bullet fragment in his tongue.
In 2002, he independently released the product of all this plotting and hard work, a mixtape fittingly titled Guess Who’s Back? The mixtape gained instant popularity and launched Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson right back into the spotlight, where’d he stay for years to come.
Make your own luck
Jackson was able overcome seemingly impossible circumstances and not only survive, but thrive, because of his knack for opportunism. In the bleakest of times, he sensed a rare opportunity, and then put everything he had into turning it into gold.
Most people live their lives on autopilot. When an unexpected opportunity comes their way – something they aren’t familiar with – they ignore it or decline it. They prefer to maintain their routine ways.
50 Cent demonstrated what could be done by embracing an opportunity that most people would never even see. Yet people turn down real, obvious opportunities every day. How often do your hear a friend or a colleague tell you that they were offered that dream position in Hawaii, but chose to decline it? They just felt more comfortable doing the same old, same old instead.
You have to avoid this trap. Whenever an opportunity presents itself, you must embrace it. It will make your life more exciting, more fulfilling, and more successful. Nobody remembers the man who took one job and stuck with it until he died, retired, or was fired. No, history remembers the bold and the brave.
You must be ready to identify a new opportunity at a moment’s notice. And, more importantly, you must be prepared to embrace it. 50 Cent did this more than once. The legendary rapper has time and time again displayed this skill, producing businesses, books, movies, video games, and more. He simply doesn’t let an opportunity pass him by. And that’s why he’s so successful.
When faced with a similar set of circumstances, the average man would’ve died off or faded into a dead-end life of crime and drugs. But 50 Cent didn’t. We must learn an important lesson from his success. We must do the same, and take advantage of every new opportunity that presents itself.
At the end of the day, there’s no such thing as luck. Luck is just a term that the weak and fearful use to describe those who take advantage of opportunities – those who aren’t slaves to their routines – those who dominate life.
My Experience
While I don’t have an example as striking as 50 Cent’s, I certainly try to embody this principle and take on new opportunities whenever I can.
A few months ago, while I was working out, I received an email. It was an invitation to be part of a fashion show. They needed trainers to coach the models on stage as they sported the latest line of fitness apparel.
My initial instinct was to delete the email and continue my workout in peace. But I recognized this meant I’d be passing up an opportunity to do something different. So I quickly replied: “Count me in.”
I had no idea what to expect, but I showed up regardless. It took place at an upscale nightclub in downtown Boston. I won’t go into details, but it was an experience I’m glad I didn’t miss.
My time that night was split between hanging out with models, drinking free drinks, showcasing some exercises – and my muscles – on the runway, and having a crowd of college girls who attended the show competing for my attention.
Take Action
Gentlemen, you must recognize opportunities and act on them. You must make your own luck. You can’t live the life of a mindless chump who passes on doing new things by default. It will be your end. You probably don’t realize how many opportunities are placed in your lap. You probably don’t realize how lucky you could be.
To take action and begin seizing these new opportunities, you simply have to keep your eyes open. When someone asks you if you want to do something or go somewhere and your initial instinct is to pass and say no – stop. Think about it. Are you saying no because it genuinely doesn’t interest you on any level? Or are you saying no because it’s something new and you’d rather stay inside your own little comfort zone?
Ask yourself: what would you be doing instead? Is it something so valuable that you can’t try this new thing out? Do you really have anything to lose? Be honest with yourself. Try new things. Make your own luck.
This is an excerpt from my new book Dominate. Click here for reviews and more info.
Read More: 3 Ways To Stop Being A Little Bitch
Nice post, need more like this.
And he co-wrote a book with 48 Laws of Power author Robert Greene.
two things. 1) his book collab fiftieth law with robert greene is damn good. I admire his business acumen greatly, and its a good read even if you hate the guy.
2) he was shot at 9 times, he got hit 3 times. he’s not the terminator
but others good article
I assume they caught and convicted the shooter because he must have had parkinsons?
Lmao.
You’re probably an ice cold dead eye shot in all situations but in all likelihood, an untrained (or street trained) shooter, firing a pistol one handed with considerable recoil, from a seated position in a car, at a partially covered individual trying to avoid being hit, all the time operating under the stress of capture by the police, would not display 100% accuracy.
True i guess shooting a gun is like driving a car, if you just never learned to drive a car and jump in, you probably will crash if you try to jump on the freeway with it
Trying to edit but it won’t work. I misread the article – he was out of the car when he shot. My point was basically that street thugs are probably not the best shots.
Good line ….. Most people live their lives on autopilot. When an unexpected opportunity comes their way – something they aren’t familiar with – they ignore it or decline it. They prefer to maintain their routine ways.
He’s right. We are responsible for our own lives entirely. You cant go through life blaming people for your own circumstances. If you don’t like your current situation, then do something now to change it.
Changing circumstances requires effort, willpower and determination and sadly 95% of the population lacks most if not all of those characteristics. Its no different than beating obesity.
The problem is most do not realize opportunity is staring them in the face until it has passed by and captain hindsight takes over then.
So becoming a millionaire rapper is no different than beating obesity?Just need a little discipline? Pull yourself up by your bootstraps? Hard work pays off? You have gone full retard.
“To take action and begin seizing these new opportunities, you simply have to keep your eyes open”
You must also be prepared for those opportunities and you also need one thing which is more important than spotting opportunities, courage to take them. There is no “perfect time” to do anything. Also there is no “perfect opportunity” and there will never be some angelic force coming into your head and saying “do it” that fear will ALWAYS be there doubt will NEVER go away. Opportunities are speculative and an immature man will not be able to accept risk of failing. Some people would rather “fail for sure than succeed maybe”, the defeatist reality of most people. Like a wallstreet trader would say if i fail 5 times i can still make money so long as i know to cut the 4 losses short and let the one win ride. Failure timing is an important key, how soon you figure out you failed so you can strike on something else, saves time. All of our lessons in life come from losing. We actually learn nothing from winning. For every small victory in life expect 5 losses, but become good at cutting losses short and letting the wins grow. Nature is cruel
I forgot to also mention that North american women make EXCELLENT hookers but TERRIBLE wives and should be avoided by all means possible!!! There is no winning or reasonable effort-reward scenario in this case
I disagree with you intensely. North American women make terrible hookers. Go somewhere else in the world and you will see just how bad a hooker a North American woman is in comparison to the international competition.
If I can’t do it homie, it can’t be done!
One of the best and most truthful articles I’ve read on ROK. That’s exactly what Machiavelli said in The Prince, that the competent ruler has to “seize fortune” and control it. Be ready to take any advantage life throws at you while calculating truthfully the risk involved, and if the risk is worth it, then go for it. At the same time, prepare yourself for the curve balls that life also throws at you and be ready to minimize their impact.
Seize fortune, slap it around and raw-dog it. Then fortune will respect and obey you.
He started by retreating to his girlfriend’s house in Pennsylvania to recover….
Yeah, he should have flexed his muscles and repelled those bullets like a real fucking man.
Laying low with a loved one after getting shot in the face is some straight pussy shit. Superman would never have succumbed to this child’s play.
lmao. You’re clearly reading this pop tart’s PR machine-propaganda
rather than actually taking the red pill on celebrities’ (especially
rappers’) biographies:
1) 50 Cent took his stage name from a
real, actual thug named 50 Cent. The actual 50 cent was a very short
(5’0″) crazy little crack seller from the black ghetto. One picture
shows him running around with a rifle as big as him. The real 50 Cent
died being a street-level criminal and crazy.
The rapper 50 Cent wanted some “street cred” since he was just a
little weasel trouble maker/pop tart and not a gang tough in real
life. So he and his PR team told the real 50 Cent’s family they wanted
to use his name, and promised them a kickback to keep it quiet.
“Change” my ass.
2)
The 9 times story is just hilarious. Has anyone not working for 2
Quarters ever verified this? Sounds completely made up, or else highly,
HIGHLY exaggerated. This is like you went on a date with a girl, and she
claimed she was a model or a virgin. VERIFY VERIFY VERIFY.
The bottom line to remember is that for
celebrities, especially in pop music, and most especially in rap, your
image is 90% of the game. If you’re buying what some celebrity says about his past, I have a bridge I want to sell you.
David
Bowie and Madonna have understood this for years, which is why they
constantly change their look and presentation to throw people off
balance and get people noticing them (and not their crappy, forgettable
music).
Mick Jagger may have been the first modern pop star to
get this. MIck grew up well-to-do and ultra-nerdy–got a degree from the
London School of Economics to prove it—but he figured out the way to
become a rock star was simple: dress like a gutter-tough, pretend you’re
from the streets, and act punkish in fake-anti-authority,
totally-set-up-by-my-agent publicity grabs. He’s been pretending to be a
tough guy for 50 years, and people keep buying it.
Rap is no
different, just concentrated. Record companies have made sure that rap
success depends solely on “credibility” –which, magically enough, can
only be granted by other rappers (who work for your company) talking you
up/getting into a set-up feud with another rapper to show you’re on his
level. Image–made-up image–is everything.
50 Cent’s a pop tart, kids. Take the red pill, guys.
A better example would be Russell Simmons. Dude has made billions selling this bullshit music to niggys and wiggers. Put millions of idiot thugs in prison by glamorizing crime and murder so he could get wealthy.
Then got cuckolded by Kimora Simmons and not he is peddelling books on meditation hahaha.
People are really dumb suckers arent they?
Exactly.
One of the early eye openers on the red pill in celebrity culture came when I saw some documentary about the beginnings of ghetto rap. Russell Simmons was a low level party promoter who “dressed like a substitute teacher.” It was Rick Rubin, a white guy who’s a master at image-making for musicians, who taught Russell how to dress “urban” and market his image to black guys dumb enough to buy it.
People are suckers.
I believe Rick Rubin is jewish, not white.
Russel Simmons never stopped dressing like a substitute teacher..
I think the real “Red Pill” here is –> Decide what you want, and change your image to get it.
Nah. The red pill is decide what you want and go get it. Decide what you want to be and go be it.
The 50 Cent is a blue pill: be a silly little pop tart, but get hype men to lie for you.
Rape!
Any guy willing to sleep with Chelsea Handler is a definite blue pill.
chelsea handler? lmao!
No bullshit. I’m not even lying. It completely changed how I thought of 50.
all i heard is that they split b/c of ciara or something…?
I disagree. She seems like a great milf to pump & dump. Hate fucking her would be an awesome experience. Nothing more, nothing less.
Three words:
Raise
Your
Standards
Total win.
I agree. Most backgrounds are invented by the PR machine that’s Hollywood.
Yeah. Not to mention all the gay guys they have to protect.
At least he learned from CB4 and took the name of a dead thug and paid royalties to his family.
Didnt we all learn from MC Gusto though?
Actually, according to the article I read about it, the real 50 Cent’s family stated
that the rapper 50 Cent promised to pay them royalties, but actually didn’t, and
they were made about it.
Of course, they could have just been
lying. After all, who trademarks a ghetto loser’s name? And clearly
they’re a scum family since they raised (and are proud of) a scum son.
This article was a few years old, anyway, so maybe 50 Cent paid them some hush money by now.
Who gives a fuck about all these fantastical details you seem to know so much about. He made it big, bigger than you ever will.
Jealous much? This is the definition of some cornball blue pill shit. “No no it doesn’t count, 50 doesn’t have a college degree, he didn’t make it honorably!!!”.
lmao.
listen, you can hero worship all you want in private. Build
a shrine to whatever celebrity you want. I begrudge no celebrity who
sells a product (music, movies, tv, sports etc) for milking the morons
dry. There’s a sucker born every minute, and they deserve to be
molested, good and hard.
But don’t bring that weak-ass “he’s so
awesome” shit here. Don’t try to make us all play into the delusion you
buy into. We refuse live in your denial of reality.
50 Cent’s
back story is a concoction. His music is silly, shallow, and
forgettable (as are all forms of pop music, btw, from the Beatles to
Dylan to Jay-Z—see, it ain’t racism! lol). His persona has been
market-tested, advertising-agency-vetted, and PR created.
Bottom
line: 50 Cent’s a silly little pop tart, and yet you’re buying his
gimmick like an 8 year old in the 80’s believing Hulk Hogan’s wrestling
was real. All you true believing won’t make it true.
Take the red pill.
Maybe you should just relax.
No it’s not racism, you just obviously hate life as a whole. I get it, the media feeds an image. Celebrities are contrived. Dope! I care? Fuck off.
Your opinion of music obviously isn’t relevant. To enjoy the true pleasures of life, you have to have a grasp of sense. The general public are brainless consumers, and music is art. Art is subjective.
Bottom line: You have no idea what/who Jay or the Beatles are about, or anyone in between for that matter. Suka.
No matter the story being pushed by 50 or his enmities three undisputed truths stand.
1) he got shot the fuck up and no label would fuck with him.
2) he was in a beef with Ja Rule and Murder Inc the number 2 ( behind Jay Z and Rockafella records) who tried to blacklist him in the music business, and were involved in his shooting and subsequent stabbing.
3) he came back on his own with no major label behind him on the strength of mixtapes and sheer determination and destroyed Ja Rule who went to from artist of the year 2002 to has been 2003( with a little help from a federal indictment which Ja Rule took to trial and surprising won)
Well played Mr Jackson, well played.
Take the red pill, bro.
1. “no label would fuck with him” what
does that mean? If he had been shot, that boosted his “credibility”,
which is all rap is built on anyways, so therefore every
label would have tried to hire him. If you’re saying that,
somehow, 50 Cent was so “tough” that record companies “wouldn’t dare
trying to screw him over, ” you’re delusional. You think a record
company doesn’t have more than a few actually bad-ass hired-hands
willing to knock heads and spill blood for a few dollars? Please. How do
you think monopolies are enforced? If 50 Cent pulled a gangster routine
when he tried to make it big, he’d have been found actually shot up in
a back alley, the victim of “random violence” by actual
thugs.
2. lol. Please. You do realize these “feuds”
are created by PR departments to boost credibility, right? They’re
fake. Yeah, the guys involved occasionally start “living their gimmick”
and confuse reality with fantasy, but it’s just the same as in pro
wrestling: a lot of hype and little actual issue. Or, more
colloquially, a lot of sizzle but little steak.
In fact, a good
way to judge a pop tart’s persona (whether rap or some other genre) is
as a wrestler’s pre-1990s gimmick: crafted to appear real, no kayfabe
broken, occasionally lived as the pop tart’s brain get’s fried on drugs,
fame-whoreness, and the lifestyle. But definitely not real.
3.
Mix tapes are how all rappers get started. Rap is a music-industry dream
since the artists can’t get big without the record companies, unlike,
say, rock bands, which can become tour monkeys and make loads of cash
without big label help. Rappers depends on the companies promoting them, and then they can become big sells.
Aspiring rappers make boatloads of mix tapes and throw them at record company execs.
Take the red pill; it’s all image.
Lets try this again with completely unambiguous language.
1) No record label would do business with him after his getting shot. He was considered a liability due to his beef with a multi platinum rapper, and a one hit wonder with no body of work to stand upon. As a prudent business decision by several major labels his “phone stopped ringing” in business speak.
2) His feud was quite real and after he was stabbed,shot, and blackballed once he gathered some steam he struck back stealing Ja Rules chain and repeatedly assaulting his associates. Ja Rule lost everything due to this beef, and 50 was shot in the face. Not a stunt, real conflict with a obvious loser(Ja Rule).
3) 50 cent originated the mixtape game post Biz Markie. Biz Markie was sued successfully in the 80’s for copyright infringement which put the brakes on mixtapes sold in major outlets. 50 cent in 2000-2002 took every popular rap songs beat and rapped over the instrumental and released it only in swap markets and direct street distribution. Swisherhouse Records and DJ Screw were the only ones doing this for a substantial profit prior to 50.
I did not take the red pill, i crushed it up put it in a spoon added water and flame and took a needle and mainlined that shit. Got the track marks on my right arm to this day.
I know it’s a bit corny, but so fitting. Whorefinder just got pwned.
lol. This is gonna be fun
Lets try this again with completely unambiguous language.
—yes, let’s.
1) No record label would do business with him after his getting shot. He was
considered a liability due to his beef with a multi platinum rapper, and
a one hit wonder with no body of work to stand upon. As a prudent
business decision by several major labels his “phone stopped ringing” in
business speak.
—And you know this how? Right, 50 Cent told you….which is also how he burnished his credentials as a “Comeback king.”
Seriously,
why would a record company not hire a rapper who’d been shot? Again,
think: it only adds to their credibility. The feud was CREATED to get
him attention; it didn’t hurt him, it HELPED HIM.
lol. Do you still think wrestling is real, too?
2) His feud was quite
real and after he was
stabbed,shot, and blackballed once he gathered some steam he struck back
stealing Ja Rules chain and repeatedly assaulting his associates. Ja
Rule lost everything due to this beef, and 50 was shot in the face. Not
a stunt, real conflict with a obvious loser(Ja Rule).
—lol,
proof? Ja Rule is a rowdy pop tart, to be sure, but tit’s typical pop
tart b.s going back to Sinatra and Pink Floyd—angry when he doesn’t
get his way, lash out and punch people who don’t bow to his fame, and a
few hired hands/roadies acted a little tougher because they represented
him—and got caught for it. Heck, even Justin Bieber’s displayed this
same petulant behavior–punched someone! He yelled at someone!
Nothing Ja Rule did was in any way, shape , or form out of the pop tart playbook.
You just believed he was hard because his PR people sold it as such. In
reality, he acted like a spoiled child, no diff than any prima donna
singer before him.
And what did Ja Rule ACTUALLY get busted hard for? A very typical pop tart thing:
hiding his tax money.
lol. So he’s right up there with a dirty CPA and Willie Nelson.
3) 50 cent
originated the mixtape game post Biz Markie.
—ROFL.
Boy, seriously.
Do know how long musicians have been sending in demos and mix tapes to record companies, hoping to get noticed?
SINCE THEY WERE INVENTED.
And
do you know how long people have been covering old songs, or using
their melodies, or, gasp, singing over older songs and using that as a
demo?
SINCE THEY WERE INVENTED.
Are you really so dumb as to think your favorite lying pop tart is anything new?
LOL. Wanna buy a bridge?
I did not take the red pill, i crushed it up
put it in a spoon added water and flame and took a needle and mainlined
that shit. Got the track marks on my right arm to this day.
—lol.
Such a little boy. I’m sure when you sip your blue
pill-in-liquid-format (because the pill form is too manly for you to
swallow) while wearing your “Thug LIFe!” Pajamas, sleeping with your
Tupac doll, and lying in your NWA bed sheets, you like to pretend how
tough you are.
Boy, you don’t know what the red pill is. You’re still living in fantasy land.
smh.
Rape!
lmao. Oh, you poor deluded, blue pill lovin’-soul.
I’ll bet you think that everything that ICe T and Ice Cube (and their PR teams) told you about themselves was true.
Wanna buy some swampland, little boy?
Rape!
Perhaps the third time shall prove the charm.
1) 50 cent made a song called “How to Rob” which insulted damn near every hot rapper in the game , this is what generated his initial buzz. He followed up with “Ghetto Quran” which named names and spoke about things going down currently in the street. One of the names mentioned was a gentleman named Supreme (drug dealer that ran Supreme Team out of Queens,NY) who just happened to be down with Murder Inc(providing them with “street cred”). Unrelated to what I just mentioned Ja Rule was robbed at gunpoint by a person 50 went to highschool with. Ja Rule and 50 were at a nightclub called The Tunnel and Ja Rule saw 50 talking with the gentleman who had robbed him and construed it as a slight. Supreme sent on of his henchmen and 50 got shot up, the man who robbed Ja Rule was also murdered at a later date. Ja Rule a multi platinum rapper at the time said anyone who works with 50 cannot work with Murder Inc. At the time just a verse with Ja Rule guaranteed significant radio play (he even got Bobby Brown a hit song), so no one was fucking with 50 in the industry at that time. He was blackballed.
2) Before his gun and tax evasion charges in 2009, Murder Inc, Ja Rule, and Irv Gotti were indicted on drug conspiracy and money laundering charges just when the beef with 50 was getting hot in 2002. They took it to trial and won (feds have a 96-97 percent conviction rate) however while this trial was ongoing Murder Inc records could not conduct business as usual due to frozen assets and could not mount an effective counterattack. Supreme got life in prison and Ja Rule watched his career go in the toilet. According to you this was a plan orchestrated and executed by Ja Rule …for what exactly , to lose?
3) 50 made mixtapes without clearing samples in violation of copyright law and sold them directly to the streets for a profit and to get back in the game. Except for Swisherhouse and DJ Screw no rapper had done this post Biz Markie because they would get sued. 50 did not send his tapes to labels because he was blackballed, he took it directly to the streets, to the people, to the consumers. in 2000 if you went to Virgin Records you could not get a 50 cent record you had to go to the Flea Market or the Hood.
All I have written above are facts not insults, not put downs, and nothing personal. You do not need to take the red pill, you need to take some time hit google and take a chill pill and get your facts straight. You misred , misconstrued, and contorted what I wrote twice.You also purposely (because i assume you are not stupid) used factually inaccurate information in a discussion to bolster your argument. You may respond if you wish but I would just chalk this up to a learning experience, do not invest your ego into an argument when you are clearly misinformed or just plain wrong.
consensual sex.
(just kidding outright molestation with a dick made of facts.)
“You know what my grandfather told me? You’ll only get as far as the motherfuckers you talk to for no reason. What I mean is, if you’re talking to a nigga that ain’t got NOTHING going on .. what the FUCK kind of information can he offer you?” – 50 Cent
Everyone should do what they can to control their own destiny but learn some humility, no one is in complete control of their lives. Luck does exist and I know that scares insecure people but learn to face reality, 50 cent is lucky no doubt. The record labels can take any guy rapping on the corner and turn him into the next big thing, props to 50 cent for taking advantage of his opportunity but don’t act like you become a rap star solely through work ethic. Sometimes the self-improvement articles on here are just fucking stupid. This article was the equivalent of some bro saying “quit being a pussy”. Oh wait there already was an article from this genius entitled “3 ways to stop being a little bitch”. Stop posting this shit it is terrible.
Nobody gets rich by being lucky unless they are a lotto winner. If you don’t think Curtis has wealth today because of hard work and brains you are quite naive. For every Curtis there are 100s of Steady Bs…
Not saying he doesn’t work hard; he is lucky to be selected from amongst the millions of people with just as much talent and work ethic. If work ethic determined success migrant workers would be billionaires. If you need to brainwash yourself with positive affirmations to work hard then by all means do it but don’t say dumb shit like there is no such thing as luck.
Speaking of dumb shit, you are very selective with your reading. I said “hard work and brains”. 50 has both.
If you want to believe in luck, fine, then I ask you was Curtis “lucky” that he grew up in the ghetto, to a teenage mother who was a criminal, who died when he was a child? Was he “lucky” to get shot in the face, damaging his voice? Would a performer who relies on his voice consider that “lucky”? Granted 50 Cent was never the greatest rapper but there are not millions of people with his talent. Beyond that, talent in rap is not what makes money, it is business acumen and applied intelligence. 50 Cent got on in the face of monumental obstacles that would crush a lesser man and has become a multi-millionaire, maintaining a career over nearly two decades when countless, while more talented rappers have fallen by the wayside. “Lucky” people don’t even win X-Factor.
To say that all this fell in his lap, because he was “lucky” is laughable to the extreme. That is dumb shit defined.
You seem to be taking this awfully personally. I think 50 cent is hard working, intelligent, and talented. He is also lucky, and he seized his opportunities. These opportunities are what make him lucky. And don’t act like him getting shot and surviving wasn’t lucky; it made his fucking career. Everything after he made it was not luck (vitamin water, books, all that shit) but before that he was just a normal guy from the ghetto that needed a break to get started. No shame in that.
I’d love to hear how you think he “faced” all these monumental obstacles to get a record deal. What exactly did he do? Nothing, he just got a fucking record deal. He didn’t tour independently and build a fan-base. Dude got shot, gave himself a nickname, and looked the part. Not everything is within an individual’s control; he’s not a god he’s a man so stop sucking his dick.
“If work ethic determined success migrant workers would be billionaires.”
You couldn’t be taken seriously after this comment.
Any dumb ass can have good work ethic.
…that was my point, I guess not every dumb ass can read though.
I am taking this personally but you are the one resorting to petty insults? I think you have it backwards. Getting shot was lucky?! Only in some twisted upside-down world. I guess in your world Marvin Gaye was the luckiest man in music since his career hit the stratosphere after he got shot. If only 50 Cent could have been that lucky. Instead after he got shot he got dropped by his record label!!!
You seem to think his record deal just fell out of the sky and he was lucky enough to catch it. My friend you have a lot to learn about the real world. Guy had to start over. Maybe thinking these guys are “lucky” helps you rationalize your own failures. Sure some people start off well in life and go to the best schools and colleges. 50 started from shit and now is worth $300m. And there’s a lot of rappers who got record deals and now no one knows their names.
I never rated 50 Cent as a rapper but I respect a man who builds himself up from nothing and doesn’t make excuses for hard times. Meanwhile guys like you are on the sidelines talking about “lucky”. You don’t know how bitter you sound.
Getting shot was the best thing to ever happen to 50. Do you not remember his first videos and public appearances in which he would wear a bulletproof vest? His entire early persona was built upon the story of him getting shot. Where do you think he would be if that didn’t happen?
Please tell me exactly what he did to earn his record deal rather than just parroting the same old “started at the bottom now i’m at the top” bs that every hip-hop fan loves.
I’m guessing you are young seeing as how you idolize rappers; live a few years, have successes and failures and you will see the world is not a black and white place. Equality doesn’t exist and while work ethic is important, opportunity and circumstance are just as important. I’m not worried about seeming bitter; I’d rather face reality as it is, not as I wish it could be. Success in this world is not entirely merit based – deal with it.
Opportunity favours the bold. I’ve never heard of anyone getting anything worthwhile that they didn’t work for. I can’t tell you exactly what 50 did for his record deal because I wasn’t there. I can tell you that it is extremely unlikely that he convinced record execs to take a risk on backing him, with their money, just out of chance. Business doesn’t work that way. 50 had to convince someone that he was a worthwhile investment.
I knew about 50 before he got shot, when he was making mixtapes dissing Wu-Tang. I remember their answer records. 50 was rapping years before he hit the big time and he didn’t hit the big time until three years after he got shot. I am not saying he didn’t leverage that later for a bad boy image but at the time it was a massive setback. Six months recovery time and getting dropped by your label? It took him years to get another deal.
50 was about to hit the big time before he got shot. He had Trackmasters backing him and had a big record deal. All of that went away when he got shot. He had to start again with a speech impediment. If 50 hadn’t got shot he would have tasted success sooner.
I am quite young but I’m a little older than 50.
Last November Cass Sunstein published an editorial essay explaining that talent and practice and preparation don’t matter but that sheer luck is what makes one a success. His claim was that the Beatles were just lucky. I suppose Sunstein believes luck is also what made him prominent. But of course his purpose is to discourage people and get them to give up and let the government do everything. Don’t try, don’t improve yourself, don’t hope is his message. Lets hope this essay in ROK can reach as many people.
great article, this kind of material is my bread and butter.
quietly the funniest post of all time.
Please restrict Jefe to weightlifting advice only.
Yeah, who the fuck would turn down the chance to coach models? Acting like that’s not an obvious choice.
And 50 cent doesn’t have “talent” he’s a fucking tool and an Uncle Tom. His perpetatation and glorification of degenerate street culture fuels that particular brand of poison coursing through the veins of black America.
James Bond: “Everybody needs a hobby.”
Raoul Silva: “So what’s yours?”
James Bond: “Resurrection.”
I. Was. Dead.: http://wp.me/p3P5mL-pn
I believe not a single person / group is self-made in the so-called music industry — they are selected, groomed and placed before us, much like Hollywood. In the real world, talent does not rise to the top on the global / international level, maybe the local level, but not the Big Time. I’m not referring to the Sports industry, only the Entertainment industry.
Where’s the guy who chimes in that all problems can be solved by sex-robots? How can he tie his gimmick to this article?
You don’t have to like Curtis Jackson and what he represents to admit that he is a man of grit. He did what it took to make a comeback into the music scene. The racism in this blog is really getting tedious.
Most rappers are actors. Not even the most notorious drug dealers (except for the immune Mexican ones) would brag about criminal activity on tape. However, not to say that 50 and the other rappers aren’t smart business people. They just give the Ameridiots what they want.
On the plus side, rappers are still the only few people who can get away with blatant use of politically incorrect words, like “faggot,” “ay-rab,” etc.
Being that blacks are still beyond the reach of the ever grasping claws of the left censor-police, I think it’s funny that rappers can still say so much.
50 cent is the rapper i used to listen to while banging 17-18 year olds. Ahhh dem days. 😀
Remember one thing: he was thirsty, that’s the difference between people who seize the moment and people who don’t
This article is pointless – as someone has already mentioned it the stars in the entertainment industry are selected, they are not self-made.
Return of KIngs is a great blog with great articles but recently gets clogged up with rather poorly selected articles as the current one. For a good blog reading, the editors must reduce the frequency of publishing of new articles and allow people to express their views properly in the comments section (which very often is far more fascinating than the opening article).
Best Regards
Cavarus
The article isn’t so much about the content of the artist being showcased, as much as it’s about having the ambition to pursue something through adversity. He plowed through and hit it big. I mean, the guy got shot 9 fucking times.
You don’t have to like the music.
Rap Music is socially engineered poison for the minds of black people. Glorify gangster life. Just a mind control tool to keep them down. Success is not fame and having a large amount of private federal reserve paper.
Who socially engineered it?
Who owns the music companies? Who determines what gets promoted? That is your answer. Check out Professor Griff from
public enemy for more details.
I get your point, especially about mainstream rap, but it wasn’t always like this and there are some creative minds out there that don’t produce the garbage you’re referring to.
Does it matter that there are exceptions? Overall, probably not.
” How often do your hear a friend or a colleague tell you that they were
offered that dream position in Hawaii, but chose to decline it? They
just felt more comfortable doing the same old, same old instead.”
Or…they don’t want to live in a far left dystopia with palm trees where they are taxed to within an inch of their lives and they are forbidden from defending themselves through extremely crafted and enforced unconstitutional laws? Because those would be my reasons for not taking said “dream job”.
Otherwise, good article. Pursuing excellence by definition is an act of volition. You don’t get excellence and results by taking a nap.
True. Not only that, I’ve never been offered a dream position anywhere. All the opportunities I got were as a result of long hard work.
Ahhhh, yes, this is perhaps becoming cliche for me, but two more quotes from Louis XIV describe this situation well:
“Nothing is more taxing than prolonged idleness. You will be disenchanted first with affairs, next with pleasures, and third with idleness itself. You will seek everywhere in vain for what cannot be found. That is the problem with rest and leisure without some labor to precede it.”
“There are often troublesome occasions which may cause you to hesitate in making a decision, but once you do, and think you have seen the best course, you must
take it.”
Very great article. It might be a sign too because an opportunity arose for me just today.
Why we should “learn” form a nigger delinquent rapper? there are not white men tih honor to learn from?
This website is slowly falling into the nigger worship maintream…..
No one asked you to be here, don’t like it? Fuck off.
Dude, get a grip
That nigger is worth almost half a billion dollars, you could learn a lot from him. For example he is a black man in a white run country doing way better financially than your white ass, and he did it all after being a convicted felon, no mother or father , getting shot, and fathering a child out of wedlock. You are white , proud, not a felon, and likely raised by two loving parents, with no children. Stop wasting your Caucasian skin and get rich already, or are the Jews stopping you, or media nigger worship, or whatever other excuse you have for wasting your 400 year head start in America? Here is your first lesson from that nigger delinquent , no excuses get your shit together there is nothing stopping you.
Lol, did Fif steal your girl or something?
hallo, alles goed?
My only qualm with this article: the misuse of the word “clip”. Pistols use magazines, not clips. Clips help you load magazines. You load SKS and most bolt action battle rifles with clips. These days, 99% of all firearms accept magazines.
Columbia Records obviously hadn’t figured out that street cred sells albums yet…
G-G-G-G Unit!
Very sharp guy
“empty the entire clip of a 9mm handgun”
I think you mean magazine