50 Cent Commercial - An attempt to rehabilitate his image?

music downloadsBack in the spring of this year, the noted radio" shock
50 Centjock", Don Imus lost his prestigious syndicated job
The rapper musician 50 Cent, has come out with awhen he uttered a cruel joke on air during one of his
commercial recently, and it is tied in with a power drink.morning shows, directed towards the Rutgers'
I wonder if this commercial is also part of a campaignUniversity Women's basketball team. In particular, Imus
to help rehabilitate his image. In the commercial, 50addressed the African-American members of the
Cent is seen walking onto a stage in preparation toteam, calling them a bunch of (quote) "nappy-headed
conduct a major symphonic orchestra. As he steps onhos" (un-quote). (For more on this discussion as I
the conductor's podium, 50 Cent first takes a sip fromaddressed it on another blog that I post to, visit this link
the bottle of a brand of power soft drink. A voice-overhere). The Rev. Al Sharpton immediately got involved,
reveals the information that 50 Cent has replaced theimploring that Imus be severely reprimanded by his
regular conductor and with the aid of this power softstation for the remarks. Sharpton's involvement in the
drink is now prepared to lead the symphony in itsincident started an outrage across this country, in
rendition of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. Not to beparticular from non African-American individuals. They
confused with renowned symphonic conductors suchwere clear in their feelings, expressing anger that Rev.
as Zubin Mehta or the late Leonard Bernstein, oneSharpton had once again got involved in an incident
could see that 50 Cent is utterly clueless as to theinvolving race, and one in which bigoted language was
proper conducting rhythm based on the music.used to describe African-Americans. Some of these
However, the orchestra begins the opening strains ofpeople wanted to know why Rev. Sharpton had not
this famous symphony work. Pretty soon, howeverexpressed anger and outrage at people of his own
the orchestra breaks into the tune of 50 Cent's mostcolor when rap musicians, (like 50 Cent) used the
famous rap song "In the Club". Seeing some of thesame language in the lyrics of their music, in a sense
orchestra members, (including one string player) movingknocking members of their own race? Why is it okay
and jiving to the beat of the song is utterly hysterical. Itfor certain African-American individuals to degrade
appears to be almost incongruous; associatingeach other with filthy, racist, degrading words out of
musicians used to performing orchestral works instead,the English language, yet when individuals of other
as shown in this commercial, getting completely into aethnicities utter these same words towards
work from a rap artist. The person doing theAfrican-Americans it becomes a case worthy of
voice-over concludes that the ingredients in the powercriminal prosecution?
soft drink has prepared 50 Cent to successfullyThe positive result of the Don Imus-Rev. Sharpton -rap
undertake this mission; proving that anything is possiblemusic connection, started back in the spring with this
if the commercial viewers would start using this powerincident; is that now, more attention has been given to
drink as a part of their diet, as well.this type of music within the industry. It is a fact that
I could not help but recognize the underlying meaning inthe negativity portrayed by artists like 50 Cent has led
having a controversial figure such as 50 Centto many individuals being turned off by the image and
participate in something unexpected like thisthoughts that these musicians illicit in their songs. CD
commercial. I wonder if the commercial was ansales of rap albums within the past year has taken a
attempt to tell us that people of different backgroundsnose-dive. The crystal clear message has been given
can blend together for a common cause, (expecting aby consumers of music to certain rap musicians that
person like 50 Cent with his background to performthey had better start to clean up their acts. If they are
with a symphonic orchestra to the initial works ofunwilling to make any changes in the themes of their
Beethoven is almost unfathomable)? Or, is it ansongs, then people will no longer buy their products.
attempt by the rapper towards changing the imageIndeed, the USA Today national newspaper had an
that is linked to him within the music industry?article about rap music, just a few weeks. The article
50 Cent has a history of portraying anger in his musicconcluded that changes might already be taking place
through his lyrics that tell stories of violence, abuse ofin the musical tastes of consumers in America, and
women, crime, and race relations. Many of his lyricsthat this trend could be permanent. It was mentioned in
contain profanity, usage of the N-word, andthe article that last year, the CD album put out by the
degradation of women in general, (referring to them asDisney company with music from the popular movie
B's, and "hos"). I am an African-American male. As one"High School Musical" completely dwarfed, in sales,
who was brought up by educated parents, I neverthose of all rap musicians combined! I believe that the 8
could understand why people of color used the- 18 year old demographic individuals in this country
N-word so readily in their everyday language. Mystated their feelings about the type of music they now
parents certainly didn't utter that word in front of myprefer. One can't help but conclude that adoloscents
sister and me. I understand that the N-word is used asand teenagers, who make up a strong majority of
slang by a certain percentage of African-Americans.individuals who buy music in this country, no longer
But, I fail to completely understand why that wordprefer listening to a 50 Cent and his brand of music. (I
comes out of their mouths as often as it does; andalso did a review of my thoughts concerning the debut
often in greeting other African-Americans. I will justof the "High School Musical 2" movie, earlier this week
chalk it up to ignorance and the fact that these folkson this blog). I have a suspicion that when Disney
do not completely understand the context in which thereleases the CD album to the music of the "High
N-word was meant during the 17 - 1800's, beforeSchool Musical 2" movie, every kid under the age of 16
slavery was abolished. This word was certainly notin this country will be running to his/her local mall to buy
meant as a compliment when a Caucasian slavethe album. I doubt that they would be making this trip to
owner addressed the Black individual that he owned,the store to buy any rap music, either. They probably
ordering him/her around as if he/she was some typewould not even give it a thought!
of dog. Even today, while an African-AmericanIt is no wonder that rap artists like 50 Cent might
individual can greet another friend of his/her color withslowly be getting the message. Clean up your act,
the N-word, there would be an entirely differentre-do your image, and stop insulting people with your
reaction altogether if a Caucasian, Hispanic, Asian, orprofanity-laced music lyrics. 50 Cent's appearance
Middle Eastern person greeted that same individualconducting an orchestra in a commercial is but one
using that filthy, disgusting word. More likely, violenceattempt on the musician's part to re-do his image. Let
would ensue as the African-American individual wouldus see if 50 Cent can also start giving people some
be prepared to give a "beat down" to the person whorespect in the message portrayed in his music, as well
addressed them with that tone of language. Theas reduce the amount of R-rated language in his lyrics.
N-word is used prevalently in 50 Cent's rap music, andFor other articles posted on this blog, please visit:
I for one find it reprehensible.I also welcome any comments to this post!