What?? I happened to have access to Young Jeezy. Cus I keeps it real son!!! How real?? For all my fancy book learnin’, I discovered I have an odd fascination with, none other than, gosh, I don’t even wanna admit this, but we’re cool right, I mean I can tell you secrets, forget it, here goes, Fifty/Fiddy Cent. Before you strain yourself with a string of gaffaws, let me tell you more. In my own defense, my fascination only goes so far as to include the pieces of him I have seen/heard in the last two weeks without having to go out of my way. I’m not one to rush out and buy his CD. And while I did want to see the movie, I’m gonna try to hold off til Feb when it’s on DVD. I also do not mark my calendar to catch his television appearances or radio interviews.
Remember, I heard him on the radio and he was using complete sentences? This is where my fascination began. Then I found out he’d actually done the talk show circuit to promote his movie. I saw bits of a couple interviews and he might have been classified as slightly charming. Not even hostile. Conjugating verbs correctly all willy-nilly. This young thug had been reading books!! Or around people who read books.
Wasn’t Snoop on all those shows?? Wasn’t Ice T, and Cube for that matter, on all those shows? But with 50, he made it to those shows quicker than those who’d come before him. He’s doing the thing faster than his predecessors. Could he have learned from those who’d come before him? Did he, instead of pish-poshing words of wisdom he got, actually listened a little? Or is it that more doors are open to him because hip-hop has a broader influence? Rhetorical questions.
Then yesterday I saw a blurb about his plans to start a line of books. Do you understand?? Fifty, of shot-nine-times-fame, angry-gangster-rapper-fame, has not only been reading books, he’s tryna sell a whole series of them too?? Da hell?? (Alert! Alert!! Glitch in the stereotyping matrix!!) He has the power to do for books in the hood what Jay-Z did for button-up stripe shirts in the hood and throughout the hip-hop culture. Can you imagine Ray-Ray ‘nem going to their local library photo-copying 50’s books and thinking reading is cool?? Or Gawd forbid, buying them?? Man!!!
I don’t expect any of his books to be classic literature. Nor do I expect it to be anything my book club ever reads. But then again, I didn’t forecast him using full sentences with multiple clauses either. What I do expect is that it will spark interest. It might not make reading completely cool, but it might make it a bit more acceptable for D’Estwan and ‘nem. And if slapping his name on a book makes 10 black kids who weren’t read start reading, then OK. And don’t give me no lip about the quality of what they’re reading. Baby steps b*tches!!
For all of 50’s faults, this might be the one thing that makes his getting into Heaven even remotely possible. And no, even if Mase writes a 12 inch remix of the Bible and performs it free for homeless kids on the main stage of The Potter’s House, he still won’t get into Heaven~See Panama’s page!
I bet someone out there is thinking, “Kajuana must be kidding.” Guess what? I’m not. Some look at 50 and can’t get past how he has been known to be ghetto and generally un-polished. As a result, they can’t see that while he has his faults, there’s still something positive to be gotten from him. Funny how so many of those same people go to church every Sunday and listen to a pastor who used to pimp. Not to say that ALL pastors are former pimps. I just know we had a lot of em in Detroit.
I digress. Sure he wants to make money. Who doesn’t? But learning lessons from the people who’ve been there and done that puts him in a position to go beyond where they went. Every damn lesson doesn’t have to be re-experinced by everybody. No ‘rapper’ after MC Hammer should go broke like he did. Why? Because they can look to him as an example of what not to do. I don’t think anyone is totally bad. Fifty’s an entrepreneur. Or, at the very least, he’s got some people behind him pulling the strings to make sure they/he make money off of him in ways that do not include shooting folks, selling drugs, etc. And with this line of books, be it his idea or someone else’s, he’s taken what rappers before him have done (written a book) and built upon the concept.
I read a good number of blogs. There are people out there who have lived lives totally different from mine. Gone through things I’ve yet to experience. I don’t agree with every way of thinking. But I have also been exposed to valid points of views that differ from mine and make me say, “Damn, I never thought about it that way.” I learn!! And I would hope that the people who read my page walk away feeling the same way, sometimes. Because 94% of the stuff I write about, I’ve either experienced or watched someone else close to me experience. We can’t always agree. Nor can we always be right. Just like with 50, you shouldn’t discount everything you read here because you don’t agree with one thing I say. You might think I look down upon you or am mean. Which, if you all knew me, you’d know this wasn’t true. Afterall, I am one of X’s favortie people. Still, keep reading the pages but always remember one of the benefits of dialog is the exchange of ideas which can lead to learning.
Thank you all for being pretty much respectful in the comments section. Cus if you weren’t, I’d just shoot you, write cyber raps about it, get a record deal, get a sneaker deal, write a book, make a movie, and write more books. (Truth be told, if you weren’t, I’d just not respond, erase you words, block you, and pretend it never happened.)
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