When brainstorming with Keanu for our collaboration we examined a series of movies that contained lyrical music but within the genre of hip-hop as that is his focus. Guess what we decided on, if you recognize the ly
ric, then you know…‘You’s a window shopper, mad at me, I think I know why n!@$a you’s a window shopper…” Get rich or die tryin. A short biography of Curtis ‘50cent’ Jackson and his life as a drug dealer, his deep-rooted passion for rap, and his musical journey.
Re-watching this film had us all nostalgic with the memory of what it felt like when the movie and the album were released. G-Unit, the name of the record label owned by 50 Cent, music as it took the world by storm. As a matter of fact, there was a gang in Port of Spain titled G-Unit. The film actually had me thinking about the struggles I endure as a single parent with very little assistance from my children’s father. We all want to be rich, well maybe not all, but most of us and our attempt extends until the day we die, at least for me. What are you willing to do to make that money? At what rate would you expect the money to start ‘rolling in’? Whom will you trust to stand at your side in celebration and persecution?
Loyalty; it is like Bama said, “when I'm right I'm right, when I'm wrong I could be right, so I'm still right cause I coulda been wrong, you know, and I'm sorry cause I could be wrong right now, I could be wrong, but if I'm right”….can you trust the people around you? Will you enter into business with your closest friend, maybe your sister or brother? Does it matter the type of business? Either way, change is the only constant as nothing lasts forever. One minute you can be up and the other you can be down as evidenced in the movie. That instance when 50 cents was flying high after the purchase of the car, saying “I'm big in the hood right now, I don't even remember my name. They callin' me handsome!” The problem is he thought it would last forever until he was betrayed by his friend; a foundation member of his team.
When all else failed him, the attempt on his life included, he turned to his music. His lyrics were raw, honest, and lethal to those who were at war with him. His opponents tried to have him silenced but his words were too powerful, they could not be contained. He used their hate to fuel his energy, just as he stated in his song, Hustler’s Ambition. This song was actually one of my favourite songs on this soundtrack and as Keanu said, “the soundtrack was filled with energetic and slightly sinister beats with gangster lyrics.”
There are several things in the show I do not condone, but that was the struggle of Curtis Jackson, not me. However, I do agree to his lyrics in that song as I do want the finer things life so, like him I hustle, my hustle is just different. So yes, I will keep pushing until I am rich or you can bet your life I will die trying. What about you?
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