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[elmono311]

A grass-roots (or more accurately a street-pavement) campaign is spreading across the nation to promote a boycott of the upcoming 50 Cent movie Get Rich or Die Tryin'. Last week community activists in Los Angeles were successful in their campaign to force Paramount to remove billboards for the film from areas around local schools. On Saturday, the New York Daily News reported that a similar campaign has been launched in Brooklyn -- not only against the billboard ads but against the film itself. City Councilwoman Letitia James said that it appears to her that the message of the movie is basically, "Do whatever you can to get ahead and advance yourself -- even if it includes violence." The singer/actor's response to the controversy was, "I do appreciate it. ... They are helping me out." Gannett columnist Deborah Mathis, writing on the BlackAmericaWeb website, commented that films like Get Rich "create the illusion of young black men with power, when all they really have is weaponry. With their glocks and their snarls, it's fear they engender, not respect."


Ever since I saw the first poster for this movie, I knew it was sending the wrong message to young black people. Pretty much saying you have to get rich or there's no point in living...

[Supermercado]

50 Cent sends the wrong message, period. To whites, blacks, and every other race.

[elmono311]

He needs to be shot... again

[Supermercado]

Agreed. 100%. Along with everyone else that "sings" that "music." To me, rap is just the word "crap" with a silent c.

[elmono311]

And country music is the Special Olympics of music (just had to put that in ).

[Supermercado]

There's nothing wrong with (some) country music.

[elmono311]

Eminem is probably the only rapper I like. Too bad about the rumors of him retiring.

[disnut8]

Oh, come on.  You are being too harsh on the rap crowd out there.  There's nothing like going home on a day like today.  Beautiful fall day.  The windows will be down and I'll be trying to relax from a hard day at work.  And I'll bet I get to one of those infamous Atlanta traffic lights that last forever (five minute cycles here are not uncommon and you usually have to sit through at least two).  Only to have some rap lover come up behind me or beside me and blast those lyrics so that I can't even think.  And have the bass turned up so loud the entire car vibrates.  Not his car, MY car!  Yeah, nothing like being told women are bitches and should just do what men want them to do, all cops are evil and should be shot, blacks rule and whites drool.  Yeah, a peaceful drive home.

[Supermercado]

I just love that. It makes me all warm inside.

*sarcasm meter explodes*

[elmono311]

Oh, man, I hate those idiots who have their bass so loud it shakes even my car. I hope their eardrums explode when they get older.

[Schmidt]

50 Cent sends the wrong message, period. To whites, blacks, and every other race.

Agreed, that's the problem. Taking down the posters in front of the schools or whatever, I'm cool with that, but boycotting the movie because we're unwittingly racist enough to believe a black person can't separate a movie from reality any better than a white person can? Ridiculous.

Now I haven't seen the movie yet, obviously. Maybe 50 Cent specifically says in the movie "Hey, I'm black, all I can do is shoot people!" and then turns into the camera and addresses the audience, instructing them that he's serious and this isn't just a movie, so go shoot some white people. But I doubt it. If this movie turns out to be nothing but glorification of violence, well that's lousy, but it's hardly a race issue, so don't call it one. But I suspect it's really just about a guy trying to glorify himself and sell some more records. Let's not just assume all the darkies won't get it because they're too busy talking during the movie.

[Supermercado]

My response was to the original post, which appears to have been edited, although it doesn't actually say so. What I replied to was just the very last paragraph.

Ever since I saw the first poster for this movie, I knew it was sending the wrong message to young black people. Pretty much saying you have to get rich or there's no point in living...

All that I was saying in my reply was that, to my knowledge of 50 Cent, which is admittedly very little, his whole message is wrong, regardless of whether it's to a young black person, a young white person, whoever.

[elmono311]

Agreed, that's the problem. Taking down the posters in front of the schools or whatever, I'm cool with that, but boycotting the movie because we're unwittingly racist enough to believe a black person can't separate a movie from reality any better than a white person can? Ridiculous.

Now I haven't seen the movie yet, obviously. Maybe 50 Cent specifically says in the movie "Hey, I'm black, all I can do is shoot people!" and then turns into the camera and addresses the audience, instructing them that he's serious and this isn't just a movie, so go shoot some white people. But I doubt it. If this movie turns out to be nothing but glorification of violence, well that's lousy, but it's hardly a race issue, so don't call it one. But I suspect it's really just about a guy trying to glorify himself and sell some more records. Let's not just assume all the darkies won't get it because they're too busy talking during the movie.

The whole movie is about 50 Cent's life so he pretty much is saying to do all that stuff because, hey, he's rich and famous now.

[Vengeance]

I like rap when it comes to dancing and stuff, but I do agree that his message is wrong and he should really be ashamed of himself. I hope his mother slapped him good.

[disnut8]

This was in the AJC this morning and it's so appropriate.  It's a feature called The Vent were you just call or email in your frustrations.  Here's the vent:

"You never hear about the guys from Blink-182 shooting at the guys from Green Day.  Or why is it that Alan Jackson and his crew don't pull a drive-by on, say, Kenny Chesney?"

Another one from the same feature:

"Get real.  Most of the hip-hop and rap is done by thugs and gangstas.  They may have a lot of money, but that does not necessarily equate to class".

Another one, same feature:

"The Game arrested at a North Carolina mall for swearing and disorderly conduct.  Forget the Rapture.  I'm waiting to see if any rapper can also be a decent human being.  So far, we might as well throw rappers out with the garbage".

And realize that this is coming from the hip-hop/rap hot city of the music industry.

[Vengeance]

Agreed, that's the problem. Taking down the posters in front of the schools or whatever, I'm cool with that, but boycotting the movie because we're unwittingly racist enough to believe a black person can't separate a movie from reality any better than a white person can? Ridiculous.

Now I haven't seen the movie yet, obviously. Maybe 50 Cent specifically says in the movie "Hey, I'm black, all I can do is shoot people!" and then turns into the camera and addresses the audience, instructing them that he's serious and this isn't just a movie, so go shoot some white people. But I doubt it. If this movie turns out to be nothing but glorification of violence, well that's lousy, but it's hardly a race issue, so don't call it one. But I suspect it's really just about a guy trying to glorify himself and sell some more records. Let's not just assume all the darkies won't get it because they're too busy talking during the movie.

I understand this whole point but I totally disagree with it. It's not about black people telling the difference between fact and fiction. The truth is that he's representing it as fact already. Plus young black people really don't have a lot of role models in our society and you can name all of the people of color you want, but I can give you three times the number of whites. So the role models that are out there really shouldn't be someone like some of these rappers. Michael Jordan, Denzel Washington, various politicians and influential citizens should be the role models that we encourage. Sadly John H. Johnson and Rosa Parks are gone and they're replaced with 50 cent? No, it's just wrong.

Kids don't travel just near their schools. All the billboards should be taken down and I see no problem in boycotting the movie because people are going to see it if they want to anyway, but there's nothing wrong with anyone taking a stand and saying that they don't agree with the idea that violence is the only way that a black person can get ahead in this world. In fact, that's exactly the type of thing that a movie should be made about...minorities throwing off the stereotype of violence as a way of life.

This just makes me angry when people say that things aren't a race issue. Hell, we still have lynchings by the Klan, with a big case just ending less than 10 years ago. And let's not forget the dragging death of James Byrd Jr in Jasper, TX. Things are too fresh to say that things aren't a race issue. Minorities should be treated with care because we're definitely not all equal yet and this movie just drives home stereotypes to whites and hurts the chances of  blacks being allowed to pursue their dreams without whites holding them back out of fear.

I suppose that's really the issue. Forget the effect this idiot rapper has on young blacks. Let's look at the thoughts it's putting into the white community. It's simple. 'Yeah, those black people are just as violent and criminal as we always thought.' I know that the blacks can tell the difference between what's right and wrong in their life. It's their life. But whites? Plenty are just going to go with whatever flow the stereotype takes them.