Once a controversial figure linked to drug-dealing and club-shooting, a rapper that no label would sign, 50 Cent accepted Eminem’s helping hand and turned his fate around. Now he is a TV producer, actor and one of the most successful businessmen in hip-hop.
Still, his past has never gone away completely and his own words were used against him way too many time. So when he shares his words of advice for a younger generation – it is worth listening.
Firstly, he shared an article that describes a dangerous practice of treating lyrics as confessions. Its title “Prosecutors are increasingly – and misleadingly – using rap lyrics as evidence in court” – is self-explanatory and it states:
They [Prosecutors] routinely ignore the fact that rap is a form of artistic expression – with stage names, an emphasis on figurative language and hyperbolic rhetoric – and instead present rap as autobiographical.
In effect, they ask jurors to suspend the distinction between author and narrator, reality and fiction, and to read rap lyrics as literal confessions of guilt.
No other art form is exploited like this in court. And yet it’s an effective strategy precisely because it taps into stereotypes about rap music and the young men of color who are its primary creators.
Fif captioned it with lyrics from his own track “Heat” from “Get Rich Or Die Tryin’”:
50cent
i told you in 03 /i do what i gotta do/ i don’t care if i get caught/the DA can play this mother fucking tape in court/i’ll kill you HEAT. (This is not new) if you say crazy shit on these records they are gonna use it. if you in a gang on the song 🤨then you in the gang when the indictment come fool. LOL
