FASHION
These are two
of the more than
200 fashions that
will be presented
during the 45th
Annual Ebony
Fashion Fair
The event will
be held Wednesday
February 26th at 8
p.m. in the
Cumberland
Crown Auditorium.
Cost is $20 for
adults and $15 for
students. Included
in each ticket price
is a subscription to
Ebony or Jet
magazine.
For ticket informa
tion call 864-4644,
323-9696, 822-
1350, 823-4717 or
323-5088
50.
From Page 4
After his release, he
managed to change his life
through rap. His first
benefactor was fellow
Queens hip-hopper Jam
Master Jay. Jay helped 50
Cent get signed to
Columbia Records, but due
to Run-DMC’s hectic
touring schedule, ended his
involvement.
50 Cent says Columbia
dragged its feet with his
career. In a desperate bid for
attention, he recorded the
track “How to Rob,” which
depicted him violently
holding up a host of big
stars - from Jay-Z to
Columbia’s own Mariah
Carey.
“I picked out, like, 30
artists to make everybody
say ‘Who’s this 50 guy?’ ”
he says.
While he says he meant
the song to be funny, not
everybody got the joke -
including, he says, some of
the artists mentioned and
Columbia itself
After the attempt on his
life in 2000, the company
dropped him.
“They got scared,” he
says. “To me, getting shot
wasn’t as bad as (getting
dropped). After 13 days in
the hospital, you think
things are good and you can
move forward. But they
said, ‘Forget about him.’”
Columbia’s sole comment
on the matter was to
congratulate 50 Cent on his
new label deal.
No one has been arrested in
the shooting. While he says
he knows who did it, he
won’t name the person.
“He’s dead already,”
giggles the rapper, denying
that he had anything to do
with the death.
Police sources have
suggested that a rap called
“Ghetto Qua’ran” may have
caused bad blood between
50 Cent and Kenneth
(Supreme) McGriff, a
convicted crack kingpin
who ruled the southeast
Queens drug trade in the
1980s.
The rap, from the
independently released CD
“Guess Who’s Back?,”
makes reference to McGriff
and his cronies, possibly
angering him or causing a
dispute over royalties, the
sources say.
McGriff is under FBI
investigation for pumping
money into Murder Inc., the
label run by his old friend
Irv Gotti. The company has
denied any financial
involvement between the
two.
And 50 Cent says his
beef with Murder Inc.’s Ja
Rule started when “a friend
of mine robbed him. When
you change your life,
everybody around you
doesn’t necessarily change
their life.”
He also discounts any
connection between his
shooting and McGriff,
though in the interview
with the New York Daily
News, the rapper called him
“a f_punk.”
Two years ago, with no
label contract and “no plan
B,” 50 Cent says, he
decided to release his
records independently and
build his street buzz.
“He had the best
guerrilla promotion and
marketing strategy going,”
says Bonsu Thompson,
music editor of the rap
magazine XXL.
“When the industry
turned its back on him, he
found his own way back
in.”
His indie records gave
him a loyal underground
audience and eventually
won the attention of
Eminem, who got him
signed to Dr. Dre’s
Aftermath label.
While 50 Cent says Dre
understands the gangsta life,
he believes Interscope, the
company that distributes
Dre’s label, has been more
wary.
“I had to have (top rap
manager) Chris Lighty
come with me at the
meetings to sugarcoat
things,” he says. “They
were afraid.”
50 Cent denies that
either he or Interscope are
exploiting his history to sell
a record.
“If I was a rapper who
was pretending to be
(tough), that would be
exploiting it,” he says.
“But if your lifestyle is
like that, it’s just a fact.”
As further evidence of
his “lifestyle,” he was
arrested on New Year’s Eve
for gun possession.
In addition, he and his
posse, G Unit, never leave
home without bulletproof
vests.
Following Jam Master
Jay’s murder Oct. 30 in his
Queens recording studio,
the police told 50 Cent
there were threats on his
life; he responded; “Tell me
something I don’t know.”
The artist has refused
their protection.
“I’m not into the police,”
he says. “I’ve never known
them to de-escalate a
situation. They make it
worse.
“Once a person is afraid,
you might as well lay down
and give up,” he says.
He’s excited by the
likely hit status of his
coming album. But, he
adds, “I’m not anticipating a
beautiful life.
“Things are going to
happen. That’s been my life
to this point. So I expect