I never dreamed it possible to seriously write about the ancient Roman General Scipio Africanus the Elder and hip hop rapper 50 Cent on the same book page. I now know better — Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you The 50th Law.
At first glance, the book looks like a practical joke or an act of tremendous chutzpah. The cover is made of imitation leather, embossed with gold lettering in a thick Gothic font, sporting pages that are edged with gold like a Holy Bible found in a church pew. The book is unreal in its confidence — co-authors Robert Greene and 50 Cent review the lessons taught by history’s great thinkers and leaders — Sun Tzu, Machiavelli, Napoleon, Lincoln, Clausewitz, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and many more — and then apply those lessons… to the life of 50 Cent! Can you think of anything more audacious?
The book opens with Robert Greene, who has authored books that are somewhat like the self-help version of Robert D. Kaplan’s Warrior Politics, explaining how Greene met 50 Cent in 2007 and was enthralled that, despite having no academic education, he instinctively understood the laws of power that Greene had been trying to teach in his books such as The 48 Laws of Power. He then tells how he spent a year with 50 Cent, witnessing him in action as he ran his music business and career as a performer, and wrote the book using the inspiration of 50 Cent’s career success, concluding that the famous rapper has something extra, a panache that Greene did not cover in his book on the 48 laws — fearlessness.
That is the key theme of the book — the dehabilitating nature of fear and the importance of overcoming it in order to succeed. Fearlessness allow a person to take advantages of opportunities and rise to challenges by taking initiative. It’s hard — fear is the most primitive and basic human emotion — but as Greene wrote in his blog post:
The truth is that a fearless approach is the necessary starting point of almost any successful or creative action in this world. The 50th is in fact the ultimate law of power, the key to the castle.
Greene met and spent time with 50 Cent well before the rapper’s success as one of the richest hip-hop artists was recognized by Forbes Magazine and his financial success became open public knowledge.
I am almost shocked to find myself writing that I strong recommend this book. Greene trumpets the values of realism and dismisses idealism, praises the benefits of adversity, the importance of innovation over tradition, and the book really does have the readability of Robert D. Kaplan’s writings and quickly draw you in to believing the material. Like Kaplan, it applies the laws of the ancients to very modern situations that make the material easy to grasp and understand. It is also jaw-droppingly audacious — Greene writes that, “Fifty could serve as my Cesare Borgia, and I as his Machiavelli.”
What about the 49th law?
Excellent question… one that is not answered.
I assume that Law 49 has something to do with pectorals or chiseled abs.
But seriously, no mention of 50 Cent’s recent application of Law 37? His plans to try and hook up with “Britain’s Got Talent” (and more recently, Kōhaku Uta-gassen) sensation Susan Boyle?
From the Telegraph:
“She’s got an amazing voice, and together we’d get everyone dancing. I’m always looking to do something new and she’s cool, so I’ll ask somebody to let her know.”
He added: “I’d love to take her clubbing, show her around my world. She’d have a great time.”
I’m already working on the Hollywood version of that odd couple, perhaps casting Jamie Foxx opposite Kathy Bates.
And…scene.
Most people as fearless as 50 don’t survive getting gunned down. How many of the young African-American males who follow a similar philosophy end up getting rich and how many die tryin’?
From what scant little I know about Fifty and his life and career, my hunch is that, if there were more people who really were as saavy as him, there would be a lot more African American millionaires.
That’s the thing – we know lots about Napoleon and even Scipio Africanus, but what do we really know about 50 Cent apart from the cartoon character version that he (or his creative talent) sell us? We know he was a drug dealer (because that point was quite callously exploited to market him), we know he was scouted by Eminem and Dre (a far better example of black entrepreneurship), but we don’t know if he has written his own music since then or had any real creative input into his act or his (big dollar) clothing line. So is 50 sitting around on Saturday night smoking blunts like in his music while the infrastructure he inherited from Dre and others makes money hand over fist? Or has he really blazed a trail? I tend to think that he was the right abs at the right time. Is he more like Paris Hilton than Napoleon?
So what does fearless mean in the hip hop context? It is certainly part of the marketing of a mythical lifestyle. Strikes me as being a great example of idealism, rather than realism. 50 writes in his autobiography that he learned what he needed to about entrepreneurship from crack dealing – a field that leaves most of its entrepreneurs in jail or dead by 30 (and that’s being generous). Some street to stage rappers end up succeeding, but what can you really say about the one guy who made it in huge in a field of endeavor where the odds for aspirants are less than making it in pro sports?
@M-Bone: “Most people as fearless as 50 don’t survive getting gunned down. How many of the young African-American males who follow a similar philosophy end up getting rich and how many die tryin’?”
Valid point, but the same could be said for many would-be conquerors and warriors throughout history. How many would-be Williams Wallaces were available in Scotland, but died young in some brawl? Or how many potential Cao Cao’s or Liu Pei’s died young on a battlefield fighting some pointless battle related to court intrigue?
Fearlessness does not make you bullet-proof (just ask the Apaches), but it does allow those who survive through a combination of intelligence, fearlessness and luck, to rise up to pinnacles of power and wealth and occasionally even change the world.
M-Bone, as I understand your comment, you’re are asserting that, objectively, we cannot judge the character or background of Fifty because his biography may have been subjectively aggrandized for his own publicity purposes. While that may partially be the case, let’s ignore his biography entirely and only look at verifiable, objective factors, which are:
* He is one of the richest hip-hop artists of all time with a gross worth estimated at US $440 million as of 2008, and has been recognized by Forbes, which closely follows this type of individual net worth.
* Most rap artists are popular for a few years and then disappear. Fifty has been able to harness innovation to keep himself popular and relevant.
* Understanding the short half-life of rap artists, he quickly looked to diversify out of mere music, into TV and movies, book writing, and various business ventures.
Other points — I think we know a lot more about Fifty at his current age of 32 than we do about either Scipio or Napolean at the age. We have a lot more sources to review and verify. I don’t think there is any doubt that Fifty’s Mom was murdered, he was raised by his grandparents, he was in jail, dealt drugs, and managed to escape that culture by making music.
“So what does fearless mean in the hip hop context?”
Check out the book!
And I think Michael F says it well otherwise. Of course, fearlessness isn’t everything — but the point of the book is that it may be the start of everything.
Because he invests his money like the white man? Seriously, Curzon, how do you figure, or are we merely dubbing 50 Cent as “wealthy” on the Chris Rock “rich vs. wealthy” continuum? I could take your hunch and have said it about Michael Jackson 25 to 30 years ago, and it would have sounded just as legitimate. Fif’ is big now, but how is he going to keep it going?
To be fair to Greene’s point on fearlessness, it has been remarked before that fear is a destructive force in the entertainment industry. Songwriter Jimmy Webb describes this in his book Tunesmith (just before he gets to the chapter about dealing with the inevitable slumps of showbiz):
One last thing: The single unforgivable sin that one can commit in Tinseltown has nothing to do with drugs or infidelity or alcoholism or irresponsibility, or surprisingly enough, even failure (some people have gotten away with murder). But mark me well—do not ever in an unguarded moment betray to anyone, even your closest friend, the tiniest hint of fear. About five years ago… I was speaking to an old family friend who still lives in California and works in the film/music industry. As we were talking on the telephone I confessed that… I didn’t know where my career was going, and I told him, money was in question for the first time in my professional life. I even felt out of touch with my creativity, I told him. “To tell you the truth,” I said, “I’m afraid.” I haven’t heard from him since.
(Sorry, the last paragraph there is indeed a quote from Webb’s book.)
“understand your comment, you’re are asserting that, objectively, we cannot judge the character or background of Fifty because his biography may have been subjectively aggrandized for his own publicity purposes.”
Yes. We can verify as well how he was originally promoted – as a “real” gangster. The fearless narrative is part of the promotion and from the “Get Rich of Die Tryin’” days, I haven’t like dseeing it turned in a self help direction as it very directly glamorizes a violent lifestyle.
“at verifiable, objective factors”
We know the result – that 50 is popular and wealthy. But we have no idea how much of this is due to any character trait, if “despite having no academic education, he instinctively understood the laws of power”, or if he has simply listened to Dre’s advice very well, went with the flow, and was the lucky one that we know about as opposed to all of those totally fearless guys who were arrested, shot, and didn’t make out so well. I’ve checked out part of the book online and it seems like a certain type of movie hip hop story to me. I think that 50 is the guy who lasted despite himself as in Taleb’s “The Black Swan”. Biggie managed to promote a similar image straight into the grave.
I take the point that fighting back fear is fundamental to “any successful or creative action in this world”, but have we one shred of evidence that 50 Cent has taken any particularly successful or creative actions through his own agency and creativity? The street genius who not only styles his own music persona but designs the clothes, writes the books, etc. is a story that we are being sold. SMAP are pretty rich too, but they have their minders. I’ve seen plenty of reference to 50s as well. The “50th Law” seems more about the myth than the man.
Michael F, good points, but we study Napoleon and friends because of their historical impact, not necessarily for lessons.
Another lesson in fearlessness that 50 is selling -
Hop out, hit ‘em up, lay my murder game down
You see me in ya projects, 187′s in progress
Hard niggas finna soften up when that lead touch’ em
You cut’ em once and keep fight, fuck it just keep cuttin’ em
It’s real killa instinct, kill or be killed
I bought the book solely upon my respect for Greene’s prior work, which I believe are among the most entertaining historical works out there.
I must agree, “The 50th Law” is surprisingly readable and interesting, and I appreciated Greene’s efforts to draw historical lessons from 50′s own role models and historical predecessors (e.g., James Baldwin) without diluting the message or pandering.
Although I think the book is a bit repetitive, the examples provided — including from 50′s life, whether romanticized/exaggerated or not — make up for it.
Thanks for the great review, Curzon. We have tweeted your post here: http://twitter.com/EmiratesLitFest/status/7483249815
Robert Greene will be in attendance at the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature in March (10 to 13th March – Intercontinental Dubai Festival City)!
What first piqued my interest in 50 Cent was hearing about the millions he made off of the sale of Smart Water because he took an equity stake. (all those celebrities that endorsed the product and he’s the one with an equity stake).
No doubt he has some great financial advisers, but even 30 years ago artist weren’t so branding themselves. In many ways 50 cent is standing on the shoulders of giants. Many, Many artists before him went down the road of poverty by relying too much on just the music and its popularity. The same could be said of athletes. Now you see guys like 50 cent and Labron James treating them selves as brands that must be nourished, while at the same time diversifying their income and wealth.
A lot of luck got 50 Cent to where he is, but he shows no signs of resting on luck to keep him there.
@M-Bone:
“we know lots about … even Scipio Africanus, but what do we really know about 50 Cent apart from the cartoon character version that he (or his creative talent) sell us.”
How do you figure this?
Scipio’s life is known to us from five sources — Polybius, Livy, Appian, Cassius Dio, and Velerius Maximus. All but Polybius wrote their works more than 150 years after Scipio’s life, and only Livy had much to say about the man at all. Polybius, who wrote his Histories some sixty or so years after the 2nd Punic War, wrote the foundation for most of the later works. Significantly, Polybius worked as a client for the Scipio family, making his descriptions of Scipio Africanus (and all subsequent histories that used him as a source) suspect. Indeed, one could say that all we have of his life is a caricature sold to us by his creative talent.
50 cent is not so unique in this regard, I do not think.
“Indeed, one could say that all we have of his life is a caricature sold to us by his creative talent.”
Fair enough (and I’ve read all of those sources that you mention so I know the score).
However, I’ll take 5 sources over 1 – 50s direct publicity machine.
I mean, if you look around for a bit of info about 50 that you don’t get straight from him or his promoters (yes, we can’t do that with Scipio) you start to see the cracks – wasn’t really shot 9 times (wasn’t even badly hurt), that’s a nice round number for a song though. Talking about doing “seven to nine” in his music – yeah, that’s seven MONTHS in a “bootcamp” for small fry.
50s amazing street business sense looks differently from the POV of court documents that Smoking Gun looked at – “According to court documents obtained by the Smoking Gun, 50′s accomplice in his drug-dealing ventures was a 16-year-old girl who kept the drugs hidden in her underwear and who made the deals (including the deal to an undercover cop which landed the future rapper in court), while our intrepid street tough looked on from the safety of a car.” He wasn’t a very good lookout.
50 cent the business genius? Yeah, his SUV was dropped by GM and he reportedly lost millions on GE stock. His TV show was canned by MTV. The studio that released his games is moving toward bankruptcy. All in 2009.
And then there is this story -
http://www.contactmusic.com/new/xmlfeed.nsf/story/another-50-cent-new-york-shootout
There are allegations that he FAKED a public shootout in advance of an album release to prove that he is still street. Great. Of course, if it was real, it is even worse.
And of course, 50′s financial genius also involves knocking up women and paying them millions -
http://blogs.bet.com/music/soundOff/suspicous-fire-burns-50-cent-owned-mansion/
He lost a pile of money on that house and now has the added bonus of a rumor that he tried to have a golddigger girl friend and his son with her killed.
Also, while I didn’t read all of Greene’s book (the part where slashing another guy’s face becomes a life lesson turned me off) I doubt that he mentions that 50 was in desperate financial trouble in 2007.
http://www.urbanmusic2000.com/wordpress/50-cent-was-bankrupt-before-the-vitamin-water-deal/
Part
So here’s the timeline -
2006 – Glowing Forbes feature on 50s business savvy
2007 – 50 escapes bankruptcy because he sold a stake in one key investment and some of his cars and stuff; Greene decides to follow around the Borgia for our age
2009 – 50 doing very well, deified by Greene
Now, I don’t have it in for 50. I’ve been following his career very closely since he first made it big because he is, for all of the reasons that Greene and Curzon mention, something notable in US popular culture. I think, however, that we should save our praise for 50 when/if he turns a rich and healthy 40. We are living in an age when a celebrity fortune of hundreds of millions can easily turn into so many memories.