March 22, 2005 @ 3:36 am

DVD Review: The Infamous Times: The Original 50 Cent

by: Tanisha Blakely

It’s not uncommon for rappers to name themselves after legendary gangsters. At one point

It's not uncommon for rappers to name themselves after legendary gangsters. At one point in Nas' rap career, he called himself "Nas Escobar." Pablo Escobar was the world's richest and most brutal drug trafficker. Murder Inc's Irv Gotti, whose real name is Irving Domingo Lorenzo Jr., dropped his last name and replaced it with the same last name as an infamous Mafia boss, John Gotti. When you include rappers Scarface and Capone to the list, the consistent gangsta theme in hip hop isn't news. But after watching The Infamous Times: The Original 50 Cent DVD, you'll find it's worth investigating why Curtis Jackson (aka 50 Cent) took the road less traveled when choosing his gangsta moniker. On one hand you want to applaud 50 Cent for choosing the name of a black hood legend. In the film, 50 exudes a sense of pride for choosing someone who would have respected him as a man (a black man). But on the other hand, does it really matter that he chose a black gangsta over an Italian one? Yeah, the original 50 Cent might not have had some innate racial resentment towards blacks like the original Gotti might have, but chances are the black, Brooklyn-bred thug would still have called him a nigga, robbed, and possibly killed him. The story of the original 50 Cent isn't your typical "Why must the good die young?" tales. It's difficult to romanticize who the original 50 Cent was. The bottom line: Kelvin Darnell Martin was a killer and a thief who terrorized the streets of Brooklyn. The Bonnie to this Clyde, known as "Blackie," would often tell her friend Martin that one day someone would strap a bomb to him to kill him - since he had been shot so many times and never died. Like the rapper, you either loved Kelvin or hated him. You were either friend or foe. No gray areas. Though the video production of the DVD, hosted by journalist Bonz Malone, appears homemade and in need of some editing, the content of this documentary is vital to unraveling the truth behind the gangsta, the rapper, and the hip hop wars that rap consumers have been subjected to in the last decade. During Malone's journey to uncover the original 50 Cent, the parallel lives of the gangsta and the rapper aren't as unearthing as their discrepancies. This could lead the viewer to the question, 'Why would 50 Cent pick this man, of all men, to name himself after?' In the film, 50 admits that when he chose the name he knew that everyone wouldn't know who the original 50 Cent was. But he adds, "There's a class of Niggas" that would. 50 (the rapper) is from Queens and 50 (the gangsta) ran the streets of Brooklyn. For anyone who knows how territorial the criminal streets are, 50's name choice would make them wonder "why would a rapper select a name of a gangsta with a lot of enemies from a hood that he wasn't from? Even in rap, rappers want to rep their hoods, right?" Then there's the Murder Inc. connection, which was only highlighted briefly in the film. Rumor has it that the gunman who shot 50 Cent (the rapper) nine times with a nine-millimeter at close range in front of his grandmother's house in 2000, was a close associate of the original 50 Cent. This is the shooting that many believe was an ordered hit from someone at Murder Inc, according to the DVD. And there's more. The same man who's rumored to be involved in the murder of Curtis Jackson's mother over a drug debt is the same man who was indicted in January 2005 for laundering drug money through Murder Inc. (see article Authorities- Gotti, Murder Inc. Laundered $1M For Drug Lord). That man is Kenneth "Supreme" McGriff, an ill-famed drug kingpin whose '80s drug enterprise (Supreme Team) grossed more than $200,000 a day according to the PRNewswire. McGriff has been locked up since 2003, coincidently the same year 50 Cent became a rap household name. McGriff is also the same man, who's called out in Jadakiss' recent dis to 50 Cent, on the song "Animal." You can hear the name "Preme" in the background when Jada delivers the lines, "We gonna handle this like grown men/ you won't win. You don't even feel comfortable in your own skin. I rap my ass off/ I'm fighting a champ with the glass jaw at the Garden at Nassau/ See me/ a couple of hood niggaz behind stars/ I heard you put a couple of good niggaz behind bars/ (Preme!)/ I might never sell that much/ but you can bet ya last two quarters I'll never tell that muchÂ…" Why did 50 Cent pick the name, 50 Cent? With 50's ambiguous answers in the DVD, it's left a mystery. But what the The Infamous Times: The Original 50 Cent DVD does offer is the legendary gangster tale of the original 50 Cent and enough clues to learn the motivation behind the rapper 50 Cent.

Article tags: DVD, Review, Infamous, Times, Original, 50, Cent 

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