Influence the Rapper on Audience - Essay Example

Cause and Effect: Rapper 50 Cent Curtis James Jackson III, more commonly known as 50 Cent, is an American rapper whose genres include hip hop and gangsta rap. 50 Cent was raised in questionable conditions, all of which clearly had an effect on who he became as an adult and musician, which in turn can have an effect on his fans. 50 Cent was born and raised in the South Jamaican neighborhood of Queens in New York City, having been born when his mother was only fifteen years old. He never knew his father. When he was only twelve, 50 Cent’s mother was murdered after someone had drugged her drink, causing her to pass out in an apartment that someone had turned on the gas in and closed the windows. It was when 50 Cent was sent to live with his grandmother that he claimed to start adjusting to the street life. When he was only twelve, 50 Cent began selling drugs and bringing guns with him on his school campus. Even after he was caught by the metal detectors at his school, he still continued doing what he did. When 50 Cent was sixteen years old, he was arrested for selling cocaine to an undercover police officer. After being released, he was arrested not too long after once police discover cocaine, heroine, and a gun in his household. Though he was given three to nine years in prison, he only served six months in a shock incarceration boot camp where he earned his GED. It was during that time that he adopted the name “50 Cent,” using it as a metaphor for “change,” which was 50 Cent’s goal for life. All that he had put himself through was due to the influences of his mother’s life and the goings-on in the neighborhood that he lived in. As 50 Cent got older, he began to experiment with music, discovering his talents of rapping. He continued this until his career officially took off after meeting the famous rapper Eminem. Unfortunately, the life he grew up with was one that he kept with him during his music career, often using his experiences and situations as the foundations for the majority of his songs. However, things did change for him after the birth of his son in 1997, when 50 Cent became determined to give his son the life that he was deprived of when he grew up. The way someone behaves in life or responds to situations usually goes hand-in-hand with how they were raised, or the situation in which they were raised, such as the environment of both the family and the neighborhood. 50 Cent, despite the birth of his son and his want to better his life because of his son, was still brought up in a way that would have an effect on who he was as he grew up. These are aspects of life that one never fully gets rid of. Just as his destructive lifestyle is the foundation for his music, 50 Cent’s foundation of life are those experiences that he went through during life. 50 Cent turned to music to express himself, and while it may have helped him to release some of his inner thoughts, it did not change the image of danger and wrongness that has always surrounded him. Growing up the way he did gave 50 Cent the tough demeanor that people have become familiar with. Furthermore, since rap music has never had a positive response from society, this demeanor has only increased with 50 Cent’s music. 50 Cent sings about the experiences that he is familiar with; early in his career, a lot of his music was vulgar, coupled with his ongoing criminal behavior that he was still holding on to during those years, including being involved in a shooting a few years back. Though it is unclear whether he was ever initiated into a street gang, 50 Cent’s behavior still suggests an ongoing violent, angry life. His rap music reflects all this, often being regarded as a bad influence to people that listen to his music. 50 Cent acts the way he does because of the way he grew up. Living so long in a life of drugs, violence, and crime, it became all that 50 Cent knew. He realized that he could get anything he wanted just as long as he had a means of doing so, regardless of what those means were and regardless of the consequences that would follow. This is why he continued to live that life long after he left his home in Queens. Though a doting father to his son, 50 Cent still acts like the young gangster that grew up in that tough neighborhood in Queens, and is still being cited and arrested for various crimes, most of which involve drug or gun possession, all of which he had grown up around while living in New York City. Nobody in his life ever thought to set him straight and try to turn him around. He carried all of this through to his music career. The cause of his real image is quite similar as the cause to himself as a total person. It all comes down to the experiences that he faced as he grew up. Unfortunately, by placing himself in the rap industry, instead of changing his image, he only increased it. Rappers have bad reputations to begin with, most of which grew up in similar lives as 50 Cent but never did anything to help themselves out of those situations. Instead of using music to take them to a better place or to overcome issues in their lives, they use it to simply describe these issues and situations, or otherwise to just be vulgar because it is what people expect of them or due to them not caring - all of which can be traced back to how they were raised. 50 Cent is no different. Like other rappers, he uses his life growing up and his continuing lifestyle as an excuse as to why he is the way he is, and why his music is what it is. He understands fully what his image is, and he is stuck on making sure that it never changes. The lack of a male role model in his life is perhaps the catalyst of who 50 Cent is, followed immediately by where 50 Cent was raised and the gruesome death of his young mother. All of these things played a role in the formation of the 50 Cent that society sees today. This is the person that is the result of a broken life with nobody standing by to help him move on to something better, something more promising. It is one thing to grow up in such a lifestyle, but it is another thing entirely when nothing is done to fix it. The future effect that his actions can have on himself include a continuing downward spiral of his life, which could involve imprisonment, the loss of custody with his son, or even death if he continues the life of drugs and violence. His son could be effected by this if something were to happen to his father, whether it is death or a change in the custody arrangement. The type of music that 50 Cent surrounds himself with is enough for a court to determine that 50 Cent is not a suitable parent for his son. Other family members and close friends could be effected by what could happen. It becomes a chain reaction - if something were to happen to 50 Cent, not only is 50 Cent caught in the gunfire, but so is everyone that has made themselves close to the rapper. Who 50 Cent is and what his music consists of greatly affects today’s real society. Even though 50 Cent is sharing his life story with the people that listen to his music, he is also opening up other people, especially children and teenagers - people that are still growing - to this horrible lifestyle. The influence of 50 Cent’s music and his own lifestyle can only provide downfalls for people that listen to his music. His fans feel that his music is condoned because it is viewed as a form of entertainment, thus making them believe that they can get away with acting in the ways that are suggested throughout the songs that deal with 50 Cent’s real life experiences. These fans become violent and turn to crime to get what they want, feeling that they can do what 50 Cent did. This puts society in a dangerous position, increasing the amount of crime and violence on the streets. The person that 50 Cent is, and therefore the music that he creates, is the result of the life that he lived when he was younger. His influences were negative, as was his environment, which made it difficult for him to become a positive influence himself. The music that he sings is based on his life, and is easily accessible by the public, who can, in turn, become influenced by the life and situations of 50 Cent. Read More