Marcus Greer was a quiet kid growing up in Queens facing many challenges including an absentee father and a drug dealing mother, whose life was tragically cut short. Leading the life of drug dealing and violent crime puts Marcus in peril himself and within moments from death. Today on Hip Hop Movie Club: Will Marcus in fact Get Rich or Die Tryin'?

Topics discussed:

• Marcus's upbringing and influences
• Marcus and Charlene
• Did we see enough about Marcus actually becoming a rapper?
• The dynamic between Marcus and Majestic and the real life basis for the characters
• How much of this is true to 50 Cent's life?
• Soundtrack and songs
• Bring this funky flick back or leave it in the vault?

Also check out:

The Steve Nash & Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson VitaminWater commercial

Credits

Hip Hop Movie Club is produced by your HHMCs JB, BooGie, and DynoWright. Theme music by BooGie. Follow @hiphopmovieclub on Instagram!

And remember:

Don't hate...articulate!

Mentioned in this episode:

Brain Freeze Trivia

Shout to Brain Freeze Trivia in the Lehigh Valley! Follow them @brain_freeze_trivia on Instagram

Marcus Green

was a quiet kid growing up in Queens.

2

Facing many challenges,

including an absentee father

3

and a drug dealing mother

whose life was tragically cut short.

4

Leading a life of drug dealing and violent

crime puts Marcus in peril himself.

5

And within moments from death.

6

Will Marcus in fact,

get rich or die tryin?

7

Welcome to Hip-Hop Movie Club.

8

This is a show for Gen-X hip hop fans

who want to relive the glory days

9

and reconsider classic and modern hip

hop films from a current day perspective.

10

Together, we'll explore some of the larger

societal issues raised in these films.

11

Whether you have or have not seen

Get Rich or Die Tryin’ before.

12

We'll help you decide if you should take

the time to watch it now.

13

Either way, you’ll be a smarter

hip hop fan by the end of this episode.

14

The next 30 minutes

or so, you'll get all this and more.

15

We're three old

16

heads who put their old heads together

to vibe on these films for you.

17

I'm DynoWright, podcaster, filmmaker,

18

long time

Hip-Hop fan, and I'm a fan of 50 Cent's

19

acting work in his VitaminWater commercial

with NBA legend Steve Nash.

20

I’m JB, eighties and nineties

nostalgia junkie, longtime hip hop fan

21

and I did in fact own a pair of parachute

pants back in the eighties.

22

Those pants had no less than ten zippers,

I swear.

23

That's amazing!

24

I’m BooGie, a deejay, longtime

hip hop fan.

25

And I saw Kurtis Blow and Sugarhill

Gang in concert over the summer.

26

In this episode we’ll answer the question:

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Should you die tryin to see this movie?

28

Get Rich or Die

29

“50 Cent” Jackson with some

with some autobiographical elements.

30

It tells the story of the hardscrabble

31

upbringing of Marcus Greer

navigating life marred by tragedy.

32

He deals drugs from a young age,

gets caught up in a life of violent crime,

33

navigates his love life

and the rap game despite major setbacks.

34

Let's get right into it.

35

Marcus Greer is the main protagonist here,

36

played by 50 Cent.

37

What was Marcus's upbringing like?

38

Such as who were the major influence

and influences in his life?

39

Boogie want to kick us off with that?

40

Yeah.

41

So in the beginning we see, you know,

Marcus had a tight bond with his mother,

42

but he didn't know who his father was.

43

Unfortunately, his mother was murdered

while he was young.

44

He ended up

staying with his grandparents, and

45

it seemed like every family members

that stayed with them.

46

His mother used to spoil him a lot.

47

You know while she would go out

and she sold drugs.

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But was she

You know, she always bought him

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the latest sneakers or,

you know, his fresh his fresh clothes.

50

But after he had to go

stay with his grandparents, he got tired

51

of being laughed at and decided

to sell drugs to buy them new sneakers.

52

Later on down the line when

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you to come into contact

with Mark Majestic, who was actually

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one of the local

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I guess you would call him, he's an

underboss because he wasn't the big boss.

56

As we find out later on.

57

But Majestic took Marcus in kind of

almost like a father figure, but

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introduced him to the

to the drug game on a different level,

59

but showed him the rules of how to hustle

and everything like that.

60

But as he as Marcus got older,

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he did kind of reconcile

with his grandparents.

62

His grandparents were still around

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to a certain extent.

64

And then he found his long lost friend in

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Charlene,

and they developed a love relationship.

66

Luckily, she probably was one of his.

67

The best thing that happened

to him in the movie, because

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if she wouldn't have, you know,

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kind of kept him going, who knows where

he would've spiraled out of control.

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But then there was a

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Levar Cahill, who was the main

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boss of the whole the whole circuit

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who actually took a liking to Marcus, but

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through Majestic’s

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sneakiness,

got him put away for a long time.

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But I think the major influence,

I would probably say,

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unfortunately Majestic,

was a major influence in his life.

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His grandparents was somewhat there

as he got to

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where they were when he was younger

and was somewhat there when he got older.

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Charlene was that was definitely

a strong influence as she developed.

81

You know,

they developed their relationship

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and she became pregnant

with Marcus's child.

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That kind of game gave him a little bit

more focus in life as well.

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But other than that, most most people,

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when they were trying to be be cliche:

get rich or die tryin’.

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Yeah, I think you covered it

87

really well.

88

Mother was dealing drugs

and he would see this firsthand.

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We see this in some of these movies

where as a young child,

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they're exposed to this life of crime and

they think that that's the only way out.

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And especially,

you know, having both parents,

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having both parents out of the picture,

unfortunately leaves him on his own.

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He was dealing drugs from the age of 12.

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It looks like something really young.

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And he was getting into fights because

he was very territorial, as we say.

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So it's just a

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hardscrabble upbringing.

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Anything else to add on that, DynoWright?

99

It's kind of we've seen this kind of story

before.

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Hardscrabble upbringing.

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He loves rap music.

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And so that's a dream

he has or the protagonist

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has so really wasn't as

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I didn't think it was

all of that interesting,

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like we've seen it so many times, but

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the angle of the mother

being the drug dealer

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and she was actually kind

of a strong influence,

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like a positive influence in his life.

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It's just had a weird job of

being a drug dealer that was kind of nice.

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There was like real love there,

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and it's just too bad

that she didn't live that long to see him.

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Like, get out of the out of the out

of the struggle there.

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The one line,

I think when she was telling him,

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she made sure that, you know,

promise me that you're

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going to treat girls, you’re

gonna treat him right.

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Yeah. You're going to do right by them.

Yeah.

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You know. Yeah.

118

To hear that come from the mother,

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no matter what

he does throughout his life,

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that's always going to sit

in the back of his head

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to a certain extent, you know, especially

coming from his mother.

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It’s a

perfect segue way of treating women.

123

Right.

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So let's talk about his love

interest, Charlene, that you referenced

125

before, BooGie.

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I'll I'll kind of give the background.

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Charlene was Marcus's really good

childhood friend.

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They spent a lot of time together.

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When he said, Can I go out and play,

you know, he would go over and

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go to her house and they would

they would play child games.

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She was really close with her.

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And in fact, he started rapping about her

133

and he had that song, Best Friend,

that he put on a cassette.

134

And it did have some suggestive lyrics

that he didn't really know

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what it all meant at the time.

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And her parents,

I think, you know, had heard it.

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She was sent off to move

and live with her step parents.

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So and as you mentioned, they reunite

several years later.

139

They're both grown up

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and he's living the thug life

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while he's trying to break

into the music industry.

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And, you know,

she was, I think, teaching dance classes

143

and trying to do her own thing

144

and then reconvene and reconnect and

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it was it was nice to see them reconnect.

146

And then she's trying to comprehend, like,

what do you do for a living?

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What you do is like, I'm a gangster.

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She said, what? I'm a rapper. I'm

a gangster...rapper.

149

That's kind of funny.

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Yeah, that was kind of funny piece. Yeah,

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I did like the character of Charlene.

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Yeah.

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She provides a nice moral counterweight

to his life of crime.

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Yeah.

155

I didn't appreciate.

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And this this is not uncommon, but

157

the girl

gets in trouble for the man's advances,

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and so she got sent away

because, like, a boy liked her.

159

I mean, that's.

160

I know it's just a story, but

161

yeah, there's this sort of there

there's a misogyny

162

that's kind of packaged in this story

somewhere and yeah, it's,

163

you know, it also serves the story

that she has to go away

164

and then they come back for this

nice reunion.

165

But yeah, that part was like,

166

I don't if this actually happened or not.

167

I mean, I don't, I don't know that of that

of we'll talk about this but yeah.

168

What parts are real

and fictitious as opposed to

169

in relation to 50 Cent's actual life.

170

Right.

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So when you say like you he

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he makes the song suggestively

173

and at some point you got to realize that,

you know, hey, this is our daughter.

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We told her right from. Wrong,

175

like.

176

You would want to have faith

in your parenting skills.

177

Yeah. Yeah.

178

I don't know but you got to go away.

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I was like huh?!

180

Yeah.

181

That she didn’t do anything wrong.

182

She did nothing.

183

She did nothing wrong.

184

I'm sure.

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Like, they've seen worse things

on the street or heard worse things with.

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Yeah. In the neighborhood.

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But, yeah, it was something that

you kind of have a conversation about.

188

Maybe come over to the house,

189

speak to the grandparents or whatever,

and say, teachable moment.

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Yeah, teachable moment, right?

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Yeah. Yeah.

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They sent away.

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So that.

194

Yeah, it was kind of interesting.

195

Instead,

you have a plot contrivance and. You go.

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With, like,

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it wasn't like,

you know, it was just Marcus

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or Charlene hanging out was like,

Marcus, Charlene.

199

Antoine was there.

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Like it was a couple other kids.

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You don't see as they get older.

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But Antoine was one of the kids.

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I think they were all hanging out.

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It was a group of she

just had to be the one girl in the group.

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Yeah, probably a tomboy.

206

Yeah, sure.

207

Yeah, yeah.

208

It was a great teachable moment.

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But I really enjoyed her performance.

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Joy Bryant was very good in this.

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Yeah, She's a gem.

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She's a gem.

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Everything I've seen her in, even if it's

a minor role, she's been really good.

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How did Marcus become a rap star?

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How does he develop his rap game?

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I know early on

he had bars since he was a child.

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He was writing and there was a scene

early on with his mother.

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She she heard him rapping at like 3 a.m.

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She's like, Marcus, it's 3am,

Oh i didn't realize that.

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And when he ultimately gets imprisoned,

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he takes it to a new level

because he has that time

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and that kind of kept him sane.

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But how do you

how do you both see his development

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into becoming a rap star?

225

So he was the one who said

it was one funny scene.

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It made me laugh.

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It was when

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after he decided to not stay

with the grandparents anymore

229

and he went and got the place by himself,

he said, and now,

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I got my own place

and I could focus on becoming a rapper.

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And he sits down, he starts

trying to get through the one line okay.

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And he starts over, starts

to get through the one line again.

233

He tries to get through the one line again

because it dang I should wrote that.

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Then I said, Well, I'm hungry.

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I guess it’s time to rob

and make this money.

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Like.

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Yeah,

he's like, I'm done with this rap thing.

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I'm going to go back to just selling drugs

full time. It was like the shortest rap

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career ever, it’s like an hour.

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Oh man.

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Other people that review

this movie have talked

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about how there's not enough

about his progression as a rapper

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and there's too much about the crime

stuff.

244

And I agree, you know, he turned

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he went from this life

to a rapper's, successful life.

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And you don't really see

all that much of it.

247

I mean, you see some of it.

You see pieces of it.

248

I wish I saw more of it

because that was interesting to me,

249

like we had seen in Hustle and Flow,

like we always saw

250

DJay work on his stuff, right?

251

You know? That's true.

252

It's another rags to riches story.

253

Yeah.

254

And so dramatic, in fact,

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that he was on the verge of death

when he got shot nine times.

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There's this duel with the Colombian gang

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and they're just always

shooting up each other. And.

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But in this case, it was a hit

that was out from Majestic’s

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crew that he was ambushed.

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But I think that the thing about the rap

game, which makes it so impressive,

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he was shot in the face and he had

a bullet in the tongue and he ends up

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having a slurred type of speech.

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And that is something

that's unique to his style and flow.

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And it

if you remember when he was rehabbing,

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he actually moved out to the Poconos

in real life.

266

And I think out in the mountains

and Charlene was helping him,

267

barely can walk and couldn't talk.

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And then when you can finally get

on the microphone, his speech is slurred.

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But as he got better

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from it, it was a unique style.

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So it's something uni-

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interesting where you like.

273

If someone didn't know the back story

and you hear 50 Cent’s style.

274

Yeah, he doesn't really enunciate.

275

You know, he's got an interesting flow

but now we kind of know the back story.

276

I think the one good thing too,

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when they show his progression,

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like you say, they hinted a little bit

to the progression.

279

Was Bama's character.

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Our man Terrence Howard Yeah, yeah.

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Howard You know, he was, he was in jail.

282

It was just, it was mere coincidence

that he just happened to be in the shower

283

at the same time when, you know,

there was an apparent hit on Marcus

284

and Bama was just there and said, okay,

I guess I might try to help this guy.

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I didn't even know him and intervene

And he started fighting off the guys

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and ended up getting a pretty severe

beatdown from the corrections officers.

287

And then they met him on the floor, hands

behind their back coats,

288

and they just introduced themselves like,

Hey, man, you saved my life.

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Yeah, well, you look like you might have

needed a little bit of saving.

290

But, you know, when

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Marcus gets put in looks like, looks

they put him in solitary confinement.

292

Because he’s in there, you don’t

see anybody else interacting with him,

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and he starts

294

kind of scratching, looks like he’s

scratching, might have been

295

scratching lyrics into the wall.

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And he's like,

you know, if I didn't express myself

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I might have, I might have you know,

took my own life in there.

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Yeah.

299

And you know, he's decided from that point

on that he was going to start

300

focusing on, you know, telling the truth

and not letting anybody

301

stand in his way of saying what was,

you know, what was the truth.

302

And Bama kind of started catching on to,

303

you know, to say, hey,

this guy's got something.

304

You know, let me see if I can try to keep

him focused by becoming his manager.

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And Bama got out.

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And when Marcus got out, you know,

they started, they went right to it.

307

You see clips of Bama,

308

you know, going to the into the clubs

with the record, like, hey, you know,

309

you might want to play this,

you know, put this or try to play this.

310

And you know, it was hustling

311

constantly

312

out of the trunk or out of the bag

on the streets, like,

313

you know, real boots to concrete.

314

And I was like, wow,

that was kind of dope.

315

But that's very similar to what we saw

316

in Hustle and Flow

while Yeah, DJay was locked up.

317

The correlation between the two

318

movies, coincidentally, you have DJay.

319

in Hustle and Flow, you know Bama is doing

the same thing in this movie.

320

So I was like, wow, look at that.

321

the funny line

when he said his name was Bama.

322

Did you catch that

when they’re laying down?

323

Are you from Alabama?

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Is that why you call him that?

325

It’s like naw, Carolina,

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why do you call Bama?

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I didn't want to be called Lina

328

like that.

329

Seems that seems so like out out there

that it has to be true.

330

Yeah. I wonder

if this is part of the true stuff.

331

So I don't know.

332

I mean, we'll get to what's true,

what's not, or what we've heard.

333

I don't even know

if the character of Bama is true or not.

334

I couldn't really find that or not.

335

It's like his manager to me.

336

Like we would have known

if that was a real thing.

337

Yeah, probably.

So that was probably fabricated.

338

Any of that was written for the story

or for the movie.

339

Probably. Yeah.

340

No, I was going to ask

341

next, what was the dynamic between

Majestic and Marcus?

342

I know Boogie already touched on that.

343

Of course in the beginning,

you know, Majestic was

344

Lavar’s right hand man kind of underling

345

to the big king kingpin Lavar.

346

And he and he mentored

347

Marcus a bit but then you know

348

he turns really heel because he's

349

greedy and wants to run the whole empire.

350

He was he was a bit of a snake.

351

I mean, even just the fact that, you know,

we find out down the road

352

that he was actually the one who

who who murdered Marcus’s mother,

353

you know, out of out of jealousy

354

but just the fact that he knew

the whole time,

355

knowing that who he was and what he did,

just trying to string Marcus along.

356

And I think the reason why he he was

so into Marcus is because Marcus has such

357

a strong work ethic where he and his crew

were really just about making money

358

upon making money making money,

and they were really good at it.

359

Had they been mediocre or even poorly,

360

poorly performing crew, I'm

pretty sure Majestic wouldn't have

361

would have had such a strong hold to them.

362

He knew

363

they were making him a lot of money,

so he was just trying to ride the wave,

364

you know, for lack of a better word.

365

Yeah.

366

Yeah,

367

yeah.

368

I guess this could take us

into the question

369

of how much of Marcus’s

story was true to life.

370

50 Cent's story in real life.

371

And let me just twist

that back with Majestic.

372

We were just talking about.

373

I don't know if you guys had looked it

up or read, but that's supposedly based on

374

Kenneth Supreme McGriff,

375

who was a New York drug

lord suspected of being

376

he was the one that suspected

to be involved with the murder of Jam

377

Master Jay’s shooting,

the shooting of Jam Master Jay.

378

In fact, I think it was

379

50 Cent had put some lyrics about McGriff

380

in some of his songs implicating him in

some some crimes and stuff like that.

381

So that's why there was that that beef

382

and also his

383

the the rapper that was under McGriff’s

384

crew or Majestic’s crew

who was called Dangerous

385

and that was actually supposed to be

Ja Rule

386

from what I read.

387

So he didn't look like him

or sound like him.

388

But you remember that comment in the movie

where he says

389

for 50 Cent or his character says,

390

I got shot up nine times

391

and he's got these number one hits

and it was Dangerous on the radio

392

that was really Ja Rule

393

because Ja Rule kept coming out with hit

after hit while he was laid up with his

394

with his injuries from the shooting.

395

So that was the parallel.

396

Yeah, Majestic Was, yeah.

397

But Majestic was McGriff

and Dangerous was actually Ja Rule.

398

So in terms of what is real

and what's fictitious in the movie,

399

I was joking earlier

I was like I kept wanting to call him

400

Curtis because his name's Curtis Jackson

in real life and here he’s Marcus.

401

So it's there was a

402

I found out that there was an interview

that 50 Cent did

403

with Conan O'Brien shortly

after the film came out,

404

and he said that the film was about 75%

accurate.

405

Yeah, I read that, too.

406

Yeah, about 25% was made up for the movie.

407

I did watch it on the DVD

and there had some behind

408

the scenes footage and interviews.

409

And the producer of the film was,

an Irishman named Jim Sheridan.

410

The director.

411

The director. Sorry, the director.

412

Yeah. He gave a lot of insight into it.

413

He mentioned Ja Rule by name,

414

and he also mentioned him

and 50 became really close in the filming.

415

50 Cent said that his mother

was actually killed

416

by somebody putting something in her drink

and then turning on the gas.

417

So it wasn't

that her body was burned at the stake.

418

You know.

419

But it was so nefarious nature

420

and also that he was shot in broad

daylight and was actually in the car,

421

whereas in the movie he was, I guess,

422

toward, near his car or taking something

out of the trunk Behind his car.

423

Behind his car.

424

And he was shooting back

and trying to shoot back.

425

But in real life,

he was just ambushed in the car.

426

But yes, it

427

was partially autobiographical stuff.

428

Yeah, this is interesting to see,

429

but you do get a sense overall,

if you know nothing about 50 Cent, you

430

go in the movie, you see all the trauma

that he goes through as a child and

431

yeah, I mean, he's no angel.

432

He's shooting up folks and dodging bullets

433

and he got tagged and tough row to hoe.

434

I thought this was a funny tidbit

I was reading

435

Roger Ebert's official review

and he said, you know about the title

436

Get Rich or Die Trying is a,

you know, quote, because Get Rich or Die

437

Trying offers a limited range of choices.

438

But we'll probably never see a film called

Get By and Don’t Die.

439

I thought that was funny.

440

(laughing) Was like,

441

Get Rich or Die Tryin is like,

it can't be anything in the middle.

442

Like, what if I don't really

443

obtain the riches and I don't

444

want to have to die

in pursuit of my wealth?

445

You know, It's like, okay, can I.

446

Yeah, can I just make a living

and be middle class?

447

You know.

448

And get moderately wealthy?

449

Yeah, somewhat rich. Right,

450

right right.

451

Life long life.

452

Yeah. But I mean,

453

yeah, if you're talking about folks

like us, you know, you have like

454

a corporate job or work in academia

or something like that,

455

it doesn't relate

456

It doesn't make.

457

It doesn't equate.

458

You can't compare because Marcus

and Curtis Jackson 50 Cent, you know,

459

they grew up in these circumstances

and that seemed like the only way out.

460

But it's it is an extreme one or the other

get rich or die trying, but it's like

461

a lot of folks in these

462

circumstances.

463

It's kind of like what he did

say, it’s like get by, don't die,

464

like just survive.

465

Ebert also says a more accurate title

might have been

466

I Got Rich, but just about everyone else

died trying, and so did I.

467

Almost. Yeah.

468

It kind of reminded me of,

469

was it Menace

II Society that we covered recently.

470

And there it was.

471

Charles S.

472

Dutton's character was saying,

Just survive, right?

473

Yeah.

474

Don't get caught up in this. And like,

475

you almost wish that

476

Marcus had a

477

guardian like that

that convey that message.

478

He did have grandparents

that were helpful, but like

479

a sage advice, something like that,

although it didn't really help out.

480

Yeah.

481

Protagonist Caine in in Menace II Society.

482

But still, it's that voice that you hear

when you're talking about

483

Get rich or die

trying. It's more or less he was saying,

484

just survive.

485

You know, as a young Black male,

you have a target on your back

486

and you have you're up against it

and you don't want to follow that path.

487

We have Majestic, you know,

showing everyone how to cook crack.

488

So it

this is going to get us out of the ghetto.

489

Yeah.

490

Okay.

491

I don't know about that, buddy.

492

I don't know about that.

493

Yeah, didn’t

exactly escape from the ghetto.

494

Again, that's a similarity

to, like, New Jack City.

495

If you throw back to that,

it's like this is the form of cocaine

496

that's out there on the street,

and everybody’s

497

got the powder,

and then all of a sudden it's like,

498

wow, this crack is like

it's like candy to everybody.

499

You know,

It's like, this is a game changer.

500

Yup. Easier to sell, more

501

attractive to the buyers.

502

You could spread out,

you could spread your

503

cocaine out.

504

And don’t have to give out all at once.

505

You could spread it out

and sell more of it.

506

Right.

507

So let's talk like we do in most episodes,

about the soundtrack.

508

Obviously, a lot of 50 cent on here.

509

When it rains, it pours.

I like that track.

510

I had heard that before,

but it reminded me how good that one was.

511

Hustler's Ambition, That's the song

that plays, I think, at the end.

512

Plays at the end.

513

Yeah Station.

514

Window shopper was in there.

515

Yeah,

516

So there's some songs that they played

actually in the movie,

517

like old school songs that that aren't

really credited on the soundtrack.

518

They're not on the soundtrack.

519

But remember when he was in the car

with his mom and they played

520

I Can't Live Without My Radio by L.L.

521

Cool J.

522

Um hmm I was loving hearing that

523

there was

524

another they they played a Beastie Boys

song or something earlier on.

525

Yeah. Did they play Fight For You?

526

Right. The party or something?

Yeah, one of the scenes.

527

Yeah. Yeah.

528

So there was.

529

One, one of the exterior scenes.

530

Yeah. Yeah.

531

So the mise en scene,

532

it puts you back in the eighties

when he's growing up

533

because I looked, he's around our age.

534

Yeah. Yeah.

535

So he was true

536

to form with, with those popular back

then and best friend.

537

Best friend

538

is actually a song that he produced

you guys have probably heard that one.

539

Yeah.

540

So he actually did

put that track out there.

541

I think the female is Olivia

that he performs it with.

542

Yeah.

543

Yeah.

544

So I was actually wondering to myself,

and maybe this wasn't the point of

545

the story is if you think about

because it's not totally autobiographical.

546

I was

547

waiting to see where the influence of,

like, Eminem and Dr.

548

Dre were influential in putting him more

so on the map.

549

They kind of discovered him

and brought him into Interscope Records.

550

And yeah, that was in there then.

551

I mean, In Da Club was this huge hit.

552

Those two, those things,

those aspects weren't covered in the film.

553

But again, it's probably because this was

554

yeah, totally the 50 cent story.

555

Not totally the 50 cent story.

556

And once you get to that point, it's

kind of not that interesting.

557

Like, Eminem and Dre helped them, right?

558

And they so a lot of movies do this

like they, they only take you so far.

559

And then it's true and then.

560

You kind of catch up to the rest of it.

561

I know we covered a movie that that happened then I think I want to say it was,

562

maybe it was Straight Outta Compton,

but was...

563

But something like that where they don't

really show you the entire progression.

564

And yeah, the interesting part

I thought that would have been

565

and I don't know how you would do this

in the movie, but Jam Master Jay

566

is very influential

in getting his career going

567

before he gets to Eminem and Dre.

568

And, you know, this connection

with Kenneth McGriff, you know, possibly

569

being the one that got Jay is

I feel like they be interesting.

570

But then again, not really 50

Cent’s story.

571

This is like

572

based on his based on his life

and not actually his life though, right?

573

Yeah.

574

I had the same kind of like

I wonder what they would have done

575

if they if they had mentioned Eminem

and stuff like that in the, in this film.

576

Yeah.

577

Yeah.

578

Maybe they save that for part two.

If there was going to be a part two.

579

They got rich.

580

Yeah, I'm still rich.

581

Yeah.

582

McGriff is still in serving a life

sentence.

583

There were other folks

584

that he was hired to murder, apparently.

585

So he was said to have

586

had a hand in Jam Master Jay’s death.

587

But I don't know if he.

588

That was an allegation still.

589

But there were other folks

that he was charged with murder.

590

And federal authorities did accuse him

591

in connection

with the attempted murder of 50 Cent.

592

So and then he did

593

have ties to Murder Inc, which was

594

the crew that Ja Rule had run with.

595

Majestic is based on his character.

596

Interesting stuff.

597

Learned a lot watching these films

598

which as I I enjoyed doing this

with you guys Right on.

599

Yeah. That’s what it's all about.

600

So there were a couple

601

couple familiar faces in this movie

602

from movies that we’ve reviewed

603

so our man Marc John Jefferies.

604

Yes. Who played a young Marcus

605

in this movie

606

also played Lil Cease in Notorious. Yes.

607

And he also played a young Dre

in Brown Sugar.

608

Yes, that's right.

609

I forgot about that. Yes.

610

I was like,

I know this kid from somewhere.

611

Yeah.

612

I didn't look

deep enough into his filmography, but yes.

613

Yeah, we have Omar Benson Miller,

614

who played Keryl in Marcus’s crew,

615

played Sol George in 8 Mile.

616

Yup. B-Rabbit’s boys. Yup.

617

Yeah.

618

I was like wow look at that.

619

And of course, you know,

we mentioned, you know, Terrence

620

Howard playing Bama

621

was our man DJay in Hustle and Flow.

622

What else did I come across? Yes.

623

Uncredited, an uncredited appearance

624

by Mykelti Williamson.

625

Oh right.

626

Who plays Charlene’s

stepfather was Uncle George in ATL.

627

Yes, that's right.

628

Well, his most famous role would be Bubba

from Forrest Gump.

629

Yes, of course. Yes.

630

I think, who else did I catch?

631

We've done one or two Bill

Duke movies before. yes.

632

Bill Duke. Yeah. Levar. Yeah.

633

Yes, yes, yes.

634

Bill, He was the cop in Menace

635

II Society.

636

That actually had Caine

in the interrogation room.

637

Oh that's right.

638

You know you messed up, right?

639

Yeah, that's

640

right. Yes.

641

He's so good.

642

I use that one all the time.

643

Let’s see.

644

We got Leon.

645

Oh yeah, Leon.

646

Yeah, trying to think.

647

Leon was in, what was Leon in that

we - Above the Rim for sure.

648

Yeah. Above the Rim. Yes. Yeah.

649

He was a baller.

650

Yeah. Yes.

651

Corduroy pants.

652

That’s right. Corduroy pants.

653

Looked like a fisherman,

looked like the Gorton's fisherman.

654

Longshore fisherman draining threes

655

coming off the bench.

656

Instant offense.

657

Yes, yes, yes, I forgot.

658

How could I forget about that one?

But that was a good cast.

659

A lot of familiar faces,

you had the great Viola Davis.

660

Yes, that's right.

661

Well, actually played Violet Greer.

662

Yeah. Yeah.

663

I mean, they didn't say her name, but.

664

Violet Greer.

665

Grandma, you know, and

666

my man Sullivan Walker played Grandpa,

667

who played one of my favorite Huxtable

668

Cosby Show characters.

669

I forgot his name.

670

He was a doctor.

671

I worked with Cliff Huxtable.

672

He would come over play petanque

673

in the backyard with him.

674

I was like I remember him!

675

You know Joy Bryant’s always a star.

676

I mean, whatever’s she’s in.

677

Majestic, Adewale

678

Akinnouye-Agbaje, he's good too,

I've seen him in a bunch of things.

679

He’s very good.

680

A great actor Yeah and I like

681

the way he's able to turn his accent on

and all these different roles is amazing

682

because he didn't even have one

in this movie.

683

It’s like wow. Yep.

684

Yeah.

685

He's he's good. He's really good.

686

That was it was

it was a good cast, everybody.

687

I mean,

688

you know, I don't think there's

689

a cinematic masterpiece,

but it was very entertaining to watch.

690

And I think everyone who performed

691

a pretty good job.

692

Yeah.

693

Directed by Jim Sheridan, who also did

694

like Daniel Day-Lewis movies

like My Left Foot,

695

In the Name of the Father,

like big deal movies.

696

And he's got a 50 Cent movie.

697

Yeah. And he

698

I was reading that

699

they originally hired an acting coach

for 50 Cent because he had never acted.

700

And then

701

they said, you know,

we don't need you anymore.

702

I think he's good.

703

He's got that charisma and

704

Jim Sheridan said,

705

If you don't look good in this,

this is my fault.

706

I didn't direct you well enough.

707

He just took it

708

unto himself

to make sure it was successful.

709

They did the same.

710

I think they should have kept

their acting coach.

711

I mean, he's okay.

712

Yeah, okay. Yeah, he's.

713

But there was some scenes where I thought,

ah, he

714

it just didn't work.

715

And I think that some of my criticisms of

the movie is like

716

when you see Terrence Howard,

like just chew up scenes

717

and he doesn't really show up

until the end, like he's in the beginning,

718

but then he doesn't really show up

until near the end. It's like,

719

this is what

720

skilled, you know, experienced actors

could do.

721

And I even read that.

722

Sam Jackson, Samuel L Jackson,

723

they asked him to be in this movie

and he wouldn't do it because he was

724

afraid of being in a film with someone

who was inexperienced like that.

725

Then they were in a movie later on, but.

726

There were also protests about this film,

I think

727

because they some people thought

it glorified the violent crime.

728

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

729

I don’t think it glorified it at all.

730

Yeah. I don't think it did. Yeah.

731

That was probably unjustified

but there were protests nonetheless.

732

Yeah. People just get,

733

let's say up in arms about it, but.

734

Yeah, I mean that movies have a rating

for a reason, right?

735

And rated R for violence.

736

You understand what you're getting into.

737

And it was pretty violent.

738

Definitely violent. So.

739

So one thing about the

movie that I wasn’t, was it

740

one, I won’t say I didn't like it,

741

but I think it moved a little too quickly.

742

Was the end,

743

I think. Yeah.

744

The way the movie ended was it just,

I think, kind of

745

rushed through a little bit. Yeah.

So you see this?

746

I would agree.

747

Where they were at Pelham Hall,

748

you know, ready to perform

and Majestic walks

749

in, wants to talk with him

like the whole, they tussle

750

and you know Marcus gets the upper hand

751

and as he's walking out he runs behind

752

him and Bama shoots him

and I was like wow, that's it?

753

Yeah. Yeah.

754

And he walks out on stage,

755

and just takes off his bulletproof

vest, like, All right.

756

Like, I don't know if I don't know

757

if I believe that would happen like that,

you know.

758

You know, because alright

look at Majestic, he wasn't by himself,

759

you know?

760

And so he walks in with all of these

with his entourage.

761

He gets shot and that’s it like nobody.

762

Yeah. Nothing.

763

No like.

764

Not even a.

765

Peep No knock down, drag out.

766

Not even an.

767

Entire battle royale.

768

Yeah.

769

Yeah. No, no, no.

770

Nobody thought of the punch or nothing.

771

Everyone

just kind of stood around and watched.

772

Or was it

that Majestic was that bad of a boss

773

that people just didn't care about him?

774

They were like, Yeah,

You know what, he deserved it.

775

They turned on him.

776

Yeah.

777

Yeah.

778

Got what was coming to him like.

779

What do you mean “we”?

780

We saw what he did to Odell.

781

Yeah. Yeah.

782

Right. Yeah. Yeah.

783

He could come turn on us too. Yeah,

it was Yeah.

784

That was, you know, one of the criticisms

I read about this movie.

785

It does seem uneven.

786

Like sometimes it goes too slow

and sometimes it goes too fast.

787

And so, yeah,

788

could I could see that I kind of agree.

789

It's sort of

just fast forwards to the end.

790

Now he's a performer.

791

Yeah. He's out onstage like he's,

792

you know, he almost got killed.

793

And now you’re performing.

794

Just like.

795

Clean up on aisle five on that.

796

Remove this please.

797

Really just killed The biggest guy

in the neighborhood.

798

Yeah.

799

What's going to happen now?

800

You're going to, like, that's

definitely not the time to be walking out

801

without a vest on because you don't know

what's going to happen.

802

Okay?

803

You know, you

804

interesting choices.

805

Yeah, but other than that.

806

Other than that, I was like,

okay, some of the other stuff, regardless

807

of how it went down

808

that I kind of could believe it either way

like Yeah, I guess that Could kind of.

809

happen. Yeah, I guess. that could happen.

810

When I saw that part, I was like,

I don’t know.

811

Yeah. I don't know about that. That

812

I had a similar

813

criticism, if you recall, Menace

II Society’s ending.

814

So much happened

in the last like 10 minutes.

815

It was like they were tying up loose ends.

816

It's like that this fight scene

and this retaliation and that

817

you know everything comes to a head

like so quickly after.

818

It's like it's sometimes

819

they try to fit scenes to the script

820

and it's a little uneven, like you said.

821

Overall I definitely.

822

I'll say this, I refused when I was,

when this movie came out.

823

I refused to watch it.

824

I was yeah, yeah.

825

I have no desire to watch it

826

because at the time he was trolling

everybody and I was like,

827

Yeah, I’m good.

828

I don't need to hear about you

getting shot,

829

but I don't even see it on film

either. Yeah.

830

But after watching this,

831

I would definitely say that I probably

should have watched it when it came out

832

and I definitely enjoyed it

more than I thought I would

833

and I probably will watch it again.

834

Yeah, so we go do our ratings then.

835

So you would say

bring that funky flick back

836

or leave it in the vault?

837

Yeah.

838

Bring that funky flick back,

because I definitely

839

there was aspects of it

that I definitely found entertaining

840

and like this kind of

I like these kind of movies

841

for some odd reason, even though

I have no desire to join that lifestyle

842

or be out there like that,

I just like watching them.

843

I don't know why.

844

But easier to watch them

than actually be in them.

845

Yeah.

846

How about you, DynoWright?

847

Bring that funky flick back

or leave it in the vault?

848

This was a tough one.

849

You know, I'm right on the edge.

850

And as. As flawed.

851

And as much as I thought the story wasn't

all that compelling,

852

I'm going to bring this funky flick back

because the performances are really good.

853

Even 50 Cent in

some spots was was really good.

854

I mean, he really did cry in the one scene

and you know that's that's good acting,

855

cry on demand.

856

They're cutting onions.

857

Yes. I will also bring

that funky flick back

858

just because it is

859

the origin story of 50 Cent

you know a rags to riches story.

860

And even though it's not 100%

autobiographical, it is his.

861

It is really his story

and his acting debut.

862

Yeah, not without his flaws,

but bring it back.

863

It's something that

864

true hip hop heads should see.

865

The 50 cent movie is 75% accurate.

866

That's right.

867

Hip hop movie club is produced by your

868

HH emcees, JB, BooGie and DynoWright.

869

Theme music by Boogie.

870

Check us out on Facebook

871

and Instagram @HipHopMovieClub.

872

Shout out to you listeners.

873

Thanks for tuning in.

874

And remember, don't hate articulate.

875

Articulate,

876

don't slow your speech

unless you have a bullet in your tongue.

877

Bullet fragments in the tongue.

878

You don't have fragments in your tongue?

879

No slurring. Yeah.

880

Don’t mumblecore this!

881

This,

882

you know, 50 Cent’s

883

name is actually from a gangster.

884

Yeah. Right. Named Kelvin Martin.

885

I didn't know that until I did

some additional research on this one.

886

Same. Yeah, I like the.

887

I like the idea.

It's a metaphor for change.

888

Yeah, that's not bad.