Yesterday afternoon I visited the Producer’s Guild conference which was held on the Fox Studio lot in Los Angeles. While waiting on line for an event featuring Jerry Bruckheimer I overheard that Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson would be appearing at the Fox commissary for an event. I decided to go.
When I got inside staffers were handing out index cards for questions. I didn’t have any questions about producing television shows, but I was genuinely curious what 50 Cent might have to say about the government spying scandal. In the past I’ve seen some of the tweets he sends out to his 8 million followers and it was clear that he considered himself a proud capitalist. So I wondered where his political views might land on the NSA scandals. I wrote down my question and turned it in.
Honestly, I figured my question would never get asked but but it turned out the moderator of the event was a former journalist. I guess she was curious too. I was fumbling with my iPhone as she read the question so I missed that part, but I did get 50 Cent’s answer:
Apart from the one question, I was genuinely surprised by 50 Cent. His rap persona–videos, album covers, etc.–is that of a hardened tough guy. No doubt that’s true but in person he was extremely friendly, funny, and self-effacing. He told a story about calling Samuel Jackson a crackhead some time ago because in rap that’s how you respond to people. He had obviously learned a lot since then.
One of the projects he is working on is called Dream School. Dream School is about helping teen dropouts get a second chance through education. It’s an idea that fits in with 50 Cent’s practical view of capitalism, i.e. if you don’t have a degree, you won’t have a job.
I’m not suggesting 50 Cent isn’t a tough guy only that there’s a lot more to him than his early rap image. It was easy to see why so many people want to be in business with him.