Curtis Jackson (aka, 50 Cent), one-time street hustler turned rapper and Robert Greene, author of The 48 Laws of Power, team up in this self-help book. This is mostly Greene’s book. He supplies the historical examples from Napoleon to Barack Obama. Greene supplies the quotes from Machiavelli and von Clausewitz to Malcolm X. Sprinkled into all the stories and quotations is 50 Cent’s take on Life. The 50th Law is “Fear Nothing.” After 50 Cent was shot nine times and survived, he launched his career on the premise of “No Fear.” My problem with this book revolves around the familiarity of the stories Greene tells and the banality of 50 Cent’s philosophy. I found nothing new here. GRADE: C
What’s your take on Greene’s previous three books?
I found all of Robert Greene’s books follow a similar formula: short historical stories to illustrate the point Greene is trying to make and then plenty of quotations to fill the books out. I’m not impressed. But his books seem to sell, Drongo.
I have to confess that I thought this was a joke at first. I work in a school where many students think of “fi-ty” as a role model, and I see nothing of value in his philosophy. How many times do you need to get shot before you say, “Hmmm, I must be doing something wrong here?”
Dismounting soapbox now!
I work with a similar student population, Deb. Right now, THE 50TH LAW is riding high on the Business Best Sellers List. So I figured I’d read the book, despite my reservations, and report back to my students. Many of them consider Fifty Cent a thug.
I apologize for getting a little hot under the collar about it, but seeing Fifty Cent being given a cloak of–what? respectability? wisdom? creedence?–by this book when he’s nothing but a thug who’s been able to parlay life as a criminal into a well-paying career annoys me. I see too many kids who seem to think that the way to go is to manage to get shot (nine times) without dying and then profit from it.
50 Cent’s message, FEAR NOTHING, is a slim reed to build a book around, Deb. I suspect he’s branching out into self-help books because his musical career is declining.
I am fascinated that you read this book. It’s a good idea though to see where your students are coming from. My dental hygientist today told me that every teen ager she knows is using grass if not something stronger. How did we get to this?
A good proportion of my students aspire to be rappers or to play in the NBA, Patti. Unrealistic goals is a problem we work on constantly. That, and to avoid making Bad Decisions. Their lives are rarely happy, hence the weed and pill usage.
I agree with everything Deb said.
I intensely dislike generalities, but sometimes, in the area of personal opinion at least, they are valid. Thus for me Rap=Crap. Rappers & hip-hoppers all go into one bag of nasty. These are bad role models for people who really, really need good role models. Guns, drugs, FtB and talentless “poetry” making millions (and thrice that for the music producers) and promoting a sub-culture of in-your-face, gun-flaunting, crime glorifying, do-what-the-F**k-I want, egocentric “lifestyle” goes against the grain and produces nothing positive in our society.
I wouldn’t buy or read this if they paid me. It should be an F, George, not a C.
Now I’ll get back to the Mozart symphony I was listening to.
THE 50TH LAW is simply a commercial venture, Rick. It’s 10% 50 Cent stories and the rest is Robert Greene’s patented mix of historical stories stitched together with quotations from Nietzsche and Miles Davis. And, it’s selling. Some readers might benefit from reading this, but I didn’t.
Sorry for the rant, George. Please delete it if you find it offensive, or off-track or out of line. If you do that, then take this out too.
I rarely edit or delete comments, Rick, even if I disagree with them. This is a Free Speech zone. Soap boxes welcomed.
Re: your comment to Patti, “Their lives are rarely happy, hence the weed and pill usage.”
I remember when young people found escape in books, the world, adventure and possibilities opened thereby. **sigh**
Since most young people don’t read but spend endless hours texting, or on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube their understanding of the world is very small, Rick. They have no sense of history and little understanding of how the world works. They just know how to play with the social networking toys.
I’m with Deb and Rick on this, without apology.
Strong opinions welcomed on this blog, too, Bob.