Fakeness tarnishes Hip Hop

Fakeness tarnishes Hip Hop

By Jineea Butler, NNPA Columnist

      WASHINGTON, D.C. (NNPA) — Curtis ’50 Cent’ Jackson recently filed for bankruptcy and testified in court that despite his flashy public persona, he is only worth $4.4 million. LOL. Not that there is anything wrong with that. The dilemma is the art of the illusion. So often we see Hip Hop personalities fabricate their status to appear bigger than life. Rocafella Records’ co-founder Dame Dash even admitted in an interview with Boyce Watkins, “We would always pretend that we had more than we had, so we would always make something look bigger.” And of course many of us have used the saying, “Fake it until you make it.”

Well, 50 Cent just blew the cover off of that never-ending Hip Hop fantasy. Whether he is lying under oath and hiding his money in offshore accounts to avoid paying the mother of Rapper Rick Ross’ daughter five million dollars for releasing a sex tape without permission or to dodge Sleek Audio, who won a $17.2 million-judgment alleging 50 stole some of their designs. The news exposes the art of what Hip Hop has become – an illusion.

According to multiple media outlets, 50 Cent testified he doesn’t own the expensive cars and jewelry we consistently see him sporting. He claims he rents, borrows and leases instead. Be-sides making him look like a fraud, the bankruptcy filing and court hearing qualify this as a Hip Hop Dilemma. The dis-tasteful physical, emotional and/or mental trauma people experience when coming in contact with the Hip Hop Culture.

It puts a bad taste in your mouth and emotionally traumatizes and confuses the culture yet again. Forbes magazine published in May of 2015 that Mr. Jackson was Number 4 on ‘The Forbes Five: Hip Hop’s Wealthiest Artist 2015 at $155 million. They also referenced that he was deservedly “still enjoying the fruits” of his epic $100 million Vitamin water deal that he banked in 2007. He deserves an Oscar for keeping up the $155 million dollar front or for fronting like he doesn’t have as much money as we perceived.

Nevertheless, how are people supposed to take us serious if everything we live by is fake? If the most visible around us are fronting, what does that say about the rest of us? We are already plagued with fake butts, fake hair, fake boobs, and fake jewelry. How can we advance our cause if the majority of the culture is misrepresenting itself and making terrible decisions on behalf of Hip Hop?

From Baby being implicated in a murder plot to kill Lil Wayne to Rick Ross assaulting his gardener to Puffy hitting his son’s football coach with a kettlebell, the Hip Hop lifestyle doesn’t seem so attractive. I assume that that was the objective in hiring all these artists to run a-muck and act a fool.

This however, may be a breakthrough for the community at large; the imaginary -i-mage that is portrayed and glorified in Hip Hop has been tarnished.

We have an opportunity to usher in the next school of Hip Hop that includes intellectuals, doctors, lawyers, activists, responsible artists, entrepreneurs and business executives.

The chorus to the hit song Legends Never Die from Kloke, featuring Sadat X and Rash, says it all – “Let’s Get Back to What We Call Hip Hop.”

It’s time to roll up our sleeves and change our thought patterns. It was creative mindsets that pioneered the Hip Hop phenomenon; now, we accept anything that is presented to us. We can’t afford to live above our means anymore. We have to stop competing against one another and start competing with the real world around us. We have to go back to the basics and prepare ourselves for the near future. We have lost ourselves trying to live in the moment and act like we have money to spend when, in fact, we don’t. A lot is lost in the illusion because a lot of time and effort is spent on perfecting it. So much so we start to believe our own hype. While we are busy buying $500 bottles, $1,000 belts, and $3,000 Jordans, the rest of the world is ironically laughing ‘Straight to the Bank.’ Mr. Jackson, to thy own self be true.