A Brand New Hustle

My 50 Cents Worth

“That freedom to be myself, warts and all, has become incredibly valuable. One of the greatest tools at my disposal is my Instagram page, which has 25 million followers. Why do so many people mess with my page? Because it’s always popping off! They gravitate to it because it’s raw, unfiltered, and actually run by me. There’s no publicist overseeing my posts, telling me what to take down. Or a twenty-five-year-old social media manager sitting in a cubicle trying to think of how to make a promotional post sound like me. It’s a true reflection of me on each and every day. Very few of my peers can say that.”

— Curtis (50 Cent) Jackson

I have long admired rapper and entrepreneur Curtis (50 Cent) Jackson for his unapologetic raw nature and flair. In fact, I featured him in an October 2022 article entitled “The 50th Law,” an ode to the book he wrote in collaboration with the incomparable Robert Greene of “The 48 Laws of Power” fame. It’s a no holds barred read that overfloweth with uncommon wisdom about managing the uncertainties of life. 

And in his most recent book, a memoir entitled “Hustle Harder, Hustle Smarter,” 50 Cent shares with deep vulnerability and humbleness some rarely talked about lived experiences of his. So if you find yourself asleep at the wheel of life then this read, like smelling salts, will definitely awaken you to a new way of looking at life. 

Over the years though the biggest “ahas” I’ve received from trolling 50 Cent is the saucy insights he delivers on creating a compelling brand presence in today’s noisy media world. 

As New York Times bestselling author Sally Hogshead highlights in her book “Fascinate: How To Make Your Brand Impossible to Resist, to stand out and win in today’s crowded and competitive market, you must know and deploy what makes you DIFFERENT. 50 Cent seems to get this in spades, making him one of the most popular entrepreneurs and media personalities on the entire plant. 

So what is his secret sauce? Here are 5 that immediately come to mind

Controversy: 50 Cent has a penchant for stirring up a bunch of noise which often leads to a flood of media attention. Rest assured that while these antics are intentional and annoying, 50 is capitalizing off of the notion that “it’s not what they are saying about you, it’s that they are talking about you.” 

Unpredictability: During a 2016 bankruptcy proceeding, he was asked to explain to a judge Instagram photos of him posing with  stacks of cash and a house in Africa. As his lawyers at the time explained: “The cash depicted in the social media postings is not real. The postings, which amongst other things, make use of stage or prop money, are part of the Debtor’s routine social media marketing activities and relate directly to the Debtor’s various business interests. Prop money is routinely used in the entertainment industry, including in movies, television shows, videos and social media postings.” For 50 Cent, many are curiously drawn to his unpredictable nature and habit for attention grabbing antics. 

Fearlessness: 50 Cent loves to making bold moves in the entertainment world. Much of that is tied to his fearless nature and views on death. As he says in an excerpt from his book “The 50th Law.” — “When I nearly died it made me think — this can happen again at any second. I better hurry up and do what I want. I started to live like I never lived before. When the fear of death is gone, then nothing can bother you and nobody can stop you.” 

Self-Reliance: I would argue that 50’s creative brashness is largely a function of his belief that when you work for others, you’re at their beckoning call and mercy. In other words, they own you which can squash your creative spirit. As he notes in The 50th Law, “one’s ultimate power in life comes from being completely self-reliant, completely yourself.”

Movement: 50 believes that success is largely a function of being in motion —- pivoting, shifting, accelerating, retreating. He says in his book “move with the chaos that presents itself to you — from within it, you will find endless opportunities that elude most people. Do not let anything disrupt your flow.” 

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