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Student Name
Prof. Peterson
ENGL 101
Due Date
This is a D paper. It's supposed to be a final draft, but it is clear that the author has not
proofread it. There is little attention to organization and so it feels unfocused. The author
refers to songs on the album, but isn't specific about which song is being discussed. Ideas
seem random, rather than supporting a point. The closest thing I can find to a thesis
would be the sentence, "The two media have many similarities and differences." This isn't
a thesis, but rather it's the topic of the paper. The paper is also more than a page too
short of the minimum assignment.
Get Rich or Die Tryin'
Curtis Jackson was born and raised in Jamaica Queens, New York. He grew living
with his grandparents after his mother died. At a very young age he turned to drug
dealing. After a mistake lands him in jail he turns to rapping, his stage name is 50 Cent.
In 2003 he released his album Get Rich Or Die Tryin’. In 2005 he released the movie also
titled, Get Rich Or Die Tryin’. The two media have many similarities and differences.
Curtis’ name is Marcus in the film. also in the movie it signifies that his mother was a
drug dealer trying to put food on the table for curtis, she finds her self getting raped and
killed when curtis was a young boy. Also he does not talk about his friend getting shot
and paralyzed in his songs, but in the movie it is a very important scene. These are just
two of the issues that play a role on the similarities and differences of Get Rich Or Die
Tryin’.
In the movie it is just weeks after his moms death that Curtis makes the choice to
sell drugs to make money so he can buy sneakers. The fact that a nine year old boy would
sell cocaine just to purchase some new Jordan shoes says that Curtis was already
struggling. The appearance of having new shoes and clothing made him feel masculine
because everyone that lived in the projects where he grew up knew that when you had
nice clothing you were crack dealer that had money, as said by Marcus, “Crack meant
money, money meant power.” This quote signifies that all Marcus wants is to have
money in power in the hood he grew up. He thought this image of a gangster he was
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portraying made him look like a powerful man. These two plot lines differ from the
album because he does
A similarity in the film and the album is the absence of love, although he has a
girlfriend for the majority of the film, he not once tells her that he loves her or even cares
for her. The drug dealers all had a set of rules they lived by, “Rule number five... Show
no love, love will get you killed.” In the one he states, “Man this hoe you could have her
when I'm done, I aint gonna keep her. Man bitches come and go, every nigga and pimp
they know.” These two examples show that from where he grew up he was raised to see
love as a weakness instead of a strength. Whereas outside the ghetto people are raised to
see that love is a strong bond that you share with the most important people in you life.
The Movie really shows the importance of not showing love, one of the last scenes in the
movie right before he goes to put on his first concert the drug dealer that showed him the
way tells him he loves him, and Marcus says again, “Rule number five... Show no love,
love will get you killed.”
Both the album and the movie portray a very masculine person. In the album there
is no mentioning of fear or intimidation, in the movie even when staring down the barrel
of a gun he was unnerved. “Its easy to see when you look at me. If you look closely, 50
dont back down.” This statement in his song is saying he is not scared of anyone and if
you want to try and mess with him he will not back down from anything. Whether is be a
fist fight or shooting columbian drug dealers that crossed onto his turf. When he is
leaving the hospital after his friend got shot his girlfriend confronts him about taking
revenge out on the columbians, he says, “I’d rather die like a man than live like a
coward.” This shows how he identifies himself as a masculine man for seeking revenge
to go shoot the columbians, he would rather be seen as tough rather than smart. The
movie communicates this message much better than the album does because in the movie
you see how he reacts to the situations he is put in whereas in the album he just states that
he wont back down from anything.
In the movie it symbolizes the fact that Marcus does not show or talk about his
emotions and feelings, but the album is his way of letting out his emotions and pain. His
girlfriend, Charlene, says to Marcus “Men hide their emotions, but you bury them.” this
shows that Marcus will not show his emotions because only women are emotional, not
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masculine men. In the movie after he was shot nine times, including once in the mouth,
he is recording a song and stops and says “My voice dont sound the same.” then
Charlene, his girlfriend, says “It’s better, its got more pain in it.” This part shows that he
lets his emotions out through his music and you can hear the pain in his voice. In one of
his songs he says “I gotta make it to heaven, I,m going through hell.” This is an example
of him letting his emotions out through his lyrics. After all the hell he has made it
through; jail, getting shot, mother being murdered, and friend getting paralyzed there is
no way he is not going to make it to heaven. A significant difference in the movie from
the album is his interpretation of god. When he meets the man he is making all the money
for, the boss, he says “Your like a god to me.” Marcus relates power to money, god is the
most powerful image in the eyes of many people outside the hood. He sees the guy that
everyone is working for and he sees him as a god that has control over the entire block.
The title of both his movie and album is Get Rich Or Die Tryin’ and that alone tells you a
lot about the identity of 50 cent. He is willing to risk everything, including his life, to
become wealthy.
The last scene of the movie he goes out on stage with a bullet proof vest on and
right before the song begins to play he rips it off and throws it into the crowd. This
signifies that he was changing his life, leaving the old him behind, and beginning a new
start to the new and improved 50 Cent. He wants to identify himself as a musician and
not a gangster anymore. I Personally liked the movie better because it does a better job of
capturing all the emotions and struggles he went through. Seeing the way he reacts to all
the situations provides a better sense of his identity. I feel the album left out a lot of
major parts to his life that let the listener know why he feels the way he does or why he
wont show love or emotions.