Though I've certainly given Rick Ross a hard time, I realized this afternoon that 50 Cent's generally d*ck-like, clear the strip, let's all be losers together mentality has caused me to become sympathetic to Rick Ross, despite the fact that Ross represents much of the rap nonsense of which I'm sick.
My assumption is that 50 Cent will continue until he can claim Rick Ross is ruined but whether or not that's possible remains to be seen. Sales of Deeper Than Rap will be one indicator but, with album sales dropping and no direct comparison to 50 Cent available, that may not be a clear sign.
The reality is, 50 Cent has a very lucky break with Dr. Dre and Eminem both building to potentially huge releases. He's able to get more work out of them, or at least out of Eminem, than he would have otherwise and he's also able to ride their coattails at a point where it's pretty clear that he has nothing new to offer musically, though that may work to his advantage with his current fanbase and sometimes results in great singles.
Whether or not the attacks on Rick Ross will help his sales is a question mark but part of what this over the top approach is about has to do with countering the effects of his total humiliation by Kanye West who beat him by simply being a bigger and better artist.
I'm not a huge fan of where Kanye's going but he was able to change his game while growing his fanbase and beat 50 Cent by not battling, i.e. he took away 50's weapons, battling and album sales, and left 50 Cent looking quite limp in comparison.
So attacking Ross is part of showing the kids on the schoolyard, the cons behind bars and the riff raff on the streets that he's still the biggest bully on the block. And, ultimately, being a total d*ck appears to be his own form of psychological Viagra.
Since his core fanbase digs that kind of nonsense this may work in his favor for awhile but, given the fact that he seems to alienate so many people on an ongoing basis, even in his own camp, it may work against him long term among hip hop fans who aren't so happy with his f*ckery.
It's too bad he's not ready to step up to another level of the game as he appeared poised to do with his Hollywood incursions. But I bet he's damaging himself in Hollywood, where folks realize he can't act and are watching him destroy the upward mobility of his brand. Of course, Hollywood doesn't tell you that, they just stop calling, so that's another angle to watch long term.
We'll see what happens with 50 and he'll be worth watching though the details may be disgustingly heinous. I've learned not to ever count 50 Cent out though I think if Dre and Em weren't in action, 50 Cent's weakening trajectory would be much more clearly in view, even as he plays hardball with Rick Ross.
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