Like most people, I've been watching the story of Sean Combs (a.k.a. P Diddy) unfold in real time. That guy sucks, but it isn't entirely surprising to me that one of the biggest rappers of my youth engaged in foul play.
I mean... weren't they all supposed to be gangsters?
Aren't gangsters supposed to kill people, do drugs, and abuse women? I don't understand why everyone is so surprised that they were holding sex parties. It seems really on brand for those guys.
Here's what surprised me the most though - 50 Cent hated all those guys. He hated P Diddy so much, that he created a documentary about it. Then he tried to sell it to Netflix.
OOOOH - BURN.....
That's crazy, right? Because I would have assumed that those guys would have been best friends.
So I looked into the life of 50 cent, and what I ended finding was a lesson on personal branding.
Who is 50 Cent, and how is his life different from other rappers?
50 Cent's real name is Curtis James Jackson III, and he was born in Queens. His mother, Sabrina, was a drug dealer. She raised him until he was 8 years old, and then she died in a fire.
Jackson started selling drugs when he was in elementary school. And when he was 12 years old, he started dealing narcotics. He routinely brought guns and drug money to school.
Eventually the police caught him, and Jackson was sentenced to jail time. He served 6 months in a bootcamp and earned his GED. After that he changed his name to 50 Cent. His new name represented the change he wanted for his life.
What happened after he got out of bootcamp?
After 50 Cent got out of bootcamp, he started working on his musical career. His future began to look promising after he wrote the song, "How to Rob."
But unfortunately, before he could record the single, he was shot 9 times at close range outside of his grandmothers house in Queens. He survived, and while he was in the hospital, he signed a contract with Columbia Records.
From then on, he's done nothing but hustle. Building his personal brand from the ground up. He's had several successful business ventures.
Here's the difference between 50 Cent and P Diddy.
50 Cent grew up in a home without a father, and a drug dealing mother. Diddy's mom worked as a teacher, and a part time model. His dad served in the US Air Force until he was killed.
Diddy went to church growing up, and he even served as an alter boy. He graduated from an all boys catholic school in 1987, and went to college for 2 years after that.
Graduating from Catholic school and going to college is a world away from getting your GED in jail.
And during his college years, Diddy was known for throwing parties with thousands of attendees. After college, he still continued to party. Partying and making music are really the only two things he's ever done.
You can tell there's a huge difference between these two.
Only one of them is an actual gangster. The other one just wants everyone to think that he's one. They're both frauds, but in very different ways.
50 Cent doesn't drink, do drugs, or pimp out women... but that doesn't stop him from singing about it.
I think 50 Cent was able to see what drugs and alcohol actually do to people, so he's stayed sober throughout his career. He's seen up close what drug and alcohol use does to people.
In his 2009 song, "Days went By" he sings about it...
"My Grandpa drunk, my uncle Rock drunk, my uncle Champ pump crack smoked my fuckin' stash up."
But if 50 hates drugs and alcohol, why does he sing about it?
Easy... he sings about doing drugs, drinking, and partying because he knows what is expected of a rapper.
He knows that his audience smokes, drinks, and parties... and he sings songs that he knows will appeal to them. He's not creating songs for himself, he's making music for college frat parties.
50 knows that every rap album needs a weed song, a club song, and a girl song. He even sings love songs on his albums. One of my favorite songs in college was "21 Questions."
Most rappers love to party, and they lie about being gangsters. 50 Cent is the exact opposite of that.
50 has a knack for knowing his audience
Why doesn't 50 make music anymore? Because he knows it will come across as inauthentic.
And he criticizes his peers, like Jay Z, who continue to make hip hop music well into their mid-life.
"I listened to Jay sh*t, that 4:44. [...] [It] was too smart. I felt like I was supposed to be wearing like glasses and shit and like a tie, a fucking sweater around my waist. It was like Ivy League. They don't wanna hear that shit. [...] They just wanna have a good time. You know what I'm saying? You can't be the best rapper at 47 because the new n****s is here. They coming with new [music] going on."
Now Jackson is the executive producer for dozens of shows across 10 different television networks.
How is he so successful? He knows his audience, what they're expecting, and how to give it to them.
50's view on personal branding - in his own words.
You have to be two different people...
"I'm two people. I've always had to be two people since I was a kid, to get by. To me that's not diversity, it's necessity."
In marketing, people try too hard to "be real." That's not the point. You don't have to be real, you just have to be believable.
50's albums were full of half-truths. He made music where he talked about being a gangster, and those were real. So real that they make you believe all the other songs, too.
That's the lesson here. Show your audience who you are, but don't forget to give them what they're expecting from you.