Barack & Curtis: Manhood, Power & Respect

[iamsuccessnet]

The most profound statement to me in this documentary was "Every man has some 50cent in them and some Barack Obama".

[tubesteakZ]

I think the premis is flawed. Why should we assume that Barak and 50 cents are members of a race that is homogenous and idealogically similar. Are Bill Gates and Eminem on similar ground? Class, poverty, environmental influences and many other factors shape our views and character.

Perhaps if we lived in a society that truly cared about education, justice and its

people we would not witness such backwardness as we see in gangster rappers.

[plebegravy]

"Careful when fighting the monsters, lest you become one." -Freidrich Nietzsche

[TheRealSuperSlayer]

Some of y'all are straight-up retarded. White people who are racist don't see white in Barack. They see black and that's all they see. To say that Barack made it to the Presidency because he's half white is fucking stupid. If anything, it made it harder for him since racist people don't like their blood getting mixed. Barack won because he can talk the talk. Let's see if he walks his walk.

[wpscz]

Obama has an image and 50 has another image.. true... where is the image of the honest black average man? must we all be rich and powerful?

[FtLaudtoDC]

Well done.

[pancraselondon]

Good video

[damonayoung]

thank you for this, Byron. This has been on my mind for quite some time.

[brick4sale]

I think what they are trying compare and contrast is that to be sensitive and highly educated is deemed in some sense weaker than being a rich thug. Which is essentially, what these mainstream rappers call themselves these days. In the US, there is an element of anti-intellectualism and I think that is more apparent within the black community.

[mwiecha]

Not sure I agree with your conclusions (or understand how the statement about white patriarchy came about) but I did enjoy your doc. Thanks.

[Logic1914]

Sounds to me live it is all about STREET cred vs. POLITICAL cred.

Speaking for myself, I will take POLITICAL cred over STREET cred any day. At least with POLITICAL cred you can effect change and have a powerfully positive influence over people and society. Just one brother's opinion.

[JustinG1988]

LOL, and this was added on my birthday

[JustinG1988]

So 50 and many other black ppl took there own path instead of harvard. I also walk in baggy jeans and its like a black guy in a hugo boss suit to many other ppl. But i don't care cuz i always have been the underdog(just like black ppl) and thats why i support the black community. check my vid: WORLD HOLD ON

[JustinG1988]

nice vid, i admire the black community 4 fighting 4 there right, image & respect. I'm a 50 fan since i was 14 back in 2003. cuz i thought it was tough the way he acted. but through the years i realized it was a mather of doing nothing or fight for your spot. And black ppl always had to fight harder then white ppl to achief the same.

[flysi]

What does that have to do with anything? I'm sure you could quite possibly be Cheney's 12th cousin, if you go back far enough -- what point are you trying to make?

[getawitness]

The difference between Barack and 50cent is the content of their character. When people look at Barack Obama they see a man they admire, trust, and respect. When people look at 50cent they see a man they envy, suspect, and fear. That's based on character, not color, so Martin Luther King's dream has arrived. Question is... which kind of man do you want to be?

[514Archives]

Interesting video. 50 cent is not to blame. He didn't have a Role model like Obama growing up. Kids will now have a real role model with good values. YES WE CAN!!!

[xnocturnalx1983]

This video is so full of shxt. If i were black this garbage would offend me. Barack is an empty suit. 50 cent is an entertainer. And they are both damn good at what they do and only in this wonderful country would they get the opportunity to make their living. Most of what i hear in this video is telling black men that they are scum and they need to be like the Obamanation.

[360FlipChip]

that's dumb that they start off by saying black people are determined how manly they are by whether or not they've gone to prison.

[pigsysteve]

man if barack wasn't mixed race

its cause he half white he got chance to be president

if barack had no white in him there would never be a black president

if there was an asian president i bet he or she have white in them

[Redridge07]

Nearly all Blacks in American have a white mix.

[ContraEnzo]

pigsysteve I dunno about the Asian thing, that can only happen in the future, after Barack has now "opened the door", and who knows if it ever will here. ...but I *am* skeptical that Obama would have won if he wasn't "half White", like you say. It's hilarious how some sources kept asking the question about the "N-Word at Palin Rally": "Is America Still Racist!?" ..uh...yeah, this is still the 21st century last time I checked. People are stupid.

[BronzeTrinity]

I hope my brothas stop trying to be like 50cent and start trying to be like Barack. Then we will all be better off. You will be educated, powerful, and rich without being scary, violent, or criminal. You can have a loving family instead of children without a father and baby mamas. I hope Barack really changes our mentality and what we strive for.

[ContraEnzo]

I do too, Bronze. This pretending we are "Klingons" crap has gone on long enough. We don't have a mental limitation that keeps us from doing anything White people can do...they just feel free to do so, while our communities tell the kids "you can only do what's 'Black'". Calling each other niggers for example; we didn't make up that word...so how can we "take it back"? Playing rock n roll music, we made that genre, but we can't play it because our majority doesn't: "it's not Black"...enough.

[JUDGEMENTFILM]

Why are there not more docs like this. An important film - keep up the great work Byron.

[mlesesne]

50 Cent is someone I admire for his savvy and business sense. Don't get it flipped. 50 cent is a persona, an image. At the end of the day, he's portraying a caricature of what American's find entertaining: hypermasculine amd violent men.

Obama could possibly have the same personality as 50, but channel it differently.

Don't underestimate the power of will.

1

[GregWatermann]

Beautiful.

[agray10]

on point

[Hakf]

Excellent video.

[kaxindele]

black Power & Respect

[SPRINGS02]

wow this is pathetic 50 cent is in no way a black leader being rich doesn't make you a leader if thats the case bill gates would be president and taytayshan ur an idiot to think obama has it easier than 50 all 50 does is appeal to the ignorant masses with wack ass music and get paid for it lol

[IamNeutral]

People still don't get it.

Barack is NOT Black! He's Biracial

[IamNeutral]

People still don't get it. Barack is NOT Black!

[tupacsoulja]

all you fifty cent haterz i just want u know u cant change my opinion bout fif kkuz whatever fif did comin up, he did kuz he wanted to make a better life for himself im not sayin he better den obama or nothing im just sayin for someone to come up offa nun is nun short of bein a miracle how ever u lok at it

[deemybug]

I think the statement at the end kinda steered off the message this movie was trying to get at... End white patriarchy? That was a small aspect of highlighting the mechanism in which 50 can be a successful black man. I felt it ruined the overall message

[robbiewoody]

"Challenge white patriarchy" - A statement like this at the end of this documentary summed it up for me. Why make this statement when racism is being discouraged in the documentary. What is so dramatically different about black patriarchy, both are seeking a greater way of life for the average man. There is not enough black patriarchy in America - as a white man I thoroughly agree statement, but comments like this only encourage hate between the two. Lets make racism a thing of the past.

[freddyjaye]

Great Video!

[Anathology2]

Great Documentary.

[HipHop101Tv]

this is stupid

[hustlaus]

I believe that Tupac is the "The Ultimate Thug". 50 cent is rich but that doesn't mean that he is a great leader. Besides his financial stature, I don't really see anything else he has done to really push the envelope as far as representing young black males. I'm not hating on 50 but I believe that people place him on a pedestal that he shouldn't be on. I think that Pac was a better comparison even though he was murdered.

[Zakitotk]

asda

[Codieparker]

wut there tryin to say is theere both powerful

[c197373]

Lol. They are talking about 50 like he is Pac.

[XxsithlordxX]

They should've compared Barack to Jay-Z, not 50 Cent. Whoever put this together is clearly white because they are trying to make Barack seem like a political thug which is demeaning.

[defy2k5]

am a big 50 fan but i understand this and why they are beign compared because they are two great black leaders

[BRAZEN08]

What?

[taytayshan]

First to all you haters 50 Cents Accomplishments should speak for them self

Barack has it way easier in his profession then 50. 50 cents image alone is an obstacle and even with the image he still has accomplished more in 5 years the jay-z did in 10 plz understand you can hate but you must respact

[IamNeutral]

taytashan

And your point is

[SPRINGS02]

wow this is pathetic 50 cent is in know way a black leader being rich doesn't make you a leader because if thats the case bill gates would be president taytayshan ur an idiot to think that Obama has it easier than 50 all 50 does is exploit hip hop and make money off of the ignorant masses who don't listen to real hip hop

[Werdzwurth]

What exactly did 50 do? Most people still wouldn't know who he is if he had never signed & been associated with Eminem. Do you know he can't even walk around his own old neighborhood? His image is pushed so that young, manipulative, minds think that's the key to making it big. You got to see nobody is hatin' because he got money, people are hatin' the fact that you have to act like a thug and hooligan 2 get that much success. Jay-Z isn't nearly as negative so why does he not make as much?

[BlkSeaGoat]

When did gutter gangsta culture become a synonym for black culture? 50 CENT IS A BRAND... he is not even a real person. He is paid to pander to a demographic and paid to project a character that sells that demographic.

Terrence Dean? Essence Magazine? White men who believe that just because they study blacks as some sort of research project, that they are qaulified to make statement of what being black means?

I'm done.

[sceetbone]

You need to be done "BlkSeaGoat", because you're clueless. Most blacks who don't take the time to learn the history of their own culture assume they know better than black sociologists who study it, prime example Lil Wayne voicing his views on Al Sharpton. You are no better than Lil Wayne when you condemn an obviously cultured and educated white man for objectively speaking on a topic. BlkSeaGoat should be muzzled so his ignorance can be supervised.

[nolimitboutitboutit]

50 cent need to be onn oprah and all yall know that he need to onn oprah

[flixbiz]

Perhaps with Obama's visibility, inner city youth are able to see an alternate form of Black masculinity in action that contrasts with the traditional images of Black masculinity seen in media. As a result, perhaps, in the eyes of young Black men and women in urban communities, there may be less of this prevailing "sell out" stigma attached to an articulate Black man in a suit who is achieving mainstream success.

[thefacultyof]

wicked messages.

check the video response i posted above. extremely well related to the messages in this video.

[thequarterback]

Thank you for this.

[DvidFilms]

please do not compare 50 cent to a man like Barack...please.

[zrwasama]

thanks

[DvidFilms]

first thing that caught my attention....50 should not even be compared or spoken in the same breath to a man like Barack. What the hell is wrong....I get the point but damn people.

[emceesince86]

very powerful!

[brotherjon1]

Excellent!!! Well done.

[jedwardsb]

interesting contrast. one of the reasons im so happy about barack's ascendancy is b/c we no longer just have that mainstream, ignorant, gangster image that 50 and his ilk represent. no matter how much money he's made, how many contracts he's signed, no matter how much of a consummate businessman he is, he's still made money off of ignorance, portraying a minstrel'ish idea of what manhood is.

[trigger08]

Interesting!

[bje717i]

first check out hotforwords youtube channel

[farai6]

g-g-g-g-g-unit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­!!!

[kasaar]

Fantastic.  Intelligent and dead on. Great work!

[marcdaddy33]

Interesting commentary by Ras Baraka. Enjoyed that the most.

[gooodkush]

is this mothafuckas tryin to make barack look bad?? also 50?? i mean why is it gotta be SO RACIAL AS HELL?? everybody go through same shyt if they poor. these are kind of people that make obama look bad and make him lose cause they were too racial making white people hate on him more. hood? what does that have to do with eleciton? obama ignore these stupid racist motherfuckers and go do your thing just focus on inteligent non-hood non-ghetto stuff these stupid ass critics

[kgmcfck]

lol

[ReelLife]

dope video!

[jhw16]

That was very interestingI can see how they came up with thisThey hit the nail on the headNot everybody can get on the level of understanding something so intellectual its sadReading is fundamentalRead a book!

[bksposterchild1]

GREAT VIDEO

[diceberg1975]

It's good to shed light on both sides of the spectrum. Blackmen Should see that we to can be seen as intellegent and powerful without showing force.

[Odinak]

Yo, I loved Beyond Beats & Rhymes but I still don't quite understand why 50 and Barack are being compared when there are soo many other representations of black manhood out there that could be compared. Seems kinda random. This is very interesting though and I enjoyed watching the raw footage.

[tiankr]

13,000 views and 0 comments?

[ZmoneyENT]

Dam that was cool. Made allot of sense learned allot from it =)

[thatrapblog]

OBAMA 08!

[Blac13]

Whats the reason for this comparison, the two contrast each other like night and day. I thought the film was well put together, but I walk away from it asking myself what was the purpose of this film.

To compare a Presidental nominee to a rapper, is apples to oranges. The difference is obvious if your not ignorant or just a bigot. Ethnicity is what they have in common, thats it.

[EarlJonesJrMinistry]

Very good production.

[yungtyrant]

no one ??? ... this video is REAL.. the hell w wut u niggas think "real" is... this is REAL shit.

[Luigi504]

this is a GR8 interview, it shows how important 50 is as a rapper to other ppl as a role model type person. 50's my role model. He's like the epitomy of what alot of rappers are tryin to reach and ppl in general.

[Teflonblack]

Very good video and I respect the fact that though 50 is who he is, and I don't particularly subscribe to his image, it didn't totally codemn a person like a 50 cent. I think that maybe in the future, people will start to understand that African men are multi-faceted and layered and we too are can be polar opposites with regard to attitude, character and the ways we express our manhood. Peace to the Newark Native Ras Baraka!

[johnny718bravo]

Excellent video. Thank you for posting this.

[Dre7Guevara]

50 represents the epitome of coonery