Robert Greene, author of The 50th Law

[GagnezTV]

Good book excerpt on huffpo recently - I will check out the entire book soon...

-G

Gagnez,

Internationally Known Spoken Word

& Hip Hop Artist-Producer

[Daedalus100]

I'm 200 pages into the book so far, it is definitely rated five stars in my book. I think it is better than Greene's other books because as a Black man I can identify more with 50 Cent than Queen Elizabeth, Talleyrand, and Metternich, though those individuals were great strategists.

[journalism101]

We as blacks need to learn how to use more allusions besides the Italian Mafia who doesn't care anything about us and is just as racist as the KKK, yet we glorify them in the streets and keep making them rich at the box office. I rather identify with the British greats who were against slavery and queens that turn the dynamic around from their ignorant husbands that were kings. Talleyrand was pimping his boss, Napoleon; we should apply that in our lives as workers and employees.

[Daedalus100]

It is important for Black to master the finance game, too many of us don't know the difference between assets and liabilities, and as long as Whites and Asians control most of the world's wealth, Blacks will forever remain at the bottom. Financial slavery has replaced chattel slavery.

[Daedalus100]

Most Blacks today think they are free but they are still slaves. If you work for a White man and you are a token then you are a slave. If you have no assets to pass down to your children, you are still a slave. If you are dependent on government hand outs like welfare, then you are a slave, a financial slave. The Japanese and Jews rose because they understand money.

[journalism101]

I completely agree. We must rise from obscurity thru education and finance. Do not dumb ourselves down but outsmart these masters and build education programs in our homes. Learn to invest in our communites, and in others. Keeping the black dollar in the black community and learn how to build up generations and passing wealth down.

[SoooooRich]

No offense dude, but that "black dollar" crap is played out. If you're ever going to call yourself a master of finance, the only color you'd better recognize is green.

Do you think Bill Gates tried to capture the "white dollar" ? For that matter do you think Jay Z cares about the "black dollar"?

No. You really just personified the problem with most blacks. Everything revolves too much around color with us.

Take the blinders of color off, then you'll see the money everywhere you turn.

[journalism101]

I understand where you coming from but you missed my point. I agree with you about taking the blinders off and being racist. I don't mean just selling to blacks. I mean blacks having ownership over products we frivilously blow money on making other nationalities rich. I mean blacks investing in our children's future and education like other nationalities do with their descendenants. Have wealth being passed down generations is what blacks lack.

[SoooooRich]

I understand you better now. I still wish we could get past color however. Honestly when I invest my money, it's not to preserve the black anything. It's to take care of myself and my family. Likewise, the effort to pass my wealth down stems from the same motivation.

You may not understand where I'm going with the color thing. Focusing on color brings with it an inherent limiting mentality because of our race.

[journalism101]

Before we can really feed our families, we have to feed ourselves!

[SoooooRich]

Yes... my comment said "myself and my family." I think that qualifies as feeding "ourselves".

[journalism101]

Why you gotta make things so complicated?

[SoooooRich]

I didn't actually. My point from the very beginning has been the same. What will move us forward is letting go of the tendency to see everything as color and instead focus on the goal - as should all humanity.

What has made it complex is been your effort to respond with yet another revision that still somehow makes color the issue.

My last response said our responsibility as a human being is to take care of myself and family. You then responded with a reiteration of what I already said.

[journalism101]

I don't care about color. I'm just stating facts. You can't front on how we are. But you should focus on self first then others. It's about financial wealth.

[614ragechannel]

@Daedalus100 fer sure. I watch cnbc errrr day cuzz i know whats up with the finance game but alot of black ppl need to realize theres no cutting corners and it takes money to make money.

[cherrypress]

@journalism101 What tha? Its people like you that cause this hole race segragation anyway! Cant you just accept we're ALL just human beings? yes rascims exsist mainly out of ingonrance but when people like you with chips on their shoulder go on about the black man this.. the black man that lala.. your embodying the very thing your whinning about in the first place! Discrimnination!!! wake up before you become as ingonrant as certain rasist groups...

[journalism101]

It's because of you poverty and ignorance exists cherrypress. I don't believe in racism but I am saying that as far as my ethnic people, I just wish we ould invest in our communites and families like other nationalities. I believe that we all are God's children

[BSCI70]

I saw the book @ BORDERS recently. After glancing through the book, I knew it was a 'must read'. I really liked the piece about the entrepreneurial revolution and how a job makes one weak. That made me put the book down and reflect on how we've been conditioned to surrender our God-given sovereignty for chump change. I'll get mine this coming week and plan to do a book review on my Internet radio show about it.

[jonasser8]

what's up with the comments? they don't appear as reaction but just as posts.

[HollywoodSheen]

Greene is the shit, this book with Fif is gonna be sick..

[riddleee]

it's out long ago in other countries, i wonder why it havent been out in the US

[ckhid]

The 50th Law Book (website) is officially following this product. Hope this continues

[insanemacbeth]

50 CENT is truly a don.

[chazzi0]

50 realy is the best artist , albums , games, a film AND now a book , shitt

[aSlavetoBeauty]

How much power will glamorized thugs like "50 cent" have when the hip-hop trend dies out, as trends always do? How ludicrous to deify these troglodytes. They have "power" because ignorance and illiteracy reigns within the cultures that embrace this trash. It appeals to lowest common denominator consciousness.

[Zerza02]

Just like this book, obviously.

[aSlavetoBeauty]

Obviously.

[salemskc]

Um, How can you call it a trend? Hip hop has been around since the 70s. Before that there was scat music with rhyming words together. Most trends don't die. They evolve.

[bhunt81]

You can call 50 cent a Thug or whatever you want to call him, but a lot of the men in Robert Greene's books maneuvered the same way. What I think most people jump on to is that this is a urban male doing the same tactics that are done by politicians, and businessmen around the world. I think thats the part that grinds most peoples gears.

[mightyjay531]

1 Hiphop will never die, it is as entangled into American culture as racism....2 the glamorized thug will never die...empires throughout history were built on the foundations of those very men in 48 (50) Laws of Power...3. 50 Cent sold half his VItamin Water stock for 5 BILLION and still retains 50% share in the company that's blowing up...he's not going anywhere....get over it. and urself.

[aSlavetoBeauty]

Because money is more important than literacy and integrity, right? Which you deftly illustrate with your bastardization of the English language. "URself"? My point exactly. Trend or not, Hip Hop has legitimized benightedness, to the profound detriment of society and language. Now, go pull your pants up, brotha.

[Daedalus100]

I agree with you on 50 Cent, I have never purchased a single product sold by him and with the exception of the 50th Law, I never will.

His music is garbage and he creates a bad image for Black males, but he is a genius businessman and coming from nothing, it is obvious he is a true strategist.

[dollarsandsense7]

Do you even listen to Hip-Hop?

[Daedalus100]

Yes, I do like "some" hip hop, I like a lot of Tupac's music(especially his earlier work) and I also listen to rappers Paris and Immortal Technique. If you listen to these guys, you will see that they rap about "real" issues in society as opposed to SMV(sex, money, and violence)

However, I don't limit myself to rap and I like all forms of music, my favorite style of which is trance/techno.

[dollarsandsense7]

No Hip Hop didn't legitimize(big word you used) that is the fault of society and the way it excepted RAP. Hip Hop challenges artist to use their mind to create something worth listening to. Rap is juvenile and sells records. Because society itself is bullshit. True Hip-Hop speaks to you or it makes you speak!

[jonasser8]

i'm not really a fan of fifty's music, but i just finished the book. maybe you should read it before you spew the total bull you do. 50 is much smarter than you realize, but you wouldn't know because you probably won't even take the effort to read his book.

[DruggyP]

how did you read, I thought it wasn't out yet

[jonasser8]

i bought it in the airport in indonesia. i know it wasn't supposed to come out until sept in the US.

[dollarsandsense7]

TAKE THAT -TAKE THAT -TAKE THAT

[dollarsandsense7]

Do YOU listen to Hip-Hop or Rap?

[Daedalus100]

50 Cent, like most corporate rappers today, produces what I call "Bubble Gum Rap." These are usually mindless rap songs that have a catchy beat or tune, and they typically cover either Sex, Money, or Violence, and rarely anything else.

Assata Shakur, Tupac's aunt, said that rap music can be a powerful tool when used properly, and she is right. Unfortunately, rap music has become overly mainstream and is lacking in useful political content. I encourage everyone reading this to listen to

[Daedalus100]

either rapper Paris or Immortal Technique to hear "real" underground rap music. You won't find their stuff on MTV, because they talk about social issues, government cover ups, racism, genocide, and all the stuff that mainstream rappers and the corporation music industry won't touch with a ten foot pole.

Having said that, I look forward to reading 50 and Green's book this month, right now I'm reading a book on real estate investing so the 50th Law will have to wait.

[dollarsandsense7]

I feel everything you saying. But put it on some literal shit. If you spit about real shit like Immortal Technique ( I'm a fan by the way) you don't sell records. Check my mans title out Get rich or DIE trying he not exactly claiming to be a role model ya know. He just keeping it real. It's good to see a nigga like 50 though cuz if you research em you see he has WORK ETHIC and you don't get that anywhere else!

[pepin314]

you really should not have said that before reading this book. im only 50 pages in, and 50 cent is not just a "corporate rapper". this book explains how the music scene was merely a step in his path to a personal enterprise. i agree with you on the part about the style of his music, i personally cant stand it, but you have to give this man some respect regarding his history and what he has done to get where he is today

[Daedalus100]

My problem is has less to do with 50 Cent than it is with the type of music he produces. You are right, he is a great and brilliant man, you don't go from drug dealer to being woth 100 million by being a moron.

My criticism is of the rappers in general, whether it is 50, Ludacris, The Game. These guys music is all basically the same, they talk about sex, money, and violence and that is it, even though rap has so much potential as a social and political tool

[Daedalus100]

The silver lining of all this is just like the NBA, the White guys "own the team" while the Black guys "play on the team." Who owns the biggest record companies and TV networks where rap is played? White people, and in the end, they control what gets played and what doesn't.

In the 1980s and early 90s, Whites were scared of Rap, especially songs like Cop Killa, because they realized that rap could be a political and revolutionary force. So rather than ban it, which they could not do,

[Daedalus100]

They cunningly promoted in their own record companies and then "watered" down hip hop, and gradually transformed it into what we see today, music that only glorifies sex, money, and violence.

If you want to hear rap music from guys like Paris or Immortal Technique, you have to go to the underground. Why is that? Because the Whites who control all the major record companies and TV networks are not allowing that "controversial" music to be aired, it might just "wake" people up

[Daedalus100]

and they can't have music that tells the truth. Ultimately, 50 Cent is just another by product of this, he is a servant of his White masters who push this Bubble gum hip hop.

But 50 Cent is a brilliant, disciplined, and focused man, and I look forward to reading his book before the close of this month. I just wish these rappers would get past SMV and start rapping about real stuff, because their is real things happening in the world that many people don't know about.

[Tyranny14]

I sense a little racism here, where the hell do you get these theories of the "white man" controlling hip hop. RIDICULOUS!!! Just take a look at how many rich black men own their own record labels. The truth is most people don't listen to hip hop for the truth, they listen for the party scene, the club music, the shit that sounds good. Not the shit that was recorded in some cheap ass recording studio. All 50 did was catch the eye of someone who had power, Eminem, and the rest is history.

[Tyranny14]

Great Book by the way! We're just a little too far in time to be pulling the race card. Just like the book says, it's time to start living in reality

[Daedalus100]

It is the truth, the Black guys may own their own labels but the White guys own all the major television networks and radio stations with the exception of BET. The rappers control nothing, especially the up and comers, the execs eat them up and spit them out once their albums stop selling, Robert Greene even talks about it in the 50th Law.

[Daedalus100]

The White owned television and radio stations play the type of music "they" want to promote, which is Black-on-Black crime and hatred of Black women. You even wonder why you rarely hear famous rappers talking about Black unity? Because the networks won't air it.

And, in case, you try to say that non-party and violence rap music won't sell, Remember that Tupac's song "Dear Mama" reached the top of the billboard charts with no violence or party lyrics.

[Daedalus100]

"Dear Mama" was one of Tupac's best works, I remember when I was in the eight grade somone played it for our teacher who was an old White lady and even she liked it.

You are right, a few rappers do run their own labels, like Jay Z, Sean Combs, Dr. Dre, and others but they are a minority, most rappers will never reach that level and the White Boys still control most of the largest labels, TV networks, and radio stations.

[MrPisster]

@Daedalus100 you are right in one sense but if you'd read the book you'd know it's a tactic, the least of which is that Sex and Death themes are hard-wired into the human brain for survival. But because entertainment people know this they can always steal our attention with a "cheap shot".

[Bloodsport1]

@Daedalus100 so is Hollywood movies and tv shows.

[LordBifford]

@Daedalus100 There are rappers who try to affect politics with their music. They don't seem to sell well.

[KennyParkz]

@Daedalus100 they arent rappers.. the true rappers are Biggie, 2pac, Nas, public enemy, Naughty by Nature...

[jonasser8]

@dollarsandsense7

yes, i have been listening to it for 15 years. why do you ask?

[dollarsandsense7]

@ jonasser8 I thought I responded to someone else. You seem to be giving an educated opinion on 50. Cuz most cats just don't like 'em and with out any justification put him in a box with lil' wayne and ricky ross. Have you done any recent search on 50's new mixtapes?

[jonasser8]

i have the undertaker and it's smoking hot!

[Piercelova34]

Can't wait for it!!

[ldsmithson]

Charles Hamilton

[jughead1986]

50 writing a book, that will be interesting.

[jonasser8]

i just read it, it's good.

[bigmuffin1]

go fifty

[KoMusicTv]

ugotknockedthefout(.)com....go buy the book

!

[KoMusicTv]

i admire everything they both do