Not content with marketing everything from water to condoms, rapper 50 Cent has moved into publishing. With his new G-Unit Books, 'Fiddy' is set to become a high profile purveyor of urban fiction, but the books have prompted opposition from campaigners who see them as a cynical attempt to exploit young readers and glorify violent crime.

It’s the perfect merger of literature and hip-hop. It’s a huge opportunity because no one else is in a position to create this kind of venture. — 50 Cent

50 Cent has teamed with MTV to create a series of street-fiction novels, G-Unit Books. The series, which is said to be the rapper's idea, features members of the G-Unit posse as characters in the stories. "Last year, my memoirs, From Pieces to Weight, marked the beginning," the rapper declared. "Now, I'm rounding up some of the top writers, same way I rounded up some of the top rappers in the game, to form G-Unit Books and take this series to the top of the literary world." 50 Cent claims that G-Unit Books will "tell the truth about 'The Life', the sex, guns and cash; the brutal highs and short lives of the players on the streets". The rapper, whose real name is Curtis Jackson, is said to be an avid reader of street fiction as well as business books. Chris Lighty, 50 Cent's manager, defends the rapper's move into different markets. "As music sales go down because kids are stealing it off the Internet and trading it and iPod sales continue to rise, you can't rely on just the income that you would make off of being an artist," Lighty claims. However, some feel that 50 Cent promotes violence to vulnerable young people. At a recent 'Ban 50 Cent' rally in New York, Cynthia Reed, whose 14-year-old son was allegedly assaulted by members of G-Unit, said "Make good music, make your money, but if you want to involve the children, involve them in a good way. If you want to promote violence, then you need to step down, because that's not what hip-hop stands for."

The Ski Mask Way

The traveling that I have to do in my career is making me more receptive to the idea of reading books. Like, magazines, I enjoy them, but I read the portions of the magazine that I’m interested in, then I’ve got four or five more hours left on the flight, you know? So, I started reading urban novels, and then I created a book set that had that feel, and all the writers that I collaborated with had previously been on the best-sellers list with other projects, so it all worked out. — 50 Cent

50 Cent revealed what he really thinks about reading in comments he made about fellow rapper Nas: "You have people that are extremely book smart that lack common sense so they don’t know what’s going to affect their audience. They have more information than me based on reading. For instance, Nas is a really smart guy. He reads books constantly. We were around him on the Nastradamus tour. He was almost weirder than me ’cause we would go to breakfast and he’d be there reading a book. Conceptually, I think that’s what made him drift away from what his initial audience enjoys from him and why he’s not hot right now. He's feeding you too much information in the music and they don't actually want it. He's like a teacher."

Squeeze put in a G-Unit mix tape and pulled off in a hurry... ‘Hell, that nigga Fifty is getting his marbles. They can hate if they want to, but he has an empire – clothes, music, video games, Vitamin Water ...’ Seven said. — from The Ski Mask Way

Let’s get that money the fast way — the ski mask way. — Character in The Ski Mask Way

In a recent newspaper article in the New York Post, it reported that we have $500 billion dollars to spend on a “Hip Hop” lifestyle, but what investment are we making in the futures of our youths? The New York Times recently wrote a front page article entitled: ”Plight Deepens for Black Men Studies Warn”. The article went into detail regarding the dire situation that black men in the United States are facing. Many of our young men today lack mentors, role models, and suitable males in their lives that can provide answers to their questions. My book is written as a mentorship on paper, from the perspective of an "older brother" rather than that of a disciplinarian or parent. The goal is to start a movement of self-education and mentorship within our communities. When I was initially trying to get this book published several of the publishers said the same thing: “It’s a great idea but we don’t believe men of color read, and if they do we don’t know how to reach them.” In one of my book pitch meetings with another publisher, I was told point-blank, "Hill, please don't write a book for this population, we want to do a book with you, but please not this book, you are proposing a book for a population that doesn't read." I am asking you to help me prove them wrong. As all of us know, young men are generally not camped outside of bookstores just waiting for "the next hardcover to drop." For many, this is going to be a "gifted book," much like the books that have been gifted to and inspired me such as The Purpose Driven Life. — Hill Harper, author of Letters to a Young Brother: MANifest Your Destiny

New York rapper 50 Cent was a drug runner as a child and later survived being shot nine times. I know you know this already, but since Curtis James Jackson III refuses to progress creatively beyond anything he was rapping about in 2002, it's difficult to have anything new to say about the man. While Kanye West, Fiddy's contemporary and the only other breakthrough rapper of that era still hogging the spotlight, uses his music to hold a mirror up to the culture he represents and even indulge in bouts of existential crisis, Fiddy seems to have stopped bothering to rap at all, preferring instead to drop a series of brand names and the occasional idiom like "I'm a soldier." — Rosie Swash, The Guardian

Reading literature is important because it expands one's vocabulary, perspective and intellectual capacity. And though some might argue that any reading is better than none, the reader ingests poison when metaphor and imagery are replaced with sex, violence and expletives. — Yolanda Young, USA Today

It's a shame that gangsta-lit, particularly concerning African Americans, has now become characterized as 'the people's' major literary voice. Let it be what it is, but let's not raise it to high literature. — Daniel Omotosho, professor of African-American Studies, Clark University

What do you think of 50 Cent and G-Unit moving into publishing?

What on earth has hip hop got to do with books? This is just another way for them to make money. They don't really care what people will read or what people will think, they just want to make their money. — Boletin

It's purely business. 50 is a smart business man, let's not have a linear perspective about things cause G-Unit is merely a product of its environment. Never mind the members of the brand but take a look it at the G-Unit brand itself. It's a good example of a successful business with the right marketing. Did you review the donations that the G-Unity foundation contributes annually to the under privileged? Please people, do your homework before you criticise. — Lungelo

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Queens Reigns Supreme: Fat Cat, 50 Cent, and the Rise of the Hip Hop Hustler This engrossing portrait of the trigger-happy hip-hop demimonde explores the origins of the gangsta-rap ethos in southeast Queens, home to legendary narcotics gangs and many of rap's biggest stars, including 50 Cent and Ja Rule. Ethan Brown begins by chronicling the careers of three Queens drug kingpins during the 1980s crack epidemic, when maintaining a fearsome reputation for violence was a must for doing business. He continues through to the 1990s, when a younger generation of hip-hop artists and impresarios idolized such criminals and adopted their twisted moral economy of street cred. Rappers dissed rivals' lack of a criminal background while burnishing their own; the war of rhymes occasionally escalated into gunplay between hostile entourages; prison stints and shoot-out wounds were coveted markers of hoodlum authenticity. Drawing on interviews with gangsters and rappers alike, Brown looks behind the tabloid headlines. USA UK Canada

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