Get Rich or Die Tryin'

50 Cent, a sly smirk creasing his face, is out heavily promoting his film, making sure to display his muscle-bound, tatooed chest and stoking controversy whenever he can.
Get Rich or Die Tryin' is the movie, ostesibly Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson's semi-autobiographical tale of his rise from crack dealer to platinum-selling rapper.
It opens this Wednesday. Whether I will see it remains to be seen.
For 50 Cent has made his name for being so gangsta, waxing nostalgic about his crack-dealing days and beefing with other rappers.
Ja Rule, Fat Joe, his protege The Game and even Kanye West are victims of his venom, all designed to increase record sales.
It's sickening, and one is left to wonder what redeeming quality his movie will have. What message will it send?
50 Cent has had a hard life, his mother a drug dealer who died when he was just a child. And a few years back, nine bullets pierced 50 Cent's flesh.
He is a walking miracle, his life a precious gift. But with that gift, 50 Cent gives little but tired gangsta tales with catchy hooks and hard-to-resist beats.
Curtis Jackson seems to liken himself to Tupac Shakur, the late 25-year-old rapper who died in 1996.
But Shakur he is not. For Shakur, flawed as he was, had more depth and substance in his rhymes than 50 Cent has ever had.
Never does it seem that 50 Cent really regrets the trajectory of his life. And worse, he relishes his conflicts with other rappers, for they "justify his thug" and help him sell more records.
The title of his movie, "Get Rich or Die Tryin'," sums up well his philosophy of life: materialism trumps morality. It trumps responsibility.
Life is never this black and white, this spiritually empty. Get Rich or Die Tryin'? Please. Life is worth more than 50 Cent.