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50 Cent (People in the News)

by Michael V. Uschan

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Zaid said: " While reading I’ve found a lot of conflicts in this section. the first problem is a combination of three problems. So, the first conflict is the fact that Curtis Jackson also known as 50 Cent grew up as a black, poor, and an orphan kid. The problem w While reading I’ve found a lot of conflicts in this section. the first problem is a combination of three problems. So, the first conflict is the fact that Curtis Jackson also known as 50 Cent grew up as a black, poor, and an orphan kid. The problem with that is because since he grew in a poor and dangerous neighborhood there is a bid risk for a small kid going out form school or another place he might not come back. There are drugs going back and forth with people. The second conflict is that Curtis was dealing with drugs at the age of twelve “he began dealing drugs on a street corner in his neighborhood when he was twelve years old and dropped out of school after the tenth to sell drugs full-time”(Uschan 11). It’s a problem because he shouldn’t be selling drugs at his age and he shouldn't have dropped out of school. Especially since he can actually go to school because people in his neighborhood would do anything to get the same kind of education.

The two themes were chosen are rich and danger. Rich is one of them because moving from poverty to being rich is a big step for some people especially Curtis. “By 2007, he had sold more than 20 million records to become the world’s richest and famous rapper”(Uschan 13). For a kid to be poor, black, and an orphan at the same time to being “the worlds richest and famous rapper” (Uschan 13) is a good thing. That was a huge step for Curtis. The second theme is danger, since he lived a whole life full of drugs. That is really tough for a teenage to live around drugs and not wanting to take some, since everywhere in his neighborhood there are drugs. The big problem is that twelve “he began dealing drugs on a street corner in his neighborhood when he was twelve years old and dropped out of school after the tenth to sell drugs full-time”(Uschan 11). It was dangerous of him to sell drugs at the age of twelve. He could of gotten arrested because of that. Those are the two themes of this section of reading.

There were a lot of conflicts through this section of reading and if there was a way that Curtis James Jackson III would go back and erase it, he would. Since, “Cutis missed the presents his mother used to give him, and in a few years he began selling crack cocaine and heroin to get cloths, athletic shoes, and other things he wanted” (Uschan 16). It doesn’t mean just because you miss your mother’s presents that you have to start selling drugs at the age of twelve to fell close to her or to buy yourself things. “It was easy for a young boy to get started in the drug trade because neighborhood dealers had known his mother.” (Uschan 16). Even though it was easy for him to stared selling drugs he shouldn’t have started in the first place. Epically since he could get into big trouble with his grandparents. He would also get arrested and at that age it’s not a good thing for that to happen to neither a teenager nor an adult.

The character Curtis James Jackson III was a pretty messed up kid. The readers may think that the he isn’t a good impression for kids. He might not be a good impression but he started to become a good person after a while of progress. He may be selling drugs but he did that only because he felt that it was the only way he would interact with his mother. He may be too young to sell drugs or crazy enough to drop out of school in the tenth grade but he later on developed and became a much better person. He became the person that we know as 50 Cent. He is the kind of person that would take risks to be able to sell drugs, but he did it anyways. He later on tried to get back on his feet. An example is: “Jackson, who had dropped out of high school after the 10th grade, used the class time at the facility to get his General Equivalency Degree. But the program failed to convince Jackson that his criminal way of life was wrong. When he released, Jackson returned home and once again began selling drugs.”(Uschan 23). “He could endure the 5 A.M. wake-up call and the marching and other physical activities involved in the program.”(Uschan 22). It shows that he is a really tough guy and can get used to things easily. “Incidents like this and his recurring brushes with the law began to make Jackson realize that dealing drugs, while profitable, was a risky way to make a living. He knew that almost everyone involved in the drug trade wound up either dead or in prison”(Uschan 23-24).

The two themes that are chosen for this review are karma and violence. The theme karma because he has been selling drugs since the age of twelve. Even though he has been arrested too many times he still wanted to sell drugs part it. As a result he had to got to a program that “was like a military boot camp, but Jackson was strong and in good shape. He could endure the 5 A.M. wake-up call and the marching and other physical activities involved in the program.”(Uschan 22). Violence is a second theme because Cutis knows that that violence is never the answer and he new exactly when to use it. ”Violence had always been a part of the drug world---- Jackson’s own mother’s murder was proof of that. But after he returned from boot camp, the violence in the local drug scene seemed to have escalated.”(Uschan 23). He was once attacked when he “came home to his grandmother’s house, he was attacked in an attempted robbery. Just as Jackson got to the front door, his attackers short at him from the cargo van parked in the street. He escaped by jumping off the porch and running to the backyard, where he had a gun stashed.”(Uschan 23).

The two plots that were chosen are Brooklyn, New York and July 19. The first plot is chosen is Brooklyn, New York because, for a while he “had to live with other juveniles in a dormitory-style apartment building in Brooklyn, New York. The program was an alternative to going to a juvenile institution or prison for young drug offenders.”(Uschan 21). July 19 is another plot because it was when the police came and started searching his grandmother’s house and Curtis still lived there. When the police came and started searching the grandparents house they “seized heroin, crack cocaine, a starter gun and $695 in cash.”(Uschan 22). He was lucky and unlucky. He was unlucky because he “faced a possible sentence of three to nine years in prison”(Uschan 22) that is not luck at all. They then “the court offered him the option of serving a six-month sentence in the ‘Shock Incarceration Program’ instead of going to prison” (Uschan 22).

The two conflicts are the fact that people would want to kill 50 Cent because he was a drug dealer and the fact that Tupac Shakur was murdered. The fact that Tupac Shakur was murdered was a big problem. He has been a great inspiration to many people epically young kids going through tough times. “Tupac Shakur made gangster rap popular when he was alive and he continued to influence young rappers after he was murdered.”(Uschan 36). The other problem is the fact that a person wanted the death of 50 Cent. People are crazy, trying to a young person for no reason what so ever is very crazy. The readers might think it’s because of the fact that he didn’t seal them good drugs or stuff to do with drugs. Epically when you shot that person nine times. That exactly what 50 Cent thinks that Kenneth “Supreme” McGriff did.
I would highly recommend this book to middle school students especially 6th graders because it doesn’t have a complicated vocab and it has a simple structure that would fit all of those students. I would also recommend this book to people that are interested in this great musician who had a dark past . ...more "

Apr 28, 2015 01:20PM · see review

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Made in America: From Levi's to Barbie to Google

by Nick Freeth

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Zaid said: " Made in America from Levi's to Barbie to Googe is a book that shows everything that was made in America in detail meaning the date of the production of that product and the amount of money that was spent on it and many other details. It talks about i ...more "

Jan 11, 2015 04:50AM · see review