I was scrolling the interwebz tonight in search of something to distract from the gaping abyss of emotion I am currently experiencing (do you have to ask why?), and I saw 50 Cent was trending. Of course, because the rapper and businessman is known for shenanigans, I clicked on his name to see why. And color me not surprised to find out it’s because 50 Cent endorses Trump.
The offending bit of data came about after Fif shared a screenshot of Joe Biden’s proposed Tax plan with the caption “WHAT THE FUCK! (VOTE For TRUMP) IM OUT, FK NEW YORK The KNICKS never win anyway. I don’t care Trump doesn’t like black people 62% are you out of ya fking mind.”
Of course the internet wasn’t too happy with him, especially since everybody is currently #VoteHimOut.
Kanye West, Ice Cube, and now 50 Cent?
50 Cent is saying he knows Trump is racist but it’s fine because he doesn’t want to pay higher taxes?
Selling out the Black community & supporting a racist authoritarian weeks before he loses is foolish, but thanks for exposing yourselves.
— Ahmed Baba (@AhmedBaba_) October 19, 2020
50 Cent is a member of the 1% elite that earns over $400,000.00/year and thinks the general population should be overburdened so he can save a few dollars.
Don’t stream @50cent’s music, pirate it. https://t.co/m4GRUs3WOD
— Rob Gill ? iwillvote.com (@vote4robgill) October 19, 2020
But allow me to paint a slightly different picture. Fifty has had a fickle relationship with both stardom and money. The man has shown himself a capable investor, jumping on Vitamin Water, Bitcoin, Lamborghinis (yes, it’s an investment), his own liquor line, and Pop Smoke (R.I.P.). And we can’t forget we give him the bulk of the credit for our toxic favorite drama “Power” and its subsequent follow-up “Power Book 2: Ghost”. But savvy as he might be, he has a spending problem. He like many who rise to fortune and fame from humbler beginnings, lacked financial wherewithal to know what to do with all that money he’d made. He even filed bankruptcy back in 2015. So there is a logical tie: it makes sense that 50 Cent endorses Trump.
You see, while others look at his fortune and success and assume he would care about others, at the end of the day, 50 Cent still fears the day he might go broke again. It’s a fear that haunts many like him. It drives him to succeed and achieve new heights. Sometimes for our benefit (e.g. Power), but largely for their own. And a 62% tax rate to a man like 50, is something that scares the living daylights out of him. Because it means he’ll have to work even harder to avoid his fear.
But what this tells me is, as powerful as 50 is, and as many rooms as he’s been privy to: he still on the outskirts of fortune and he knows it. The wealthier a person becomes, the more likely they find an accountant able to significantly reduce their “net income” to an almost minimalistic amount. Don’t believe me, ask Jeff Bezos. Or Trump who paid only $750 in taxes. Or I’ll do you one closer to home. In “what’s free”, the Billionaire from Marcy who we more affectionately know as Jay ripped this quiet little line past many ears:
“My accountant so good, I’m practically living tax-free.”
And that’s how I know 50 ain’t in the right rooms. Because if he was, he wouldn’t fear this proposed tax plan. Because his accountant would make sure it didn’t affect him.
Now I know what you’re thinking, “Oh my God is she defending him?”
And to that I say, “Not at all, I just understand him.”
I also understand that the tax burden always falls upon those that fail to educate themselves on how to avoid it. Ultrawealthy individuals put on a great show for the masses, claiming they wish to pay more in taxes, and all other kinds of things meant to stir the hearts and minds of the people. But the truth is no wealthy person wants to pay taxes. If they did, they would’ve already. Things like charitable remainder trusts, private foundations, shell corporations (watch “The Laundromat” on Netflix, it’s eye opening) and other tax shelters would not exist. They’d simply claim what they owe and pay it. Straight like that.
But the silver lining in this whole kerfuffle is 50 Cent knows what most won’t accept. Even with his millions, he’s still a member of the middle class. And these proposed tax plans– while brilliant in theory- due to current corporate structure, protections, credits, and a host of other hide-the-money-schemes that will remain fully legal with this idea enacted, are going to eviscerate the people who can’t afford it the most: the middle-class.
50 Cent knows that and that’s why he’s endorsing Trump. Now what you the reader should be more pissed about is not 50 Cent’s choice, but the small 1% of the population who decided that hoarding all of this wealth was more important than the survival of the species at large. The ones funding Super-PAC’s and making generous anonymous donations to candidates that will uphold their best interests, not the planet’s. The ones making it so that every four years you have to pick between Cartoonish Villain A and Comic Book Villain B. The ones who pay lawyers to craft and draft bills in complex legalese so no one understands what they are even voting for to begin with. The ones who pay good money to run smear campaigns, targeted ads and whatever else they need to sway the electorate in the right direction. You need to be mad at the ones giving you bread and circuses. Not 50, a man who at the end of the day is just trying to keep out of the poorhouse by any means necessary.
Y’all want change?
Start by demanding your country separate politics and money. Start by endorsing candidates who actually give a fuck about you. Stop letting Democrats and Republicans sway and buy your vote with the equivalent of class president level promises every 2 to 4 years. Start demanding clearer ballots. Start demanding more polling locations. Start demanding that smear campaigns designed to prey on group psychology and induce fear in you, be BANNED during election season. And most importantly, band together and demand that you be given what you need to survive: universal health care, educational systems designed for the shift from manual labor to tech based labor, food equality, utilities being capped and subsidized, child care, worker re-education to transition out aging employees. Demand businesses pay for your dollar by reinvesting in your communities not with hopes and promises, but with tangible, measurable and actionable items you can hold them accountable for.
But if you just want Trump out of office… don’t get mad at 50. That man don’t know nothing but the power of a dollar, and he ain’t about to give 62 cents of it away to prove he wants to be liked by any of you.
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