Rapper 50 Cent sings a song of business success
By Theresa Howard, USA TODAY
NEW YORK — After topping the music charts with tracks such as Candy Shop and In Da Club, rapper 50 Cent is looking to become a hit on Madison Avenue with his good looks, bulging biceps, "gangsta" image and hard-knocks success story.
Among the places you'll see 50 Cent — given name Curtis Jackson — as a pitchman in the next several months will be in ads starting this week for his own flavor of upscale Glacéau Vitaminwater.

The man known for racy lyrics, sexy music videos and a street-tough upbringing (that included time as a drug dealer and bullet wounds), shows a softer side in the Glacéau ads. In a vote of confidence in the a breadth of appeal, Glacéau will feature him in ads in a range of magazines — from men's magazines Maxim and FHM to hip-hop journal Vibe to high-society title Town & Country— as well as on big-city bus wraps and billboards.

The ads promote Formula 50, a grape-flavor water with 50% of the recommended daily allowance of vitamins, which he helped concoct last year. Glacéau approached him after learning he's a fan of their other designer waters. In the ads, 50 Cent reads The Wall Street Journal, retrieves the mail at his Connecticut home, records in a studio and works out at a gym. The ads are designed to show that Glacéau is part of his daily routine.

But the ads raise the question: Is the real 50 Cent the street rapper or the businessman? "It's both of us," says the artist, who turns 30 on Wednesday. "That's 50 Cent at home in those ads. People don't get a chance to see 50 Cent away from the music." Other sightings:

• In August, he'll launch a line of watches under his G-Unit brand with Jacob & Co., a custom jeweler to the stars run by owner and designer Jacob Arabo (a.k.a. Jacob the Jeweler). One of the watches — priced at $299 to $3,500 — includes an MP3 player.

• Coming up are a book and movie about 50 Cent's rough life growing up in Queens. The book, From Pieces to Weight, is due in August; the movie, Get Rich or Die Tryin', is due in November.

• Beginning Saturday, 50 Cent and Eminem will kick off their multicity Anger Management tour. Glacéau will use the concerts to hand out Formula 50 samples. The effort — dubbed Hydrate or Die Tryin' — is a play on 50 Cent's Get Rich or Die Tryin' debut album.
• Reebok ads for its GXT II shoe show 50 Cent with such athletes as the NFL's Donovan McNabb. Reebok also sells shoes and apparel under the G-Unit brand.

"He is very much into sports and staying in shape," says Que Gaskins, Reebok's global head of lifestyle and entertainment. "He is an athlete trapped in a rapper's body."

It was in a Reebok ad last year that Glacéau marketers discovered 50 Cent's taste for their waters.

"The biggest thing for us is that 50 drinks Glacéau because it works for him," says Rohan Oza, Glacéau's marketing chief. "He uses it as part of his lifestyle." From a marketing perspective, "You can't do better than that."

He needs shooting.

In a few more years, he'll be doin commercials for Big Lots, when his CDs are in the discount bins selling for 50 cents...

Someone at Glacéau gets a raise.

Any bets on "die tryin" for this project?

meltwithu said:

That's very interesting. For an ad man, that's a new entity. One you can't pass up. If it catches on will all the rappers hit the gym to go after the athlete endorsements etc...?

anon said:

send him the memo..


[Edited 7/5/05 10:01am]

meltwithu said:

That's funny. He'll probably just get the pink slip though. This may change the criteria for being a rapper.

Hammer was a sellout (way back before his gangster, "Funky Headhunter" days) because he had a cartoon, cars, clothes, commercials and acted in movies.....but fuckin' 50 cent gets to make his own water??? HIS OWN WATER??? What in the hell is going on here?

Is it the Sign O' the times?

50 cent gets to rap about clubs, whores, and shootout bullshit, yet he gets to make his own water?

Will the real talent please stand up?

Tom said: