He is the biggest-selling artist in this country and the biggest act in the world.” So gushes Arts Alive organiser Nomahlubi Semamane, as she explains the reasoning behind signing 50 Cent to the festival’s music bill.
Eminem’s protégé, hip-hop’s latest bad boy may not have shifted as many units in this country as Semamane claims, but his impact certainly has been felt in these parts. So much so, it seems, that he has been all but crowned the saviour of Jo’burg’s Arts Alive Festival and, inadvertently, its cultural revival, too.
Last year Semamane’s company, Zanusi Brand Solutions, was contracted to organise the Arts Alive Festival for a three-year period. Arts Alive was created 13 years ago by the Jo’burg City Council to showcase the city’s art, music, fashion and poetry talent.
“The thinking behind the festival is to position Jo’burg, and especially Newtown, as the cultural hub of South Africa and Africa, and to utilise the city’s institutions in promoting its regeneration,” says Semamane.
It is an ambitious aim that originally sought to bring people and business, chased by crime out to the ‘burbs, back into the heart of the city.
It is for this reason that Arts Alive needs 50 Cent. Apparently. Music lies at the heart of the festival, says Semamane, so having one of the top heavyweight artists perform in the city should go a long way in its cultural revival. How so?
“The city has made it clear that it wants to host at least one international artist a year, specifically a first-tier artist, the crème de la crème, similar to one who would play New York or Rio, to position itself as a world-class African city,” says Semamane.
“We made the mistake last year of getting a number of mediocre artists, second-tier artists if you will, instead of one person who would make the crowds go ‘wow!'” says Semamane.
Enter Curtis Jackson, known to fans and foes alike as 50 Cent, the headlining act for the festival’s youth concert set to take place at the beginning of September.
The 26-year-old former crack-peddler-turned-superstar-rapper — whose single In Da Club topped the charts in South Africa last year — is to perform for the first time in this country.
“The decision to get 50 Cent is based on a combination of the composition of the programme and the availability of the artists. It needed to be a crossover artist who would draw the crowds, someone who would put bums on the seats,” says Simamane.
“Who better than an MTV award-winning artist? We wanted someone of the calibre he’s at.”
50 Cent is notorious for his thug life and love of guns. In 2000 he was shot nine times in the chest, but instead of laying low, burst onto the hip-hop scene with a signing to Eminem and Dre Dre’s label Shady/Aftermath and released Get Rich or Die Tryin.
So, what does an artist of his calibre cost the taxpayer, who is footing the bill for the show? Semamane won’t say exactly how much is being forked out for the star, but does admit that someone in his range, such as Beyoncé, would easily cost in the region of R250 000 and R300 000. When 50 Cent cancelled a show in the United States last year, the promoter sued him for more than the $50 000 performance fee. He said he was out $5-million in promotion for the event.
“Of course, you need to add on the other expenses needed for him and his 20-person entourage. He is an international act, so everything is going to be top class — especially security at the Dome, both inside and out.
“Also, with the contract we are going to make sure we have dotted our i’s and crossed our t’s so we know exactly what is expected of us. We have even had his lawyer brief us on what he needs to be happy.”
Pretty soon, you have reached a figure close to about R500 000. Only the best for our international artists.
Out of an R8-million budget dedicated to the festival, Semamane is adamant that the cost to bring 50 Cent out is worth it. “It is for the regeneration of the inner city. We want people to go in, and have a wonderful time, so that they’ll come back into the city — if we’re serious about art and its role in the economy, then it is money well spent.
“As a percentage of the city’s total budget, that’s nothing,” adds Semamane. She maintains that other festivals, such as the North Sea Jazz Festival and the 46664 concert, had budgets well into double-figured millions, and that those also made use of public funds. That may be so, but the jazz festival runs workshops to educate musicians and 46664 was an Aids benefit.
Sure, 50 Cent may do a better job than his nemesis Ja Rule when he came here last year, but other than a kick-ass show, what kind of lasting impression will be left? And speaking of Ja Rule, can we also expect 50 Cent to drag out the rivalries between American rappers for a South African audience?
Not if Simamane’s organisation has anything to do with it. “You wouldn’t seat Tony Leon next to [Robert] Mugabe,” she says, explaining how her company will use its understanding of the “sensitivities” between the artists to avoid any nasty situations, like when DJ Spexx was severely reprimanded by one of Ja Rule’s posse for playing 50 Cent’s track 21 Questions after Ja’s set in Durban.
“He is controversial,” Semamane admits, “but these things are subjective; some people like him, others don’t. But he is a role model for many young people. He’s escaped near-death situations and because of what he’s been through, it shows there’s hope for everybody.”
That he overcame the loss of his parents at a young age and the street life he was thrown into is true. For that, 50 deserves recognition. Indeed, he may be a role model to many young fans, but should he be one for the city of Jo’burg? A city that is trying to reunite its diverse citizens. A unification that requires tolerance as a starting point. 50 is not exactly the posterboy in this regard. In an interview in Playboy earlier this year, he declared that he hates homosexuals. “I ain’t into faggots. I don’t like gay people around me because I’m not comfortable with what their thoughts are.”
He went on to say that while he doesn’t like hanging out with gay people, women who like women are okay by him. And his constant references to “hoes” and “bitches” does little for that image either.
His contentious nature prompted one writer for the Boston Globe to say: “Since his debut, 50 Cent has parlayed every toxic stereo- type of black men into chart-topping success. He’s a misogynist. He’s a gun-happy fool doing his part to extol black-on-black violence. He’s a cartoon character playing into white society’s fears and fascinations with the perceived black urban male menace. Without anything new or interesting to say, his whole shtick consists of presenting himself as a violent, destructive force and cold-hearted pimp, whose primary power is scaring the mess out of people.”
With that in mind, could 50 do a worse job than the crime that scared people out of the city in the first place?