Review of Infamous Times Vol 1, The: The Original 50 Cent

Introduction

The Infamous Times is a new urban news quarterly DVD series that will attempt to tell the story of some of the legendary hustlers and street figures of the US. Hosted by convicted felon Bonz Malone (his own words at the end of the feature), the main feature of this edition takes a look at Kelvin `50 Cent` Martin, the Original 50 Cent and the man who inspired Curtis Jackson to take his name and become arguably the biggest name in rap today.

There are three features on this first volume of Infamous Times:

The Original 50 Cent (78 minutes) - In 1987, at the height of New York`s brutal crack epidemic, on man terrorised the city`s most notorious gangsters. A cold blooded crook, he vowed he would `get rich or die trying`. This is the true story of the man who inspired the current biggest name in rap, 50 Cent.

Dangerzone (16 minutes) - a look at Brownsville through the eyes of Lucesse, one of the leaders of the LA based Bloods gang in New York. Tone of the report tends to glamorise the gangs, even when showing street fights between members, sickening dog fights and idiots firing guns into the air.

Paper Dolls (9 minutes) - a look at Sue`s Rendezvous, a 35 year old strip club frequented by stars and public alike. Very superficial report, interviewing both staff and dancers.

Video

Good picture quality, overall a little dark with mock-up of sepia tones for the reconstruction of incidents within 50 Cent`s short life. Looks professionally filmed but not much in the way of lighting and this is highlighted during the extra on Street Chic. A lot of gold and diamond jewellery is shown to the camera but is so bright that you can`t see most of it properly.

Audio

Powerful music soundtrack, not really to my taste, and sometimes gets in the way of the dialogue. Subtitles are provided, but only in French which is a bit silly. More thought required there I think for the next edition.

Features

Jimmy Henchmen Speaks - `street legend` passes his own personal message about how the intention of the main feature is not to glamorise the lifestyle of 50 Cent. His intention was to show the reality in the hope of convincing at least one potential hood not to follow in his footsteps.

The Dalmencio Incident - recollections of an incident where 50 Cent sliced open the face of a hustler called Dalmencio with a razor blade at an skating rink.

Street Chic - profile of celebrity jewellers Avianne & Co. and some of their incredibly expensive pieces they have created for some of the celebrity rappers (many of whom I had not heard of). Very expensive stuff and it appears the name of the game is to outdo each other by spending thousands or even millions outflashing your rivals.

Myths Of The Game - Lee Ginsberg, Attorney, gives expert advice on drug dealers from his experience in working with them. Ginsberg spells out the huge legal costs involved in defending a client accused of even the smallest drug offence. Various rap celebrities also do their thang by trying to persuade that drug-dealing us not as glamorous as in the movies.

The Infamous Times trailer - a trailer for this new series of DVDs. Narration is in English, but is annoyingly overdubbed in French and you are unable to switch this off.

Conclusion

I wasn`t really sure what to make of this originally, but I was quite impressed with the in-depth investigative reporting that this documentary covers. It`s clearly produced for `the streets` and everyone involved seems to have some sort of `street cred`. Even the host, Bonz Malone, signs off at the end with `This is Bonz Malone, convicted felon`. This then tells me the audience that this release is aimed at, and how they will lap up this treatment of someone that most of society would have branded a common criminal.

The main feature is over an hour long with lots of interviews with people who knew him well, as well as some interview footage with the `new` 50 Cent. Plenty of people relate stories and tell about how `grimy` the man was and how they felt death was coming for him at age 23. My problem is that most of the time, too many of the people involved talk about how great a person he was and how devoted he was to his friends and family. No-one really condemns him for what he did, even his girlfriend (and mother to two of his children) tries to convince us that she didn`t know what he did on `the street`, which considering his reputation and love of guns would have been hard to miss. It is true that everyone has more than one side, and the chances are that this man was as good to his family as told here, but I just find it hard to reconcile the image portrayed against the crimes detailed. It`s like there were two different people and never the twain shall meet.

The one good thing I see in this documentary are the statements of ex-friends and rivals of the man who all state that the lifestyle is not that glamorous and that the `street life` only has two possible endings: the penitentiary or the cemetery. It`s a good and valid message to be sending, I just fear it will be lost in amongst the glamorisation of this man`s life. The feature virtually ends with the producers paying for a headstone for Martin`s grave with the 50 Cent logo on it. I know they did with the best of intentions due to both Martin and his family being so poor when he was killed that his grave didn`t have a headstone. Problem is that what they`ve done will only help to glamorise the story that bit more.

A good release with some interesting features, but I just feel it`s a bit misguided in both tone and ultimately in the reaction of the target audience.