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It seems like Karrine Steffans has opened the floodgates for women to release these tell all books about their time with various male celebrities.  It's one thing coming from self admitted groupies & hangers-on, but to come from women who wish to be respected in their professions it's a definite black eye especially for women of color struggling to be taken seriously.  Former Editor-in-Chief, Kim Osorio, has written a new "tell all" book alleging she had sexual flings with 50 Cent & Nas among other statements found in her memoirs. Osorio's statements may give other women a black eye in the game, but 50 Cent brazenly says her black eye comes from his "balls" smacking her. (Ouch!)

"I messed with Kim a while ago, she licked on my balls before the deal...when they weren't worth much. She licked my balls once & now she's a star. I got some advise for all aspiring women journalists, it may not make the best sellers list, but lick my balls and you are on the road to the riches!"

While Jay-Z rapped about his aspirations to eventually make "A Billi" in his freestyle over the popular "A Milli" track, 50 Cent seems to be winning the earnings race this year.

According to Forbes's "Hip Hop Cash Kings" list for 2008, 50 Cent surpassed Jay-Z this year grossing over $150 Million in the last 12 months. Fiddy's earnings come in large part from his ventures in his G-Unit clothing & records brands, video games, & his most talked about deal with Glaceu's VitaminWater which was brought by Coca-Cola for a reported 4.1 Billion dollars. It's reported that Fiddy also has a big deal on the table with the black South African billionaire Patrice Motsepe who's made his fortune in mining minerals such as gold & platinum.

Jay-Z didn't do too shabby this year finishing second in overall earnings for the past year with $82 million dollars. Jay-Z most notable business move made last year was his 10 year deal worth $150 Million with concert promoter Live Nation.

Sean Combs aka "Diddy" produced $35 Million in revenue last year due to the success in the premium vodka Ciroc & his Sean John clothing lines.

Even the producers slash rappers pulled a great payday over the course of last year as Kanye West grossed a reported $30 million dollars while Timbaland raked in $22 Million.

Completing the top 10 on Forbes' "Hip Hop Cash Kings 2008" are Pharrell Williams ($20 million), Swizz Beatz ($17 million), Snoop Dogg ($16 million), Dr. Dre ($15 million), and Ludacris ($14 million).

Billboard magazine has placed Ciara on the August 2nd cover of the magazine. According to the upcoming article, Ciara has more projects in the works including a new movie, album, & modeling contract.

Download "Click" by Ciara

Here is some interesting video of 50 Cent reflecting on various things
going on in his life. The video is rather compelling as 50 Cent talks
about his grandparents, not being able to see his son, and the recent
sales disappointment of G-Unit's "Terminate On Site" album. With so
many heartfelt things going on in 50 Cent's life good or bad, it
appears that he has yet to figure out that in order to become a truly
legendary artist he must grow. Near the end of the video 50 Cent is
still talking about sales & appears to very disappointed. The answers
to 50 Cent's perceived creative slump is right in front of his eyes &
yet he's still talking about sales instead of subject matter. 50
needs to tap more into his life experiences & create more songs
dealing with his son, family, and other aspirations. (Could he
possibly longing to eventually getting married? Check the video!)

The parallels are similar with a few mega hip hop artists that have
made money, but yet are afraid to re-invent themselves
& bleed, sweat, & cry in their music. Many people criticized
Jay-Z's "Kingdom Come" album saying it was a failure, but
we beg to differ. When Kingdom Come was released, Jay-Z was
a 40 year old emcee who was unmarried and childless.
Although he was financially successful, the album did a
great job in tapping into what Shawn Carter was feeling on a
personal level. Jay-Z was merely the persona or action
movie character that Shawn Carter had carried throughout
his career the same with what Curtis Jackson has done
with 50 Cent. Rattled by all the negative reviews about the
Kingdom Come project, Jay-Z came back with the half
assed "American Gangster" album which pretty much rehashed the
same subject matter on many of Jay's previous albums.
Quite frankly Jay-Z got scared & didn't understand that in
order to be a great artist, you have to take risks that many
would find to be unpopular especially if it's within your heart.

Marvin Gaye, Ray Charles, Bob Marley, & many legendary artists took
risks & spoke on things that were personal & didn't bend to the
pressure. In most of the cases, the rewards were greater for these
legendary artists. We're not saying 50 Cent should do a complete 180
& turn around rapping about saving the animals & the planet, but he
needs to tone down the "Arnold Swarzennegger"
& try getting his "Tom Hanks" on.Tom Hanks went from being
just a comic to becoming a greater artist simply by
reinventing himself & talking on projects that matter to him.

After looking at this video, we can't help but think that 50 Cent
really wants to be with his son, wants to eventually be married like
his grandparents, & ultimately wants to be considered one of the
greatest hip hop artists of all time. With the disappointing sales
of the recent G-Unit album, maybe he will discover the obstacles that
many of us already see that's keeping him from being a greater artist.