Who You Are is Where Your Mom is From

Understanding the gifts Jackson's mother bought him were from drug money, the house being crowded, broken down and not feeling the sense of having a real family was rough (Cent). But because not one person on the earth's surface can decide where or what family they are born into, Jackson took the struggle as an opportunity; being from the Southside was going to be his win (Huguenin). Some children are born poor with no visible escape, some are born in the middle class, and others are born into fortunes and sometimes, even fame. Although Jackson is who he is today, wealthy and famous, he was not one of the children born into this. Jackson was born into the lower middle class, the South Side of Queens, with no escape he could reach. The South Side of Queens around the year he was born, 1975, was declared "the largest officially designated poverty area in Queens" by the Human Resources Administration. In the late 1960s and continuing through the 1970s, South Jamaica and other Southeast Queens neighborhoods saw increasing rates of drug sales and usage, including cocaine and heroin epidemics. In In the 1980s and 1990s, South Jamaica was one of several New York City neighborhoods victimized by the national crack cocaine epidemic (Brown). So, being born into an area with gang violence and drugs might not acquire everyone into that lifestyle; but for Jackson, it was different (Huguenin). Jackson's family, especially his mother, being born into the South Side of Queens caused her to get sucked up into that life. She was one of the hottest drug dealers of the area and got murdered because of that. So by the time, Jackson was born, drugs and violence were at the peek. And the drug dealer career was always seeking for employment, although the rate of drug dealers was not low. But if Jackson's mother hadn't been so into that life, and caused Jackson to be born into it, Jackson would not have taken the path he did, which caused him to be 50 Cent, a similar name to a local drug dealer in the 60s, today (Brown).

Brown, Ethan. Queens reigns supreme: Fat Cat, 50 Cent and the rise of the hip-Hop hustler. Anchor Books, 2005.

Huguenin, Patrick. “50 Cent writes about his life.” NY Daily News, 23 Oct. 2007, www.nydailynews.com Accessed Oct. 27 2017

“50 Cent.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 5 May 2017, www.biography.com. Accessed Oct 24, 2014