50 Cent

It's like Paul McCartney's stuck in my head,

He fell in love with a bitch, 
She walked away on one leg,

She ain't even have to run to get away with the bread

From his 2009 song, "Do You Think About Me?"  50 Cent -- who was born Curtis James Jackson III -- is not one of your more politically correct rappers.

The woman that "Fittie" is rapping about here, of course, is Heather Mills, a model who lost part of her left leg when she was hit by a motorcycle in 1993 and who married Paul McCartney in 2002.  A London judge awarded Mills £24.3 million (which is the equivalent of about $39 million) when the couple were divorced in 2008. 

But don't cry for Sir Paul.  His net worth at the time was estimated at £450 million (roughly $720 million).  He can afford quite a few more bad romances.

50 Cent

Please don't interrupt me 
When I'm talkin' to my jeweler

He's puttin' them diamonds 
All over my Franck Muller

From "OK, You're Right," the lead single from his 2009 album, Before I Self Destruct.

Rappers loves expensive watches.  A search of http://www.rapgenius.com/ for various high-end watch brand names turned up 84 mentions of Rolex, 44 mentions of Audemars Piguet, and 15 mentions of Breitling, just to name a few.  

Franck Muller is a Swiss luxury watch I was not familiar with, but it seems to be 50 Cent's favorite.  Muller watches carry the slogan "Master of Complications."  A "complication" is a watchmaking term meaning something that a watch does in addition to telling you the time -- e.g., day, date, year, phase of the moon, etc.  

Muller's Aeternitas Mega 4 has 36 complications, making it the most complex watch ever made.  It sells for $2.7 million, but you can get a simpler Franck Muller watch for less than $10,000.

50 Cent

I take quarter water 

Sold it in bottles for two bucks, 

Coca-Cola came and bought it 

For billions, what the f**k?

Have a baby by me, baby 

Be a millionaire 

I write the check before the baby comes, 

Who the f**k cares? 

From his 2007 song, "I Get Money."

50 Cent -- who didn't drink alcohol and was a workout fanatic -- was a big fan of the enhanced water called VitaminWater.  When Glacéau, the company that made VitaminWater, decided to introduce a new product called "Formula 50," 50 Cent agreed to an endorsement deal.  But instead of taking his payment in cash, he got a piece of the company.

In 2007, Glacéau was sold to Coca-Cola for $4.1 billion.  50 Cent's payout was estimated at somewhere between $60 million and $100 million.

"Quarter-waters" (which used to sell for 25 cents) were Kool-Aid-like flavored drinks sold in plastic bottles at every convenience store and bodega in the 'hood.  (Formula 50 costs a little more.)  50 Cent's favorite flavor?  Grape, of course.    

50 Cent

I bring the straps out

The Tec and the Mac out

The Sig and the Taurus!

The Koch and that Heckler . . .

You want some? Come get some!

Nigga, it's murder one when you see my gun

I just squeeze and squeeze 
'Til the whole clip done

You just bleed and bleed 
'Til the police come

From his 2009 album, "Before I Self-Destruct."  (Sounds like it's too late!)  All of August's "Rap Friday" posts will feature 50 Cent's lyrics.

Curtis Jackson (a/k/a/ "50 Cent") began drug dealing when he was 12.  When he was 25, he was shot nine times at close range, but was fully recovered within six months.

MAC-10

50 Cent has quite a selection of guns ("straps") in this song.  The "Tec" is presumably the TEC-22, a semi-automatic handgun, but could also refer to the TEC-9, an inexpensive machine pistol that was used at the Columbine High School massacre and subsequently banned by name in a 1994 federal statute.  The MAC-10 is another well-known machine pistol. 

SIG-Sauer, Taurus, and Heckler & Koch are all well-known small-arms manufacturers that produce a variety of weapons.  

50 Cent

They say first comes love, 
Then comes marriage

Instead I got Shanequa in a baby carriage

Then came the cash, 
Then the baby mama drama

I gave that bitch a half a mill, 
She blew it on Prada

I remember when I met the bitch

And she ain't have nada

From "So Disrespectful," which appeared on his 2009 Before I Self Destruct album.  Kanye West isn't the only rapper who saw the rhyming potential of "Prada" and "nada."

[Warning: the lyrics to this song are explicit with a capital E!]