Bitcoin Accepting Rap Mogul 50 Cent Files Bankruptcy
50 Cent, who accepts Bitcoin for his online shop, has filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy under his legal name Curtis James Jackson II in bankruptcy court in Connecticut. The rapper has played off the filing as a cost of doing business, even making light of the situation, recently posing next to a smart car for an Instagram photo as if to make fun of his current circumstances. The Southpaw actor has been open about his decision to file for chapter 11.
“I’m taking the precautions that any other good businessperson would take in this situation,” the rapper told E! News about his current bankruptcy filings. “You know when you’re successful and stuff, you become a target. I don’t wanna be a bull’s eye. I don’t want anybody to pick me as the guy that they just come to with astronomical claims and go through all that,” the rapper says about his choice to file. 50 Cent takes a realistic approach to his most recent business decision.
“Walt Disney has filed bankruptcy. Donald Trump has filed bankruptcy,” he said. “It means you’re reorganizing your finances, but it does stop things from moving forward that you don’t want moving forward.” He isn’t worried, and he doesn’t think you should be either: “I gotta decent legal team,” he added. “You don’t have to worry.”
In the legal filings, 50 Cent claims his assets are worth between $10 million and $50 million, the same range as his listed liabilities. The debts are primarily consumer debts and his estimated number of creditors is listed as between 1 and 49.
“This filing for personal bankruptcy protection permits Mr. Jackson to continue his involvement with various business interests and continue his work as an entertainer, while he pursues an orderly reorganization of his financial affairs,” 50 Cents attorney William A. Brewer III said in a statement Monday.
50 Cent accepted Bitcoin for his latest album, Animal Ambition, stating, “All money is money” in interviews at the time. In a Reddit AMA , 50 Cent expanded on his acceptance of Bitcoin through BitPay: “Stay with times. [T]echnology is what’s changing the business gotta get with it. I take money no matter if its coins or dollars.” Alongside 50 Cent, Nas and Snoop Dogg have also promoted Bitcoin in their own ways. To shop for 50 Cent material with Bitcoin, you can visit the rapper’s online shop. In his book The 50th Law, 50 Cent imparts some of the wisdom he has learned in his life.
Reassess Yourself — Detachment: Your increasing powers of observation must occasionally be aimed at yourself. Think of this as a ritual you will engage in every few weeks — a rigorous reassessment of who you are and where you are headed. Look at your most recent actions as if they were the maneuvers of another person… The goal here is not to beat up on yourself but to have the capacity to adapt and change your behavior by moving closer to the reality.
In his book, the rapper states that there is only one thing we can control — “the mind-set with which we respond to these events around us. If we are able to overcome our anxieties and forge a fearless attitude toward life, something strange and remarkable can occur — that margin of control over circumstances increases. At its utmost point we can even create the circumstances themselves…” How do we free ourselves? The rapper thinks he has some insight.
To free yourself from fear you must work backward. You start with the thought of your mortality. You accept and embrace this reality. You think ahead to the inevitable moment of your death and determine to face it as bravely as possible. The more you contemplate your mortality, the less you fear it — it becomes a fact that you no longer have to repress. By following this path, you know how to die well, and so you can now begin to teach yourself to live well.
Among 50 Cent’s most successful business ventures are his investments in Vitamin Water, off which he made upwards of $100 million when the product was sold to Coca-Cola, the biggest brand in the world; his G-Unit clothing line; SMS Audio, which he envisages as the Lucasfilms of music; a philanthropic effort to feed children through Street King energy shots; and, Thisis50.com, his music oriented social networking site;. and his work as an actor, namely in the film Southpaw. The rapper joins a long list of celebrity figures who have filed for bankruptcy, including musicians Toni Braxton, MC Hammer, Tom Petty, Marvin Gaye and Wayne Newton.
Featured image from Shutterstock.
