Apple to launch 50 Cent-branded low-cost Macs?

“In rap years, Chris Lighty, 37, is something of an old-timer,” Lea Goldman reports for Forbes. “Lighty, founder of New York’s Violator Management & Records, is one of the industry’s most influential talent managers, guiding the careers of hip-hop headliners like Busta Rhymes, Missy Elliott and, of course, Fifty Cent.”

Goldman reports, “He’s currently negotiating with Apple Computer Chief Steve Jobs over a Fifty-branded line of low-cost computers. ‘He is setting a new standard in the music business,’ says Lighty. ‘Let’s just say we get each other.'”

Full article (free registration required) here.

MacDailyNews Take: Would the Apple Mac mini 50 Cent Special Edition massacre the competition?

[UPDATE: 6/20, 10:01 am EDT: Fixed iTunes link on the word “massacre” in the MDN Take.]

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97 Comments

  1. I work at AppleCare and I tell you I DO NOT want to take support calls from the Boys in the Hood. I will quit first. They don’t even speak English! Let them talk to Indian support and they can butcher English together.

  2. This guy thinks he’s making some sort of business move. I don’t think he gets anything, but thinks Jobs wants to make money.

    If this happens, I would consider switching. Windows, doubtful. Linux, here I come.

  3. The 50 cent Mac is going to be nothing more than Apple handing out the address of someone who actually brought a Mac.

    Brilliant strategy. gets a Mac into the hands of someone who wouldn’t pay for it anyway, and the old owner buys a new one with the insurance money.

    Apple will double market share overnight!

  4. Actually it could help with the iTunes-iPod halo effect if you would have a music brand branded computer. Think of a U2 iPod with a matching computer.

    Also why not now have a Disney branded Mac Mini? or even the new eMacs that is Disney branded.

  5. this guy thinks what he try for business with Apple is smart, good. but ha has no idea how to handle. he also misunderstands as if he is really an important person. there is always limited ability for this kind of guy who didn’t have proper education or experience on real business, intelligent world. well, he can’t. he just buy laywer to talk, show off his money $67 millions. but he got nothing in his brain. so sad. this society is so weird how possibly ex convic can be successful, make tons of money with selling bad stuff, nothing respect. his movie was totally worse. I don’t know why he made it. he wanted us to feel something? I don’t think so. this is pathetic, shame to show such a rude, unrespected life to public. that’s why education is so important. I really hope that this rumors or news(?) is left as unrealistic.

  6. To “edward”

    Please, tell me your post was a joke. You’re talking about the importance of education? How about you learn to complete a proper sentence before saying things about others.

    -G-

  7. Rap sucks. The rap “culture” sucks.

    Apple should not stoop to doing business with thugs.

    To achieve this goal, Apple should work with Jesse Jackson or Joseph Lowery. Someone with substance.

  8. I call fud on this story. As a person of darker skin persuasion, I find that 50 cent does not represent anything good or positive. How about LL Cool J. He should have a Mac named after him if any rapper should. He has always been positive. Or maybe Mos Def……sigh

  9. “Ampar, I thought only Janet Jackson had a ‘nipple-slip’…what about Christina’s? lol”

    She showed off her recent piercing to the press, Luc. If you can’t make it with talent . . .

  10. “Greg: Perhaps English isn’t edward’s native language. This is an interntional forum.”

    True. I speak German very badly. Some Polish. And once, Swahili only because the meal tab was at stake.

  11. I’m contemplating to Google it or continue my work….
    Then again, no chance my nipple will get so much attention and adding more to her nipple would eventually only feel depressing.

    MW: chance, no chance to beat her nipple’s press-attention.

  12. I’m extremely skeptical about this, but it would likely be a very good thing if it does happen…a Mac system at a lower price point than a mini would probably do more for Apple’s market share than all the ‘Get a Mac’ ads in the world.

  13. But what this would do is take away from he premium you pay for the better experience. Apple was never in it to sell shitty computers at bargain basement prices, like so many others **coughDELLcough**. They create a standard for computing. This is as stupid as licensing OS X to run on anyone’s hardware. bad idea. End of story.

    Plus, what bothers me is he said that he was in it for the business, which is not what a man like Jobs is in it for. he’s stated it on more than one occasion and his annual salary also exemplifies that point. There is no way something like this is even fathomable. Jobs isn’t Gates. his isn’t looking to make a quick buck and destroy it, and move on to the next scam. Thanks, but no thanks.

  14. deleted, quoting: “d’orly: “Rap and hip-hop have been around for some 25 years. That’s 10% of American history. It’s here to stay. It’s American culture.”

    The same can be said for syphilis.”

    Hmm. Syphilis is (at least) hundreds of years old, much older than the United States, is curable, and is a bacterial disease, not a cultural artifact. So no, the same cannot be said for syphilis.

  15. I gots the fuzz straight from 50¢ hizself. The new 50¢ edition Mac mini will be plated in 100% imitation gold, know what i’m sayin’. It comes on a chain soz you can wear it around yo neck, sucka. It’z empty on the inside – you gotsta steal the components yo self. It’z a DIY thang. Word.

  16. just a question…

    if race is determined by ethnic background and place of birth, should not all people born and raised in one country be of the same race?

    MW : “rate” close, but not quite

  17. I wuz bustin with some slammin’ business plans with da Steve-O until he found out I had a song that wasn’t jivin’ wid hiz trademark. He said if I ain’t outta Cupertino by sundown he wuz gonna pop a cap in my ass so far i’d be whistling out my pee hole, know what i’m sayin’. I’ve been tryin’ for two dayz to shit out that 5th gen pod too – he is one bad-ass muthafuqa.

    http://www.lyricsandsongs.com/song/18327.html

  18. Here’s the real story courtesy of http://rinkworks.com/dialect/ – The Dialectizer. Type in a URL or put some text in the text box, pick your dialect (redneck, moron, jive etc.) and let ‘er rip. The more serious the news/story is the funnier it becomes. Here’s the low-down on 50 cent with the jive translation

    “De hip-hop star who “put Lambo’ghini doo’s on dat Es-co-lade” be now lookin’ t’Apple Clunker fo’ help in placin’ affo’dable clunkers in de hands uh de less wealdy. Slap mah fro! Acco’din’ t’Fo’bes, rappuh’ 50 Cent be currently in negotsiashuns wid Apple’s chief ‘esecutive Steve Jobs t’produce some line uh affo’dable crib clunkers fo’ inner-city residents. “I’m creatin’ some foundashun dat gots’ta be around fo’ some long time, cuz’ fame kin mosey on down and go o’ dig lost in de lifestyle and da damn splurgin’,” 50 Cent told da damn publicashun. “I neva’ gots into it fo’ de beat. ah’ gots into it fo’ de business.” De negotsiashuns between de rappuh’ and Apple is fo’ some “brandin’ deal.” 50 Cent ranks amongst da damn wo’ld’s richest celebrities, rakin’ in upside $67 million in 2005 fum reco’d sales and brandin’ deals dat include some line uh sneakers, some video game and his G-Unit clodin’ line. “[Jobs] be settin’ some new standard in de beat business,” said 50’s manager, Chris Lighty. Slap mah fro! “Let’s plum say we dig each oder. Ah be baaad…” 50 Cent’s untitled dird album be due out by Christmas.”

  19. wow – i’ve been using this site for nearly two years.

    the level of racism / stereotyping here is astounding.

    after this post i’ll no longer be a user – and i’ll be letting other mac users i know who use the site to not use it either.

    the amount of times the notion of a mac user being more intelligent is banded about could be broken by any windows user reading this single page.

  20. I have to agree with long-time-user. I have been irritated for some time now by MDN’s consistently negative and defensive tone. This site is going downhill rapidly. This thread has really brought the bigots and racists to the fore and it’s the final straw for me.

  21. Michael Dell News, Microsoft Dumb News, n now racism.
    It already makes me sick to my stomach when you fanboi always tell apple will make no mistake, n apple is always the best no matter how.
    keep humiliating microsoft n dell because you have no more mac news to steal from other websites,
    flame mac users to get more traffic,
    n now you also include racism to make the party merrier huh?

    I’ve always been checking this site almost thrice a day, looking for good mac news, but with the decreasing intellegence this site has, it’s now time to switch.
    I’m not worried at all as there’s so many better sites out there, without flame or comments ala fanboi n racism.

    goodluck MDN, you’ve officially become KKK super affiliate!

    Time to SWITCH guys! switch to a better mac news site!

  22. It is not racism you liberal hippie morons. You could make the same comment about Eminem. The comment is aimed at the rap CULTURE, not 50’s race.

    Rap culture hurts the black community of the U.S. more than anything else right now. But instead of attacking it, the black community supports it… the real problem is with people like Jesse Jackson who refuse to point out the obvious and keep their children from idolizing sexist thugs, also known as rap artists.

    Well said MDN, anything that brings out the truth about rap is a good thing.

  23. Someone who thinks that rap hurts the black community is so lost in their own version of reality that they need a logic rope to help them back. Here goes:

    Music is an expression of culture. It’s not the other way around.

    When the culture changes, so does the music. And guess what? There’s TONS of great rap that isn’t “gangsta” out right now. In fact, I would say that the trend is away from gangsta rap in the last few years.

    As for raps influence, well, it’s probably the most influential musical art form since rock and roll. It spread throughout the whole world, and is currently the biggest form of music in the world. Now do you think that it spread that far and wide because it changed people’s culture’s, or do you think it spread so fast and far because people relate to it on a universal level. To me, the answer is obvious.

  24. I used to work in a federal “detention center” aka “day care for hoodlums”. I can assure anyone that Mozart, Bread, and Paul Simon were not the dominant music artists favored by the resident population. This isn’t stereotyping or race baiting, it’s statistics. If rap is a cultural phenomenon, it is certainly is a trend in all the best prisons, jails, and holding cells.

  25. Bwahahahhaaaha– G-Spank did you just type that with straight face? ‘Cause I just spewed my coffee! Great stuff. “expression of culture”– more like expression CRAP….”most influential musical art form since R n R” — it’s also the main influence that most music now is absolute sh%t, performed by rank amateurs of the lowest common denominator. Yeesh..

  26. Another murdering rap star!!! Great!! Let’s see the ad for that. Show another punk raper getting his head blown off, by another raper with his Glock turned sideways and in the butt of the gun there is a new Death iPod.

  27. Hey you know I don’t think mdn needs defending but do you guys (claiming racism) listen to some on the lyrics for rap or dance hall music. Saying some one is going to “massacre the competition” is like saying they are going to kick ass. In this type of culture you can throw out all kinds of phrases that can be taken literally or you can absorb it as being part of the culture. Are you so far out of the eubonics culture that you can’t see that. Well I might be wrong but thats the way I’ll take it.

    The Cups half full.

  28. The new Intel based Rap killing micro computer. It is flashed based, so you can kill your fellow raper and not damage your data! Small enough to use as a sex toy for your bitches and deadly enough to kill you best friend who disted you. Apple computer, the rapers only killing tool!!

  29. One thing that most on here fail to see is that Hip-hop, no matter the stereotype that most of people have on here, makes money lots of it for that matter.

    50 cent alone has generated more than $600 million in revenues and has a massive fan base. Apple is also into making money, it seems it would be a great fit to take a money generating star slap his name on some low-end hardware, that the financially challenge members of the urban community (who follow 50) can afford to buy.

    My last point the biggest consumer of hip-hop is not the black community or urban america. Its white suburban kids, they are the ones who have the disposable income to actually buy all t-shirts, cds, movies and video games.

  30. Point of this article aside, it doesn’t surprise me the amount of ignorance or just plain racism in some of these comments. 50 Cent is a rapper so he automatically can’t speak proper english and is nothing but a thug. Nice.

  31. As with EVERY genre of music, there are artists and songs in them that do SUCK. In the case of rap/hip-hop there is a fierce competition between producers and most of the time, the 90% of garbage you hear on the radio is the fault of the label or producer. Every genre has revolutionaries, inspiring artists, and those that make music which actually conveys ideas. In fact, you’ll find that on a global scale, rap is a vehicle for many politically charged musicians around the world. Only in the USA do we find an over-abundance of bad hip hop. You just have to sift through these and find the gems.

    See Boogie Down Productions (KRS-One), Common, The Perceptionists… most of the good stuff exists on smaller labels.

    …That being said, I think 50 Cent is a fad. If Apple teams up with this guy they should make a gun metal black Mac Mini that is bullet proof. ” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”smile” style=”border:0;” />

  32. MDN Mac Observer… both sites tend to rapidly fill with racist, sexist or homophobic comments when articles like this appear.

    Mac Users are supposed be among the “Creative Class”… how sad it is when such viral, venomous comments are tossed around just because a Black Man wants to set up a foundation to provide low cost computers to inner city youth.

    You punks need to look inward and ask yourselves WHAT ARE YOU REALLY AFRAID OF?

  33. a match made in heaven

    I’ll take a cheaper mac… right over here… pelase …. PELASE!!!>!?!?!?

    really guys.. we need a cheaper alternative.. and they can do it..

    I make less than 20k a year, and I traded in my AMD 2500+ winblows machine in for a G4 400Mhz about a year ago… the 400 is better than windows any day of the week.. but man, sometimes.. its just a little toooooo sloooow

    so bring it on.. core solo, 865 chipset?? we’ll see..

    FIDDY CEN!

  34. I’m with Dennis. So long MDN. You bunch of racist babies that cry about Hip Hop “Destroying America”. I thought it was gay marriage, hussein, flag burning, WMDs, civil liberties that were destroying America? You know even when it was bin laden destroying America I knew it was the “rap culture”.

    MW: Today as in today is the last time I visit this ad infested-racist-crybaby-circle jerk we call mac daily news.
    Tell Cletus and Festus I’m gone after they get back from the cross burning.

  35. Since when were the buyers of Apple’s products limited to white, suburban, european-suv-driving, latte-sipping, NPR listeners?

    The intelligence of the comments to postings on this site have gone down hill. While I don’t believe in censorship, I do think that MDN should do a bit more moderation.

  36. Speaking as a white urban baby boom generation (fiddy-year) and poor…sure looks like a lot o racist commments to me. If it means <I> could afford a NEW unit, and upgrade from this 233mhz WallStreet, then it works for me.

    BTW, how much does iTunes make on rap downloads, ya think?

  37. Life’s not been good to you
    It’s just not fair
    You did nothing to deserve it
    You did nothing at all
    Sit back and watch
    It turns from bad to worse
    No matter how loud you cry
    It always hurts

    Boy I’m glad I’m not in your shoes

    How could things
    Get any worse for you?
    You’re so fucking alone
    How could things
    Get any worse for you?
    I don’t blame you when you piss and moan

    Everybody gets
    What you should’ve got
    Everybody takes
    Your opportunities
    Everybody gets
    The breaks that belonged to you
    Everbody takes
    Your just desserts

    Life’s not been good to you
    It’s just not fair
    I’ve got some news for you
    Nothing is fair
    I wish their was a way
    To make it all better
    I pray for a way
    To make you happy
    ‘Cause I’m sick
    And I’m tired
    Of your whining, complaining, and pissing and moaning
    BOO FUCKIN HOO

  38. <“50 Cent is a rapper so he automatically can’t speak proper english and is nothing but a thug. Nice.”>

    Hi I’m 50 cent. Here’s the lyrics to a song I wrote. It’s called “I’ll Whip Ya Head Boy”. You can read more of my great stuff at http://www.azlyrics.com/19/50cent.html . Thanks for all your money suckas.

    I’ll Whip Your Head Boy, you know I will
    I’ll Whip Your Head Boy, with the back of the steel
    I’ll Whip Your Head Boy, your cap could get peeled
    I’ll Whip Your Head Boy, your ass could get killed

    2 niggaz in the front, 2 niggaz in the back
    thats 4 niggaz ridin’ strapped in grandpa’s Cadillac
    the voice in my head say fuck all these niggaz
    then i start thinkin’, i should rob all these niggaz
    man my homies they wan’ do whateva i wan’ do
    i say i wan’ eat they say shit we wan’ eat to
    lets ride around find a nigga stuntin’ on first street
    with the shine’s on niggaz be lookin’ like lunch meat
    i run up on a nigga, pop one on the floor
    tell um come up off that shit ‘fore we start poppin’ some more
    fuck a ski mask, man niggaz know who i iz
    i got a full clip and niggaz know i get biz

    I’m up early in the mornin’, tryna make a move
    You comin’ in here with me shorty take your lil’ one to school
    even though she cause the drama, you love your baby momma
    i hit her with the llama to get this cake
    Give us the coke, the cash, the combo to the safe
    oh she don’t know it, damn, ok we’ll wait
    i play with your kid on the couch, while your bitch on the phone
    with a gun to her head sayin’ daddy come home
    you was rollin’ poppin’ bubbly, didn’t think it get ugly
    in the hood shit is lovely until it go bad
    now you can pray for a miracle and God might be hearin’ you
    and the 9 will jam, right in my hand

    I got his homies screamin’ Buck you need to calm down
    niggaz be gettin’ killed everytime you come around
    we ran up in his crib made his momma kiss the ground
    she askin’ God, what my baby dunn did now?
    im takin’ everythang, jewellry i want it all
    duck tape him up, rip the phone cords out the wall
    fuck waitin’ we can startin’ waitin’ on tomorrow
    so ask Satan if he got a car that i can borrow
    im inpatient like a money hungry rap star
    i jack him for his chain and i can get a new Jaguar
    the mack i have his brains all over the fuckin’ sidewalk
    and i’ma be on CNN again it ain’t my fault
    march nigga step, right nigga lef’
    G-Unit soldier i’m thuggin’ till my death

  39. Black males = genetically too much testostertone = explosive behavior = lowest life expectancy.

    Calm down and live. Set stability as a life long goal.

    You only live once and nobody will care about you when your dead or in jail.

  40. Good thing we can’t talk about Jews on here, or a post might get deleted.

    Jews are like Christians, many ethic origins, mostly slightly different flavors of religious thought. Brainwashed like most of the world’s religions and hate mongers.

    There is a particular branch of Judaism that attempts to keep itself “racially pure”, unfortunately these people suffer from incredible genetic problems from too much inbreeding.

    Much like a lot of rednecks.

    Here’s to keeping Apple a pure white institution. It’s not like anyone else has to use their products

    Apple is far from that, in thought and in the personnel they hire.

  41. what? 50-cent branded mac? Thats the most random thing ive ever heard. it just doesnt make sense. i mean, the U2 iPod i think is kinda wierd, but i geuss it makes sense, but what the hell doesnt 50-cent have to do with a low-end mac?

  42. i will never buy any mac signed by this drugdealer. he spends more bucks on cars, jewelery, girls and “colombian flour” than any public school in USA on educational needs. If its not a humbug – apple makes me sick.

  43. i understand that some white spend tyme criticizing blacks and vise-versa.is it becaue you are bored, have nothing interesting to talk about or just in denial of the fact that globalisation has struck and us business people dont see the colour difference?anyway i dont expect ignorant folks to understand what i mean. do you know that this so called urban music generates billions of dollars for most corporate folks, even microsoft is joining in the whole entertainment boom?most people on this site who still sees colour as a difference will definetly struggle in the future (if they have any). your white and black children are coming together slowly but surely and most racist will die bitter and lack understanding.oops!i have to go to an elite meeting with my million -dollar white and black partners.stay focused,make money and stop moaning, life is too short. peace to you all.

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