The E Word with Karen & Brittany

Unmasking Diddy: Power, Image, and 50 Cent’s Calculated Callout

• Karen McFarlane and Brittany S. Hale • Season 3 • Episode 9

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The Diddy documentary (Sean Combs: The Reckoning) doesn’t just revisit an era; it puts a magnifying glass on how power moves through music, media, and myth. We examine what the four-part series actually shows beyond headlines and why the tight storytelling lands more like a character study than a scandal reel.

From the Uptown days to global branding, we trace how image-making blurred into control, how a reality TV “work ethic” morphed into coercion in plain sight, and why long-whispered rumors hit differently when receipts and context are layered in.

We explore the psychology of proximity, the business of silence, and why selective amends fall short of accountability. 50 Cent’s role as executive producer adds another meta-layer: does motive distract from method or sharpen the message?

If you care about hip-hop history, media literacy, and the ethics of power, this one sharpens the lens.

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Karen McFarlane:

Hi Brittany. I see Mina in the screen. She's awake today. She is awake. She is awake. No guarantees for the rest of the episode. But yeah, little catnap. I don't know if that's rude to her, but a little nap before we start it. Well, I think that, you know, if she falls asleep, then we have our inform. We need to know, we know what we need to do better next time if she falls asleep. Exactly. Exactly.

Brittany S. Hale:

As our executive producer, she's always giving us feedback. It's important.

Karen McFarlane:

Exactly. Exactly. Well, I'm really excited to talk to you today about this hot topic.

Brittany S. Hale:

I when I'm telling you, I have been chomping at the bit. I could not wait to talk to you about this.

Karen McFarlane:

Please. Everybody, everybody and their mama is talking about this topic. So, but we have hot takes on this. So if you have not yet watched the Diddy documentary, all right, which is Sean Combs The Reckoning produced, exactly produced by uh 50 Cent, right? Then add it to your watch list. Look, there are people out there saying don't watch it, but we'll talk a little bit about that. But add it to your, we're recommending that you add it to your watch list because we always want you to be informed, right? Um, and then you make your own decisions at the end of the day. But I don't know if there's anyone in the world that does not know who Sean Combs, aka P. Diddy, aka Puff Daddy, aka Puffy is. Right. I think everybody and their mother knows about them, and their daddy and the grandmother and the grandkids, right? So, but one of the most prolific music producers of all time. I think we can all agree on that. I think it is also safe to say that he created an era of music that will never be forgotten, particularly among Gen X and some millennials as well. Yes. The king of the remix. And it's hard to think of particularly the 90s, without his influence on much of the music and many of the great talents that we still enjoy today. And this documentary, um, I guess an expose essentially into not just his activities, but his character and the psyche behind this P. Diddy personality. And I think it's important for the viewers to also understand and listeners that, you know, executive produced by 50 Cent, who's also a prolific rapper in the industry, and they have had their differences in the past. And many believe that it's been a long-going feud, and this might be some sort of revenge doc for 50 Cent. I don't personally believe that, but that is the narrative out there. Okay. So that's the setup, I think. What did I say?

Brittany S. Hale:

So when it comes to the revenge of it all, I've heard two big things, right? First, and this is something that 50 has brought up in numerous interviews, is that Divi offered to take him shopping, and he felt this was an offense of the highest order. Mm-hmm. Because he just said that's that's just not something you would do to another man if you didn't have ulterior motives behind that. Also mentioned his 50s very close relationship with now deceased when you rest in peace, music executive Chris Lighty. And the belief that Chris Lighty somehow allegedly met his end, and that somehow, some way Diddy it was allegedly connected to that, and that this is revenge from Diddy. I mean, from 50 to Diddy. And then of course, 50 is a cancer, Diddy is a super Scorpio. Here's both water signs, right? Water, like water signs that tend to rule the subconscious, that tend to rule the emotions, and tend to be very deep and profound in what they do and then how they start things. And Scorpio is a sign that tends to rule the underworld that has to do with a lot of death and rebirth, and you know, Scorpios have a particular persona in pop culture. And cancers and scorpios, when it's good, it's great. But hell hath no fury like a cancer scorn. That's it right there. That's it right there. If we believe that 50 is getting some revenge, what I learned watching was never never to cross a cancer.

Karen McFarlane:

Well, we already know that from experience, right? We know that from experience. His birthday is July 6, 1975.

Brittany S. Hale:

Okay, yeah, because he's in the middle of both of us with this July July cancers are are different.

Karen McFarlane:

We're different, okay. And here's the thing. He's saying that it had to do with that incident, and I believe him. Because, first of all, cancer is not lying like that, they're gonna tell you what it is, all right? However, that was the last straw. That's what it was. There was a pattern of behavior before that that either happened directly to him or he witnessed or he saw because cancers also in many ways are very righteous, okay? They do not like to see people hurt, they do not like to be hurt, they cannot see these offenses happening over and over and over and not want to do something. And so he saw a pattern of behavior, it offended him, and then something happened to him. More than likely, something else happened to somebody he cared about. Okay, more than likely, that's really what put him over, less about him, but that's the outward. That was one of the outward things that he's gonna talk about that he can definitively say. And he was like, okay. And here's the thing because he's a cancer, he's not gonna do it like show up at you know, bad boy offices and all of that stuff, right? Yeah, he's gonna use his resources and get at you the most diabolical way. He's gonna focus on what you care about most. And what did he care about most is his image and reputation and persona, and he's gonna get at you in that way. And worse, he's been thinking about this for a long time.

Brittany S. Hale:

And I just from the astro, again, Scorpios are represented by the scorpion, right? Which is kind of odd because, of course, it's a water sign represented by a land creature. But what's interesting about a scorpion is that they will they have their stinger on the back, right? And they will keep stinging even to their own detriment. What's interesting about cancers as represented by the crab, right? They have that shell, so there is that protective layer. But cancers are the only water sign that are represented by an animal or crustacean that can survive both on land and in water. All right, so there's this tenacity, if you will, this ability to survive, but also to your point, a crab is not just going to go directly at you, right? They move from the side. You're not gonna see them coming. You're not going to see them coming. And so what you said, it just reminded me. I said, absolutely, you're not gonna come up to bad boy offices, boom, I'm going to sting you. I'm gonna take a lap. I'm gonna take a lap. I'm gonna observe from land, go down into the ocean, think about it, come back, and then we see that quite frankly, the prosecutors in New York did a lot of the heavy lifting because we know that Sean Combs is currently serving a 50-month sentence for some crimes, charges. Yes, but none of what we saw in the documentary, which I think is really important. Yeah, correct.

Karen McFarlane:

Yeah, I think that um, you know, I always say this, like, especially with me, I'm like, you don't want me to really pay attention to you. Exactly. You you know and like when I stop paying attention to you, like if I'm not paying attention to you, fine, right? We just leave it alone. Don't come back and poke the bear. Because then when I've tried to like walk away from it and leave alone and like just avoid the conflict and just keep moving. Now you're baiting me, I gotta come back around to you. And you you you just you just you don't want that person, right?

Brittany S. Hale:

And so it's going to make you acutely aware of all of the patterns and behaviors that you might not have even been aware of. You don't want that, and you'll never forget.

Karen McFarlane:

And let me tell you, like in my earlier years, I was that person all the time, and I look back not so fondly on that version of Karen. And so I will try harder. Right? Karen evolved. Exactly.

Brittany S. Hale:

She shed that shell, you know, gum new one.

Karen McFarlane:

Um, and I would venture to say the 50 try, right? For a little while. I mean, yes, they were doing a little troll, like look the biggest troll on the internet, right? Like he's undefeated. But I venture to say that's because things were still happening, right? Um, and he was being taunted in certain ways, or just maybe not externally where we saw it. But uh again, it doesn't have to be directly at him, and it could just be about things in the world or things he cares about, right? And it just is piling up. And so it's like, all right, well, this is what I'm gonna do. And he did it in a way that leveraged his business sense too. So it's not gonna hurt him, right? It actually amplifies and helps him in a way.

Brittany S. Hale:

So it's more credibility to him. Yes. And again, you know, I was in what middle school, high school when 50 came out, and it was the rapper who was shot nine times, right? And so now, and at the time he was wearing like bulletproof vests and and everything. So to see him in a bespoke suit on Good Morning America chuckling with Robin Roberts has he has a completely different audience.

Karen McFarlane:

Yeah.

Brittany S. Hale:

That is now introduced to him and trusts him because he is seen as this kind of moral of this segment of music, right? Of hip-hop.

Karen McFarlane:

Yeah, and he he evolved in many different ways. Like he he grew in his own career. So before we started recording this, I was telling you about this girl group that me and my friend had started back in the day. Well, I love Karen. I really did. I did not tell you. One day we were all together. I know, we're at some hotel room somewhere. If my friend Cassandra was here, she'd remember all the details. So we'll have to hook you guys up so you can get the details. He met 50 before he was famous, and he was there and kicking it with the girls and stuff and us. And you know, he he rapped for us. We're like, hey, you know, do a little something. And he was very shy about it. Like we had to prompt him to do it. And he did, and he was dope, right? Like, you kind of knew like he was gonna go far. And then at some point later on, obviously he did. And my friend has stories about this because our mutual friend had managed him for a little while. He was over at JMJ, and then he got him out of JMJ, and then went over to Sony, and it was around that time, too, that he got shot. So, like, there's a lot of stuff going on there. But in particular, just because I had that moment with him, right? Not that we were friends or anything like that. It was just this really like simple, sweet moment of watching someone in that you didn't even know what was gonna happen with them, but because and he's evolved, and even you know, as he got his money, he focused on being a business person. I think he like invested in the world. He is the American dream. Exactly, right? So he's built this credibility over time, obviously using what he knows, learning, you know, and and and just growing in his television portfolio. Like it didn't, it made sense for him to do this, right? Like it wasn't something that was out of the blue. And he did it very well, right?

Brittany S. Hale:

Okay, can we talk about that? Because yes, businessman, accomplish rapper, all of these things, but he is a consummate storyteller. Yes, and he was able to do that through music, he's been able to do that through brand, right? Vitamin water, he was able to do that through power, which has all glued to our screens. Like no matter what season you came in, you were glued to this tale of someone really trying to evolve and move past his history, right? Past his past growth. And so when I was watching the documentary, as you said, it's about his character. It's not so much sure you have these uh these horrific actions, but the through line is who is this person? What makes a man? And what happens when you have power that goes unchecked? And it is such a tight, compelling, riveting story that he's able to tell in four hours.

Karen McFarlane:

Absolutely. It's not, in my view, salacious in any way. I mean, obviously, there are factual acts that P Diddy involved himself in.

Brittany S. Hale:

Right.

Karen McFarlane:

That wasn't, I mean, it's there, but it's that wasn't the focus, right? And so you're like, who is like you said, who is this man? Why did he become that? And I think it was very balanced. It's presentation. So it wasn't really, I don't think it didn't feel like to me that he was setting him up to be a villain. He was just in some ways explaining why he became the person that he can't he became from his childhood and what his aspirations were, who the people were around him that helped build up that psyche, people who enabled certain behaviors and didn't check it. You know, what happens when you amass that amount of power at such a young age and you don't have the proper role models or checks and balances around you, and what can happen, and how that filtered into those relationships that he had and why he was able to do what he was able to do for so long. I mean, some things are undeniable, right? I would venture to say, like, you know, some some things we don't have definitive proof over, right? But we can, I think, affirmatively say that he did abuse at least Cassie, right? At least we have proof of that, we have visual proof of that. I think we can also make some assertions because abusers don't typically just abuse one woman. We've heard allegations before and after that, right? And so we know that's part of what fueled some of his actions, right? And we also know, like in certain communities, these things are kind of prevalent, you know, in their environments and what's going on, and sadly in hip hop culture to some degree, right? And so that alone, even with everything else, right, warrants investigation and discovery and evaluation and understanding from a top figure, as I started off saying, right, um, in the music industry, who many of us were feared, revered, and many aspired to.

Brittany S. Hale:

Exactly. Exactly. I know someone who had a picture of Diddy in his office. It was like a still taken from a making the band episode. And again, you know, I grew up like you just you just heard the music everywhere, and so you just loved it. I think my first crush was like Mace or something. It's crazy, but you know, like all the the shiny. But when I was a teen, you had Making the Band, and we were all watching Making the Band. Did you know the the infamous walk from Manhattan to Brooklyn to get cheesecake? And so I I think about this because when I went to my friend's house and I saw this photo of Diddy, to him it symbolized like work ethic and just being completely uncompromising in reaching your goals. And so this weekend I actually texted him and I said, Hey, have you uh how's it going? See anything new on Netflix, you know, and he is just horrified. Mm-hmm. Yeah, and so it's you know, I I'm a millennial, right? My whole life has been built seeing people, seeing all of the heroes have these horrific, unsavory, uh personal lives that come to light, and just you know, being like, ah, okay. So you would think that we're used to it now, but I never forget that moment where you see someone just really have to reconcile the perception of who you think this person is and what you think they're about with the reality of who they actually are. Just 50 just does a really, really great job of taking off the mask.

Karen McFarlane:

Yeah, and what's it's hard, but at the same time, we all right, like we looked at say that one scene, and like you said, it you know, it was like hard work and you know, and you really want it that bad. But really, what it was was power over people because people didn't have that choice. It was either do it, go get me this cheesecake, or you're not gonna be here anymore. And that had nothing to do with music, exactly, or even business, right?

Brittany S. Hale:

Because I think, you know, we talk about the different Different types of power, you have legitimate power, which costs the title, you have referential power when you know a guy, you know. But we have this obsessive preoccupation with coercive power and humiliating people through use of this coercive power. And that to me is what makes it really sad. You know, I'm so I loved Danny D. Cain. I thought it was really cool to have these women from all these different walks of life come together. The music was great, we had a good time. Aubri O'Day was very clearly the lead. Mm-hmm. She was the bad girl in a sense, in that she pushed back. She advocated for herself. Now we know that she she was raised by two attorneys, so that was gonna happen, period. But when she was kicked out of the group, it was a huge moment. And now thinking back to my younger self, I'm trying to remember how I perceived it. I think maybe I thought that she was like making problems for the group or you know, something like that. And now coming around, even without the knowledge that she was humiliated, allegedly assaulted, and and really was propositioned by her boss in an inappropriate way and was being retaliated against for having said no. This was or not said anything, right? Not responding in the way that he wanted. I just look back and she's been so consistent. She has been pushed to the outskirts of pop culture and media because she has said the same thing for 20 years, which was this person's a monster, I am being harassed, intimidated, followed, I have had to move. You know, people sit outside at my house in front of these cars, I fear for my life, and we all just thought she's crazy.

Karen McFarlane:

Well, that's what you know, that's standard for women, right? Like, yep, we know, we always knew from what we heard, from the music, from the music lyrics, from the videos. We had all the information about how women were treated in the industry, but it was normal, right? There was no expectation for better, it's just what you had to deal with. And so the men were always believed they had the money and the power. People wanted that proximity and access. And so they wanted it at the expense of others, and that was normal, it was accepted and normal. And so we look back now and we have different values and ideals. We're like, oh, right. But we knew, you know, and again, as we've seen with Epstein, you know, Epstein Epstein and uh what's the guy from Weinstein and all the guys, right? Like we this is just the same playbook over and over again. So it's really not hard to imagine that someone like Diddy would have similar, you know, provocations, right? The thing though that I'm gonna give him credit, I have to give him credit for, which hurts my heart. Um, but he was an excellent marketer.

Brittany S. Hale:

Incredibly, no matter where you were, like I said, you know, I grew up, my parents listened to hip-hop as, you know, part of the culture. But at every developmental stage, he was there. Whether it was making the band, the voter die campaign, right? Like you felt a connection to him, and it he became bigger than hip-hop. Pop culture is in the movie Get Him to the Greek, right? Where he's playing a version of himself.

Karen McFarlane:

And it's like that one. Yeah, I mean it's a silly, silly movie, but in the movie, he he plays this ridiculous, ultra pushy executive, and it's not far off from who he actually was, but the point was the movie had nothing to do with hip hop, right? The uh I think uh the target audience probably weren't listening, but you still knew who he was. The whole ladies, babies, everybody in between knows Sean Combs. You might have met him as Puff, you might have met him as Puffy, you might have met him as Diddy, you might have met him as love, love.

Brittany S. Hale:

But yeah, I forgot about that.

Karen McFarlane:

That's been his most recent iteration, right? Before he before the case started, before he was arrested. Yeah. Decided to rebrand as love, which again is laughable where we are now, but that to me with my adult breed signaled, oh, you're in trouble.

Brittany S. Hale:

I mean, because you name yourself.

Karen McFarlane:

Well, you know, I I also think he's done it so many times. Like, so he's also a master of personal brand because no matter what he names himself, we still know who he is. And I also think he's great at it because he did transition generations, right? So, like, whereas maybe some of your fondest memories are like around making of the band, that's actually kind of when I stopped paying as much attention to him.

Brittany S. Hale:

Okay.

Karen McFarlane:

I felt like I was in this era of creation, right? Like this golden era of hip-hop.

Brittany S. Hale:

Okay.

Karen McFarlane:

And then things changed, and I didn't feel like he followed that in the same way. Like, obviously, you can't keep making the same music where you're gonna like it for 10, 15, 20, right? Like you're like, it's gotta change. But it changed and it wasn't the puffy, right? That I had grown up with, essentially, right? It was something different, and those artists were something different, and we were just in a different time. So it was less interesting to me. So that infamous scene, right, with him with bridge, I was like, why is he? I didn't like that. Like that didn't feel good to me. That didn't feel like more ethnic to me. As a matter of fact, I stopped watching it because I'm like, this feels like that he's taking advantage of people who just want to get a break, right? Like, you don't have to do this, right? Of course I'm older now, like I'm probably, I don't know, I'm probably in the workforce and stuff. Like, I'm I would never do this. I would walk away from this, right? Like I can get a different way. And so he became less relevant to me, but he picked up a whole nother generation, which just showed how transitional he eventually became. If I sit here right now and think about Puffy in current, in the current tense, right? Outside of these allegations, I only see him as Sirac. That's all I see. I don't recall anything else at the top of my mind, right? Maybe someone mentioned it to me. I was like, uh, right? But that's what he's synonymous with, is this liquor brand. That's it. I don't know what else he got going on. I don't know why anybody wants to go to a party. Like, I don't understand.

Brittany S. Hale:

Yeah, you know, and there was something uh I was speaking to a friend and she said, Oh my gosh, and there was a point where I'm trying to think, you know, where things got off. And it was when Cassie came out, I think maybe I was in high school, but he was with her at every interview, and people were kind of murmuring, like, are they, aren't they? And I remember in her interviews her saying, no, he's like a big brother, and and trying to redirect focus back to herself. And I remember thinking this doesn't make sense, right? I I wasn't I wasn't yet aware of all of the complicated power dynamics that come with being sexually exploited, but I just knew something was off. And then there were the infamous white parties that you always heard about in the Hamptons. And throughout my adult life, you stopped hearing about him hosting it, and instead it was uh it's um Michael Rubin who now hosts them. But over time, I said to myself, I don't remember when the switch happened. I just remember, you know, you see on social media people are going to this party. And then it just made me think, okay, well, what happened with him where he's no longer hosting it? Right. Almost like somebody else has been kinged or or knighted, you know, and and you've passed the torch, probably unwillingly. But that's where I started saying, like, yeah, then of course comes Sirac, and I just started viewing him in a different light, and his behavior became increasingly erratic and more difficult to explain away.

Karen McFarlane:

Right, right. He wasn't, it felt like for me, the persona that he had developed in the 90s obviously was emerging, um, but it was more fun, it was crazy, but fun, right? After Biggie died, and he did this, he came out with the song would sting. I started to start feeling kind of way because I just felt like he was celebrating the death rather than mourning. It didn't feel like a true mourning. It felt very exploitative to me. And then he skyrocketed, right? So it was like, you, I mean, it was still good music, right? So it was still like, hey, you know what I mean? But in the back of my mind, it was like that's kind of weird. Like, Biggie's gone, and you're at the top. It feels a little weird, but hey, the music's still good. So, anyway, that's I think it started to switch for me. It was like, what's what's really going on here? But you don't have all the information, you hear rumors. You know, look, you hear the rumors and you start to believe them. You know, as we were talking about before the show started, you know, being in the music industry and the periphery of it, really, you heard a lot of different things. And so the documentary to me, nothing was really shocking. It was more information and validation of various unproven things that I had heard, right? And that were normal, right? Again, like you don't think that it's it wasn't stated in the industry like, oh my God, puppy's not paying you, right? It was just like, yeah, right. All right, cool. Right? Like it was just like standard operating procedures. Um and then, you know, we've seen a lot of things throughout the years. So it was a lot of just like, oh, okay, nothing really new. I think the most uh pivotal person, though, in the documentary for me was his partner, Kirk Burroughs, co-founder of Bad Boys. For me, that was very telling. I hadn't seen him before. Maybe he has spoken out before, I'm not sure. I hadn't seen him. And so that was meaningful for me, for you to for you to do that. And you know, here's at the end of the day, when you don't treat people right, right, it will eventually come back to bite you one way or the other. Because people want to tell their story, especially when their story is being told for them or misrepresented in some way, right? And years of that can eat at people. And years of seeing someone else flourish amid their demise, you become resentful of those things. And you know, you can people can definitely make an argument that, you know, they're someone's mad because they got fired and you know, now they're revengeful in some sort of way. I guess that can be true. Or they had a real experience, okay, a really negative experience, and they've been silenced or haven't had a platform to speak about it, and they want to, and they deserve it.

Brittany S. Hale:

And I think people internalize their experiences. So I I have a friend who actually worked at, well, I guess in this Sean John vertical and shared that every time he was coming, it was almost like the Devil Wears Prada, where you know, they're like, She's coming, she's coming. Someone would come around and say he's coming, do not make eye contact with him, you know. And so my friend witnessed many meltdowns and felt afraid, but also said, Okay, well, I'm just gonna, you know, that was the experience, and no one else is doing anything about this, so I guess this is okay. And so we had a conversation about what they witnessed, and they said, you know, if what I saw at work and that's what he was comfortable showing in a corporate environment in a workplace, that's what he was comfortable showing. I would be terrified of what happened in private. Again, you know, you have these moments, and and so I I understand why people come out and say, Oh, these people were just mad you're doing for money. But we see this happen all the time. No one check their power goes unchecked. People engage in these really strange, inappropriate behaviors, and then once the reckoning happens, then we see the people who were too afraid to come out say, well, yeah, you know, this happened to me too.

Karen McFarlane:

Yeah, but yes, and part of the reason is like that culture was acceptable in many different industries, right? So again, that was part of the persona that he created and you know, his personal brand, but it's not as if you would go somewhere else and you wouldn't have be mistreated also, right? Because like you said, the co the the coercion, right? That was just of kind of like the American dynamic in general. Our values have changed now, and so now there's a platform people to come out and be like, this horrible thing happened to me, yeah, and it's to be believed. Because now we most of us believe that that those types of things shouldn't happen. If they came out before and said it, people are like, What do you mean? That's just like life. And who are you, right?

Brittany S. Hale:

This is a beloved figure. So if the beloved figure behaved this way toward you, clearly you did something wrong. Clearly you deserved it. Right. Everyone loves him. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. So your narrative, your perception, what you value is nowhere near as important as what we have coming from him, you know?

Karen McFarlane:

And most importantly, I'm not gonna mess up my money for you, okay? That's never or even access, right?

Brittany S. Hale:

Because we have the woman who alleges that she was sexually assaulted by him. And when she reached out to people around him for help, they said, Well, if I do something, I can't go to the parties. Right. So it wasn't even about money. No, I just can't be in the atmosphere, I can't be in the environment, and so rectifying your harm matters less than my enjoyment.

Karen McFarlane:

Absolutely. And also, just not everybody, but many of the people that were around him never dreamed of having that access. They didn't even really know what that money was and never even believed they would have it. So him paying for a drink was so incredibly meaningful, right? Versus be having opportunity to make some money off of him, right? So it's just again, the mentality of never having or never believing that you could have, but being able to be around people who do have it and just benefiting a little bit is just as meaningful, if not more, based on where you come from.

Brittany S. Hale:

And that star power continued even throughout the trial because one of the jurors who chose to speak on the documentary, again, the internet is it's a long, wide, vast place. We see that she'd taken a photo with him maybe seven or eight years ago and was thrilled, right?

Karen McFarlane:

So what do we do with that? But that was all I thought this is like a really important point that was made, right? I forget who made it. Maybe it was Kirk. But he said, so they talked a little bit about um Craig Mac and how he was broke, and when he asked Diddy for money, he took out a lot of cash and broke them off with a hundred dollar bill. Parallel that with her name. One of the people, one of the um, see, I didn't really pay attention to him during this time, but this is uh Colina. Kalina, yes. To parallel that with, hey, Diddy, I need $5,000 out with my kids. He's like, I don't got that to help you, right? He was never helping anybody, nor did he want to, because he always wanted you to have to look to him, right? Like he didn't want you to have more than him at any point in time. That's why he kept his artist broke. And so that you were always in rep, you know, revere him and always needed him, even though he helped you. Right, exactly. Is I think a super interesting point, if true. Right, right? Like he could be magnanimous, right?

Brittany S. Hale:

And again, you know how it's about power, power is rarely acquired, it's always exercised. And so I understand that it makes sense that he would not want to put someone in a position of independence so that they could surpass him or you know, become his rival. But even in that moment to say, hey, he took a lot of cash out, he gave half it. People will people will remember that. This woman who still came out in his defense, who still wrote a letter in his defense, even though they did nothing to help her gain custody of her children. Right? A very primal need. But had he given her the five thousand, had he given her, had he given her something, a watch, a rinky dinky, you know, a here. I have this old suit, I have this old necklace, see what you can get for that. Maybe then you can get five thousand for that. There would be so much gratitude. So much more gratitude, I think. And I guess I'm I'm just curious to know how had he chosen to be the benevolent king, would we be here today? You know what? That's an excellent who would he be here. But still, you know, these people would still have their golden handcuffs on, right? They'd still be in their gilded cages. But they could their song would be sweeter. Mm-hmm. They would be very appreciative of it.

Karen McFarlane:

Well, maybe it comes full circle, right? He was at Uptown helping Andre. Andre fired him. And then he started his own thing and became bigger. And he didn't want anybody that do that to him. And that's what fueled his lack of generosity.

Brittany S. Hale:

Do you think that people can build great things without a negative experience?

Karen McFarlane:

Now, I mean there's levels to negativity.

Brittany S. Hale:

Sure.

Karen McFarlane:

And also depends on how you define negative, but like I just baseline, I don't think you can satisfy everybody in every moment of the day. Everybody's experience is personal and specific, right? So I could be the benevolent queen for 363 days, and for two days I'm not, and that's what you'll remember, right? Not the 363 days. I think that building something extraordinary, uh a lot of it's tough. It takes some failures. People get hurt, you know, in the process, whether they deserve it or not. So my answer is no. But I do think what you can do, because there's the process of building, right? And there's the people who are building it. And I think the process of building is tough, messy, hard, affects people. But how you deal with people in those moments, even when the negativity happens, you could try to make corrections, right? To turn it into a positive or lessen the emotional impact that it could have on somebody in some way. At the very least, you can apologize. Okay, you know, at the very least, if even if you can't change it.

Brittany S. Hale:

I mean, he's apologized. I and you know, I think there's three components to an apology. He does not fulfill all three, but we we've seen him say, my bad, we've seen him give masters back to artists who were in exploitative contracts. We've we've seen him give the the social media apology as well, right? To say, oh my gosh, ugh, I was it about space, that's what happened. Does that count? Does does the intention behind the apology ever count?

Karen McFarlane:

Well, yeah, I think the intention is paramount. Like, why did he do that? Did he genuinely feel sorry, or was there some motive behind it? Given what we think we know about his psyche, there's probably some motive and benefit for him to do it. I also think it depends on how the errors stack up. So, like if he's giving back masters to some artists and not to others, right? Then it's still wrong, right? Like he's had a long storied career. He's done a lot of things. He's probably done a lot of negative things that were okay back then and now are not. And so there's probably like a lot to make up for. What I don't know, I should have looked this up, but um, what I don't know is like, is he one of those artists that have like a foundation of some sort that's constantly giving back? Umthough that's not really proof because oftentimes you do that for tax purposes, especially when you make that kind of money. You have to shelter your money in in different ways. But it would be interesting to know if he does have some sort of philanthropic side, deeply philanthropic side that's that does deep work, not just surface work, you know? And it will be interesting to see when he completes his 50-month sentence, what he does next to make amends, or does he feel like his prison sentence is enough? And even though some of those other charges didn't go through, does he feel like he should take some accountability for it? Or will he continue to do things like he just did, such as sending funeral flowers to 56?

Brittany S. Hale:

Yeah. He's invested in, I want to say like HBCUs. Okay. Something like that. That would make sense. I don't recall him having like his own foundation or anything to that effect.

Karen McFarlane:

Well, when we post the internet will help us.

Brittany S. Hale:

Yeah, I mean, he will give. I want to say after the video came out where he assaulted Cassie in the hotel home. Yes, I believe he said that he was giving something to like women's shelter or something to that effect.

Karen McFarlane:

But yeah, that that doesn't count. Right.

Brittany S. Hale:

Right. And we know that he settled with Cassie for an undisclosed amount, somewhere around 30 million, something to that effect. But is it enough? After watching this doc, you know, America, America loves a winner, and America loves a comeback story even more. And so when I finished the fourth episode, immediately I thought, how does he come back from this? Not because I think he deserves it, but because I've just I know my country. And it's not to me a matter of um whether or not he can come back, but how. He will figure it out because he is such a master marketer and and he loves a brand. I can see him. Let me see what she's up to. Hold on if you can hear her. She had some notes that she wanted to add, but um, I can see him doing something where he's working with the incarcerated or he is working with people who are trying to focus on re-entry. He is going to need a woman. I don't know if he tries to sit down with over. I don't want to give him any ideas to be that. But when I think about these comeback stories and I've watched for reprehensible people, you know, in in pop culture, I mean, there are still diehard Woody Allen fans. Scarlett Johansson, you know, will still go down and say, you know, I I defend him and I I support him. He here's what he has.

Karen McFarlane:

So one what he'll always what he'll do is he'll come back to to black culture. Sure. Absolutely.

Brittany S. Hale:

And the second thing he will do is he'll make a hot song or launch a hot artist. Preferably gospel. Huh? Preferably gospel.

Karen McFarlane:

It will not be gospel. You don't think so? No. It'll be whatever he's done before that has been super successful, and he will launch a massive marketing campaign around it. And if the song is good and we are all shaking our butts, okay.

Brittany S. Hale:

This touch will not be shaking. Okay, and it will be like he paid his debt to society, all right, and he's making their music. That now gives new meaning to bot for a song, you know. There you go. So my forgiveness now that I know, right? Perception and reality. And people will say that perception is reality. I have been cursed with the unfortunate ability to have a very long, very vivid memory. And I still believe in accountability and justice. So I actually I'm forgetting the most important thing. When he comes out, there are still more lawsuits that he has to defend against. So maybe he drops this hot song.

Karen McFarlane:

Look, look, here's what we're we don't know. 50 Cent might have some more stuff up his sleeve. So we're gonna have to wait for maybe part two.

Brittany S. Hale:

Oh, this is this is not unlimited series, which is um I I did see on social media he said, you know, who else should I cover? Who else, you know, would you like to see? To see him have done so well with stars and power, and and there's a whole power universe, right? Now he's going into documentaries, and I should note that he um I'm gonna look her name up, but he partnered with a black woman director.

Karen McFarlane:

Yes, Catherine. Oh jeez, I totally forgot her name now. Catherine. I forgot your name. But yes, she's amazing as a director. Yes. So I love that, you know, and I am very proud of him for his evolution and just want to keep seeing him winning. And um, I love the fact that at the end of the day, he's just not afraid. He's shored up his systems and his process and all of that, and he's doing things clearly he's doing stuff right. He had the backing of Netflix, who you know was gonna people out there talking about well, how Netflix did this, that, and the listen, they know what they're doing. Look, they just brought Warner Brothers studios, they're good.

Brittany S. Hale:

Exactly. And this is Alex Stapleton. So I want to shout.

Karen McFarlane:

Why did I call her Catherine? I have no idea what I call her Catherine. Okay. Is it Alexandra or something, or just Alex? Is that what I'm thinking about? It is Alexandria. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Well, they did a phenomenal job together. So if they have a part two, I'm I'm watching. Until then, you know, I hope the the victims feel that they got, you know, their voices heard, that they had a platform for that. I hope they feel good about it. I I I know that's gonna cause some controversy for them, and people on social media are gonna do what social media does, good and bad.

Brittany S. Hale:

Yes.

Karen McFarlane:

But uh hey, maybe we have the truth.

Brittany S. Hale:

And I still care about the truth in an era where it seems to matter the least. But what can you do?

Karen McFarlane:

Well, I love talking to you about this. I can't believe we I think this might be one of our longest episodes. You know, a lot of attention.

Brittany S. Hale:

A lot of attention, and I mean, and I'm proud that we we didn't go into like the prurient details of like, and then he did this with this, you know. It's I'm proud of us.

Karen McFarlane:

Yeah, and our fellow can Cancarian 50 C. Yes, there you go. Yes, yes, yes all right. So next time we'll have more delicious things to talk about. Um, but until then Mina, how'd we do?

Brittany S. Hale:

She thinks we're yelling at us before. Well, she was smiling.

Karen McFarlane:

All right, until next time.