More so than any other music since the blues, hip-hop is all about stories. And its stories are both criminal minded and grand, making them enthralling and unbelievable, but also making them only as interesting and convincing as the teller.

That’s why, despite being blackballed by the industry, without a major-label recording contract, heads still gravitated to Jamaica, Queens’ realest son, 50 Cent, like the planets to the sun.