The 50 Law: 50 cent and Robert Greene

The book The 50th Law grew out of the friendship and mutual admiration between 50 Cent and Robert Greene. Greene's book The 48 Laws of Power, which has long been a staple in the hip hop world, came to the attention of 50, who asked his manager to set up a meeting. Greene has said he was surprised by 50's persona and was impressed by his "zen-like calmness" and eye for strategy. The two began to work on a book project that would combine their two worlds.


According to Greene, 50 is an example of what Machiavelli called a New Prince, a leader who emerges in a time of chaos or turmoil and rewrites the rules.According to 50, Greene's books describe the laws and strategies used by hustlers on the street, even if they might not know the "technical terms" for what they were doing.


The 50th Law's initial printing featured gold-leaf pages and gothic font. The book features Greene's style of illustrating universal laws through historical examples. The 50th Law mentioned or included stories about Malcolm X, Miles Davis, Sun Tzu, François de la Rochefoucauld, Machiavelli, Richard Wright, James Baldwin, Thucydides, Dostoyevsky, Charlie Parker, and the Baron de Montesquieu.


The central theme of the book is fearlessness. The back cover says nihil timendum est, meaning nothing is frightening. Each of the 10 chapters in the book explains a factor of fearlessness and begins by telling how Fifty learned this Fearless Philosophy in Southside Queens.