Who's more hardcore?
- A guy who was shot nine times, sold crack, owned a significant share of Vitamin Water, and has to deal regularly with a bunch of fame-hungry MTV reality show idiots on The Money and the Power?
Or...
- A fast-food restaurant chain started by a former Marine, hyped by a talking Chihuahua, with a menu consisting largely of beef and cheese items with the suffixes "ito" or "ita" tacked on at the end to denote the alleged "South of the Border" quality of the products?
The answer may at first seem obvious, but after some recent legal issues between rapper 50 Cent and 7-layer cheese-aholic crunchwrap meat surprise gordita purveyors Taco Bell, things get a little murkier.
A recent rather-short, kinda barebones report from Billboard revealed that a legal catfight between the two entities is getting just a little crazy. It seems that 50 is miffed about a fake letter/advertising scheme dreamed up by our taco-loving friends, in which the rapper is entreated to change his name to 79 Cent, 89 Cent, or possibly 99 Cent (presumably this would have been at 50's discretion) for one day only to promote the restaurant chain's value menu. Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson would've then received a $10,000 donation to the charity of his choice if he had accepted the name changin' challenge. Instead, he is suing for trademark infringement.
Taco Bell lawyeritos are decrying the lawsuit as an attempt to rack up the restaurant-hatin' street cred and "burnish his gangsta rapper persona by distorting beyond all recognition a bona fide, good faith offer." No word yet as to 50's feelings concerning that commercial where the two drive-through customers try to rap about their food.