Bob Marley once sang: “If all that glitters is gold, then half the story has never been told.”
Truer words have never been spoken, and 50 Cent Tuesday described the parts of his lifestyle that went untold. For instance: A lot of the jewelry and cars you see him flashing on social media? They’re on loan.
“I take the jewelry and the cars back to the stores,” the rapper testified during a hearing in a New York courtroom, according to the New York Daily News.
A jury recently ordered 50 Cent to pay Rick Ross’ son’s mother $5 million for the upheaval 50 Cent caused her when he posted her sex tape online. 50 Cent has since filed for bankruptcy—presumably to lessen the blow that his pockets will feel as a result of the ruling—and is now being forced to shed light on how lean his bank account allegedly is.
The rapper painted a bleak picture of his finances. The judge asked 50 Cent about the 38 million albums he’s reportedly sold, and 50 Cent said that he gets paid “10 cents” per record.
It was sad to read, and so it must have been particularly humiliating for 50 Cent—a guy who prides himself on how far he’s come—to reveal that he made $100,000 each for the two movies that he’s currently in (not a lot of money, as movie paychecks go), and got paid $150,000 for both seasons of the television show that he executive-produces and acts in, Power.
That Rolls Royce he boasted about buying July Fourth weekend? 50 Cent described the switcheroo buying tactics that generally allow him to purchase big-priced items.
According to the Daily News, 50 Cent traded in two other cars to get the Rolls Royce.
Was his lavish lifestyle really all smoke and mirrors, or is 50 Cent lying through his teeth so that he doesn’t have to pay as much? We may never know—but it’s a lesson that not everything is as it seems.
For more of black Twitter, check out The Chatterati on The Root and follow The Chatterati on Twitter.
Diana Ozemebhoya Eromosele is a staff writer at The Root and the founder and executive producer of Lectures to Beats, a Web series that features expert advice with scarily insightful people. FollowLectures to Beats on Facebook and Twitter.