If you’re building a rags-to-riches gangster-rap drama around a real rags-to-riches gangster rapper, it might be a good idea to showcase the music that is supposed to distinguish him from every other boy in the hood that the movies have given us since, well, 1991’s Boyz N the Hood. Get Rich, loosely based on the hard-knock life of rapper Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, stars Jackson, yet it concentrates on the sensational violence in his life rather than his creative expression. Without his music, Jackson is left stranded, an artist out of water. As an actor, he has about as much charisma as a blank CD.
