Ghetto Qur'an (Forgive Me)
| "Ghetto Qur'an" | |
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"Ghetto Qur'an" is a song by 50 Cent from his unreleased Columbia Records debut album Power of the Dollar. The song was leaked in early 2000. The song mentions drug dealers from the 1980s in his neighborhood of South Jamaica, Queens.
"Ghetto Qur'an" is produced by Poke & Tone of Trackmasters and uses a sample from Diana Ross' and Marvin Gaye's duet, "Stop, Look, Listen (To Your Heart)".[1]
Aftermath
It is rumored that the song and the following music industry blacklisting of 50 Cent by Kenneth "Supreme" McGriff and his associates, led to the murder of Run DMC's Jam Master Jay. It is thought by some that Jay ignored the blacklisting by taking the young 50 Cent under his wing and introducing him to the music industry. According to an affidavit by IRS agent Francis Mace, law enforcement officials believed that the shooting of 50 Cent in 2000 was in retaliation for the lyrics of the song.[2]
Ghetto Qur'an served as a basis for 50 Cent's rivals (mainly Ja Rule, Irv Gotti and the Murder Inc. music group, whom he was feuding with at the time) labeling him a snitch. 50 Cent mentioned in an AllHipHop.com interview[3] that everybody mentioned in the song appreciated it and McGriff even told him that he loved the song. He also talked about how Nas' record "Get Down" from the album God's Son similarly mentions names, but few people consider anything wrong with it.
The song was later added onto his 2002 compilation album Guess Who's Back?.
The chorus to this song was sampled on Proof's solo CD Searching for Jerry Garcia on the song called "Forgive Me".
Just like the Qu'ran and Bible and Torah have strict rules that must be abided by or you may be killed, the ghetto has rules that must be abided by or you will definitely die. The chrous which says "Lord forgive me for I have sinned over and over again just to stay on top" was inspired by a verse in the Quran which states: O Lord (ALLAH), I have wronged myself. So forgive me. Verily except for You there is no one who can protect from the consequences of sinning."
References
- ^ http://www.undergroundhiphop.com: 50 Cent - 'The 50 Collection Vol. 1 (Original Samples)'. Accessed March 29, 2008.
- ^ Teather, David (September 8, 2005). US investigators uncovered plot to kill rapper 50 Cent. The Guardian. Accessed July 6, 2007.
- ^ Berrios, Martin A. (June 27, 2007). Streets is Watching: 50 Cent Part Two. AllHipHop. Accessed July 6, 2007.