It's a good bet that moralizing cultural arbiter William J. Bennett wouldn't agree, but you could argue that rapper 50 Cent is a classic American hero.
Perhaps this seems an odd description for the hip-hop newcomer, whose instantly mythic celebrity persona is based not so much on his rhyming skills as on his tough-guy physique and a rough past of drug dealing and violence. Despite being the most powerful nation in the history of the world, America retains an enduring fascination with triumphant underdogs; after all, even the most lovingly institutionalized heroes, the bedrock figures of our social and political establishment, were rebels: the Founding Fathers broke King George's laws in order to make their own rules. Those boys kicked it really old school, straight outta the Continental Congress. Talk about your Original Gangstas.
But because the vast posse that T. Jefferson and his crew eventually attracted included so many underdogs -- too many poor, huddled masses to all triumph by socially proper means -- we also came to love those who go down scratching and clawing and causing trouble along the way. We love winners, but we love bad guys, too...
