FYI, Mister Cent also recently performed this track on Saturday morning kids' TV.

A couple of random and disconnected points:

1. I'm fairly convinced that only a small minority of rap listeners actually take the trouble to work out what's being said. They listen to the overall sound/texture/rhythm of the words, much as with Edith Sitwell/William Walton's "Facade" from the early C20th. (Missy Edith "Siddy" Sitwell as Da Original Rapper?) Also, in our culturally over-stimulated world, few people retain the concentration span required to pay attention to rap lyrics (or indeed any lyrics - even some pop performers are guilty of this, grinning from ear to ear as they unwittingly sing of lost love). This does at least go some of the way towards reducing any possible "damage" done by exposing the subject matter to impressionable minds. Indeed: the more impressionable the mind, the smaller the chance that it will actually be listening (as opposed to hearing) in the first place.

2. The "inverse racism" issue needs to be factored in, i.e. white liberal media types wanting to be seen as "down" with the culture, or at least not laying themselves open to criticisms of ignoring it.

3. 50 Cent has gained exposure in the UK because 1) he's already massive in the US and 2) he's an Eminem protege. By playlisting his single, Radio 1 can claim, with some justification, to be meeting a pre-existing public demand.

4. As an album title, "Get Rich Or Die Trying" really, really f**ks me off. But "In Da Club" still rocks like a motherf**her.

Hello Mike. First over the parapet there, I see. Thanks for the trouble of a long and detailed comment.

Perhaps noone else cares about this. Perhaps it's not actually important. Perhaps all our culture is now morally neutral.

I'm not sure that everyone is so generalised in their listening when it comes to rap lyrics. We need one of those "Studies suggest..." or "A recent survey reveals..." stories here.

I really don't like the BBC colluding in the promotion of rotten values, and I'd like to know why they do. Come on guys, protect the BBC's independence from unaccountable commercial interests.

We have boundaries in public culture against porn, violence and hate language yet when it comes to something as exploitative and corrosive as this we say and do nothing. In Da Club is a very good record, but it also contains several nasty lines including "I'm into having sex I ain't into making love". Nice man, that. And he's a father. Wonder how.

ah, merci pour ça, monsieur preene. i still can't stand 50 cent, good, lyrics, bad lyrics - whatever.

1. with the noble exception of "In Da Club", Fiddy's records are mediocre at best. i'm not sure that i share your distaste for the "into having sex" line. you could argue that it's an honest subversion of the cloyingly dishonest euphemism "making love" - a phrase that makes me skin go all crawly, usually.

2. i don't believe that there is a simple link between the content of media and its reception. a lot of research suggests that even very young children are sophisticated readers of the media they consume. i was very fond of the Victor comic as a child. i am now a pacifist.

3. the problem with censorship, as you pointed out, is "who draws the lines?" i would argue that this problem is so insurmountable as to render moral censorship impossible. like democracy and the jury system, liberalism works very badly at times but is preferable to any alternative i can envisage.

4. in summary: Fiddy's crap, the kids know he's just posturing, and they'll all be listening to Jamie Cullum next month, god help us.

5. Jamie Cullum. now there's a persuasive argument for censorship.

Oh I hate to feel like I'm disagreeing with you Robin because I like you but I have to ask - apart from the odd person doing superman or vogueing, when have people been influenced by lyrics? In (I think) 1984 I remember singing along to White Lines by Grand Master Flash and the Mellie Mell (or Furious Five - I forget now) for pretty much the whole summer long - 'if you get hooked baby it's nobody else's fault SO DON'T DO IT' I sang. But I've spent most of the twenty odd years since doing it without pause - maybe not the white line but the green, the brown, the psychadelic, the columbian and the smiley lines. I also listened to the Pogues a lot and I'm pretty much teetotal most of the time. Similarly, I have never dropped my trousers to the Queen, engaged in oral sex with slaves or shot either a sheriff or a deputy. I have had sympathy for the devil.

I want to say 'oh don't let it wind you up' but it's too late for that and I know that it's difficult to defuse the things that wind me up. I don't think it's a big deal. If you want some wholesome rap to remind you that it's not all about caps and hos, check out Daara J.

Also, please note the correct, not at all satanic spelling of my name...

Sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry DEMIAN.

Big typo/lack of attention to detail there. Fixed now.

Yes, perhaps I should chill. Perhaps it doesn't matter. Perhaps people don't listen. Perhaps there's no link between 50 Cent (and the culture he represents) and the dozen or so people who got shot within half a mile of my house last year. Perhaps.

And maybe we should protect our BBC from the crass moneymakers who will sell us anything. Or maybe it's just me that thinks there's even an issue there.

Hello Noodle and welcome.

Yes Fiddy is a very poor example of rap and a good example of criminality. There is one good line in the record under discussion - an average maintained in his other efforts. For imagination, rhymes, concepts etc he is definitely not the man.

But, I say again, his schtick is that he is for real. He has shot and been shot. He is rich and famous. He is a morality tale with no other morality than 'I got mine'.

There are other better rappers with more depth and subtlety. He is a throwback to the crudest gangsta era - an era that never produced an artist considered pop friendly over here. Sorry, repeating self.