From the New York Times. Not bad reading on the ringleader of the G-g-g-g-nit!
February 17, 2005
A Wealthy Hartford Suburb Longs, Vainly, for a Rap-Star Neighbor's Company
By STACEY STOWE
FARMINGTON, Conn., Feb. 16 - In this Colonial-era village, where bling is restricted to a single strand of pearls and the rim-spinning Escalade is trumped by the scratched Mercedes with a faded beach sticker, everyone is buzzing about the party slated for Thursday night at the home of Curtis Jackson III.
At the Barney Library, with its garden club book collection; at Miss Porter's, the all-girls' private school where Jacqueline Onassis studied; and at the Epicure, the gourmet market with six kinds of olive oil, the talk was all party.
But no one had actually been invited. Nor has anyone in this placid Hartford suburb ever met or even seen the elusive celebrity who lives in their madras midst.
That's because Mr. Jackson, who is 28 and is better known as 50 Cent, a platinum-selling musician, restricted the invitations to rap world luminaries such as Missy Elliott and Busta Rhymes. He also invited the 163 winners of a nationwide radio contest; they will be bused in through the wide, white gates that lead to his vast cream-and-white main house.
For the past few weeks, MTV has been shooting at the house and around town for its "MTV Cribs" program and filming the minutiae of party prep. (On Wednesday, they put a camera on a U.P.S. driver as he prepared to unload the truck.) Mr. Jackson's publicist, Yvette Gayle, said her client is expected to perform in the 3,500-square-foot party room, including songs from his new album, "The Massacre," with themes and lyrics that were cruder than the Cole Porter tunes at the clubby, downstairs bar at Apricot's, a restaurant on the Farmington River.
But it was the house and woodsy setting, not the tweedy neighbors, that drew Mr. Jackson here, Ms. Gayle said. Two years ago, he paid $4.1 million (about a quarter of the original asking price) for the house, which had been owned by Mike Tyson. The house, listed in town property records at 48,500 square feet, has 52 rooms, including 21 bedrooms and a room walled entirely in Gucci leather. It also has 39 bathrooms and 4 whirlpools.
"I have to say Farmington is the last town where you would expect to find someone like 50 Cent," said Willard Holmes, the director of the Wadsworth Atheneum museum in Hartford, who lives a few blocks away from Mr. Jackson. "But my 6-year-old son is obsessed with seeing him."
The boy is not alone. Although residents here generally avoid pop culture and publicity like mulligans on the first tee, there appears to be an endless fascination with Mr. Jackson, despite his being something of a spectral presence.
Shannon Walton, who owns Truffles, a bakery in the village, said, "I saw his limo once but I think he's an introvert."
Geoff Boyle, the manager of the Country Club of Farmington, denied a rumor that Mr. Jackson wanted to join. And if he did?
"He'd need a sponsor and he'd need to adhere to the dress code," Mr. Boyle said. "No thug clothes on the golf course."
A golf cart might not be Mr. Jackson's vehicle of choice. His sport utility vehicle is bullet- and bomb-proof - understandably, since he was shot nine times in 2000.
Reported sightings of Mr. Jackson abound.
"Some kids said they saw him drive by in a red Corvette but I don't believe it," said Sarah Jenkins, a senior at Miss Porter's, who like Mr. Jackson, hails from Queens. Ms. Jenkins and Ashley Martin, also 17, of Newark, gushed about how they and most of their classmates would love to attend the party but alas, have been warned.
"The Farmington Police said they'd arrest anyone from Miss Porter's who got within 50 feet of the place Thursday night," Ms. Martin said. (Not true, according to Lt. William Tyler of the Farmington Police Department.)
On other days, some members of the school's cross-country team change the course to get a glimpse of Mr. Jackson's house, the girls said.
But the rap star isn't home much. He's on the road most of the time, performing selections from his first album, "Get Rich or Die Trying," a personal favorite of Tina Panik, 25, a librarian at the Barney Library. (A sigh of relief for Mr. Jackson: He made $50 million last year.)
"I've seen his Escalade in the lot at Highland Park Market and I understand that he ate at the Chinese restaurant," Ms. Panik said. Nope. But a cook at China Palace said Mr. Jackson could save 10 percent on any order over $30 and a cashier at the market said her ex-boyfriend was Mr. Jackson's plumber.
For the party, Mr. Jackson ordered more than $5,000 worth of liquor, including "a lot of Baccardi," according to the owner of a Farmington liquor store who spoke on the condition of anonymity "to protect his privacy."
About six off-duty police officers have been hired to handle party traffic, police officials said. Lieutenant Tyler said the only other time a police presence was required at the house was more than a year ago, and it involved a young woman who traveled from the state of Washington to stand at Mr. Jackson's gated driveway.
"We got her some psychological help," said Lieutenant Tyler. "She felt he was proposing to her in his lyrics." (Would that be "I ain't tight with the chips, girl," or "I love you like a fat kid loves cake"?)
Mr. Jackson might find a kindred off-beat spirit yet among the green-shuttered, clapboard homes. Body piercings and Crayola-hued hair have been spotted at Miss Porter's and one local school bus driver was outfitted on Tuesday in orange parachute pants, a giant Hello Kitty purse, and pom-pom styled pig tails.
And Mr. Holmes, who despite his impeccable diction and penchant for bow ties, is hardly old school. Since he arrived at the Wadsworth, his interest in contemporary art has sent a shot of zeitgeist to the nation's oldest public art museum. He and his wife, Mary Haus, a writer, live in one of the few contemporary homes in the village and give groovy parties. However, neither of them has actually seen Mr. Jackson.
"Just a cavalcade of Escalades and Navigators coming from his street and a throbbing of music in the hills," Mr. Holmes said with a laugh.
[
She's going to be heartbroken.
Linear Mode
