50 Cent may be bankrupt, but it doesn’t mean he’s broke

50 Cent filed for bankruptcy today in Hartford Connecticut. But that doesn’t mean he’s going to have to go back to slinging crack to make ends meet.

That’s because Curtis Jackson (his real name) did not file for bankruptcy the way most individuals do. Most people file for bankruptcy under Chapter 7 of the code. That means liquidation, when you have to sell all your assets to raise money to pay off a debt. Some people file under Chapter 13, in which you go on a rehabilitation and payment plan.

But Mr Jackson did neither of these. Instead he filed under Chapter 11 of the bankruptcy code, which treats him less like an individual and more like a corporation.

“This filing for personal bankruptcy protection permits Mr. Jackson to continue his involvement with various business interests and continue his work as an entertainer,” the rapper’s counsel said in a statement.

In other countries, bankruptcy can be brutally harsh. It holds appalling stigma and can be crushing. In the US, however, when you file Chapter 11, you’re said to be filing for bankruptcy protection. The bankruptcy process is designed to hold off the company’s creditors while it works out how to restructure its debt. This can be a long, drawn-out affair, but the process is designed to allow the company to continue to operate normally while the lawyers sort out how much debt it should continue to carry, and how much it should pay.

In other words, 50 Cent isn’t going to be holding a garage sale to raise money. Which is a shame. That would be fascinating. But it doesn’t necessarily mean it’ll be business as usual in the club for Mr Jackson either. In the same way that the Germans want the Greeks to tighten things up in exchange for a break on their debts, so Fiddy’s creditors will tell him that if he wants them to write off some of his debts or reduce his interest rate, he’ll need to adopt a few austerity measures of his own.

So visitors to his table in the club should perhaps expect fewer bottles of bub. Or maybe just not Cristal.