It's safe to drink Vitamin Water again. Who knew?

My friends and I had a little field trip yesterday. Kim & Kyle, my girlfriend Veronica & I all hopped in Kyle's car to speed off to Brooklyn for the Renegade Craft Fair at McCarren Pool. It was pretty sweet despite the heat, and I got a wallet made out of recycled leather. After lunch at Sweetwater, they left and I hung around, reading free mags like Mean & Vice in the park, to wait for my childhood friends to come in and meet me. We celebrated Greg's 30th birthday with burgers at Dumont and by bouncing from hipster bar to hipster bar. Everything was sweet, but I was reminded of what my super-Smiths fan friend Liz said a couple weeks back, about not liking "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out" anymore because it's gotten so played out. True - I heard it at 3 different bars last night. Anyway, all this has almost nothing to do with this post, so I digress.

On the way to BK, Kyle stopped to get gas, and I ran into the Gas Shop to get drinks. I'm a big fan of Vitamin Water, so I got the Lemonade (the aqua label), and Kyle got the new black-label XXX flavor or whatever (the one Veronica says tastes like Swedish Fish). The four of us got into a discussion about not wanting to give 50 Cent money, because he owns a share of the company. Plus, I've recently enjoyed his personal flavor, Formula 50, and I use it as a back-up when my job's cafeteria is out of my other favorites. I found out this morning though that he's no longer part of the company (which is kinda weird since they just started running the ads with him in them).

According to the few items I read on the web, it was announced on the Friday before Memorial Day that Coca-Cola bought Glaceau, the company that makes Vitamin Water, for $4.1 billion. It just so happens that on the same day, it was announced that 50 Cent's next album was being pushed back to September (probably cuz he's too busy working out & drinkng Formula 50). The rumors spread on the Hip Hop blogs that it didn't matter, since 50 had a 10% stake in the company, which meant he was getting $400 million. These figures were picked up by all the blogs and spread like wildfire. But as they say in Hip Hop - HOLD UP!! WAIT A MINUTE!! It turns out that the reports of 50's 10% share were leaked by his own camp as good PR to take the focus off his album woes. Coca-Cola's not saying how big his share was, but it's being implied that it was less that 10%. Shit, Mets superstar David Wright owned 0.5%, so he'll be happy with $20 mil. All I'm saying is now you can drink your Vitamin Water with a calm mind knowing you're not paying for 50's new bulletproof vest. You're just helping Coca-Cola extend their global empire. And I'm OK with that.

- The story on ProHipHip.com