In 2005, hip-hop star 50 Cent (née Curtis Jackson) appeared in a loosely autobiographical film, Get Rich or Die Tryin'. Two years prior, the Eminem protégé had released his debut album of the same name. The album was a critical and commercial success; the same can't be said for the movie. Either way, while nine bullets legendarily attempted to fell Jackson in his youth, it's safe to say 50 has achieved his goal of impressive wealth. In September, "Fiddy" appeared second on Forbes list of "Hip-Hop Cash Kings," banking $32 million in 2006 alone.

In May 2007, Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) purchased a little company called Glaceau, which makes Vitaminwater. The soft-drink giant's $4.2 billion cash and stock purchase translated into a payout of $400 million for 50 Cent, who held a sizable stake in the brand (his estimated profit after taxes was around $100 million). Other 50 Cent projects include the G-Unit record label, a clothing line, a sneaker line through the Reebok brand, ring tones, and video games -- to name only a few.

This post was part of the AOL Money & Finance Best & Worst of 2007 feature. The voting has now closed and readers have chosen Rosie O'Donnell's war of words with Donald Trump and others as the dumbest celebrity feud of the year. Be sure and let us know in the comments if you are pleased with this result.

Back in the day of the (fictional) Capulets and Montegues or the (real) Hatfields and McCoys, "feuds" were not something to be taken lightly. They separated men from boys and resulted in certain bloodshed. These days, tabloids will report on a new "celebrity feud" each week, as our nation's most rich and famous lash out at one another in the press or on live television.

Sometimes, there are justified reasons for unrest among pop culture's elite ... a cuckolding, perhaps, or a vicious custody battle (I blame Alec Baldwin's recent poor judgment on stress, but maybe he gets off lightly in my book because he's so brilliant on 30 Rock). At any rate, here's some of the most high-profile fights that took center stage in 2007.

The American public twice served as judge and jury for Rosie O'Donnell this year. Late last year, the comedienne found herself in a war of words with "The Donald" (Trump), after O'Donnell criticized the billionaire's handling of a scandal involving the Miss USA Pageant, of which Trump holds the rights. Name-calling and mudslinging ensued, and O'Donnell colleague Barbara Walters caught some shrapnel. Months later, on the May 23 episode of The View -- on which the liberally minded Rosie served as one of four co-hosts -- she got into a heated (split-screen!) debate with Elisabeth Hasselbeck, the "conservative" member of the hosting panel. Tempers flared and Rosie ultimately walked out on her contract with the program, which was set to expire a few months later anyway. Whoopi Goldberg and Sherri Shepherd have since picked up hosting duties.

Two things you need to know about Googlefight.com, a website my husband discovered a few days ago. First, it is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), although I'm sure free publicity is always appreciated. Secondly, it can quickly become the cause of profound procrastination. The innovative but simple site simply compares two inputs (provided by the user) and ranks them in terms of their respective number of results gleaned from Google's search engine. Each "fight" takes mere seconds, and the time passes quickly as animated stick figures slug it out.

Of course, I had to start with my own name (I probably think this blog is about me). I pit myself against a co-worker who also has a unique name (Mark Fightmaster). Aha! Google FIght found 634,000 results for "Beth Gaston Moon"; 57,200 for Mark (I do have about 6 years of seniority over him at our company, so that was hardly fair). But when compared against Pamela Anderson, I lose, 634,000 to 7.73 million (I have a feeling they round their numbers).

Some other matches I conducted before begrudgingly heading back to work:

• Hillary Clinton (9.1 million) defeats Barack Obama (2.62 million)
• Fred Thompson (10.6 million) defeats Rudy Giuliani (2.05 million) - to be fair, this may be pulling for more than one "Fred Thompson."
• Ben Bernanke (2.62 million) defeats Alan Greenspan (1.96 million)!
• Steve Jobs (88.5 million) defeats Bill Gates (44.6 million)
• Howard Stern (2.09 million) defeats Don Imus (1.98 million)
• 50 Cent (68 million) defeats Kanye West (6.72 million), despite what the numbers say
• O.J. Simpson (15 million) narrowly defeats "criminal justice system" (14.4 million)
• Mets (26 million) defeats Yankees (22.9 million)!
  

The site is hardly scientific, but it's interesting and certainly fun. According to Google Fight, some of its classic battle royales include God v. Satan, Luke Skywalker v. Darth Vadar, and Mohammad Ali v. Mike Tyson. Victors are God by a landslide, Vadar (hooray!), and Ali (again, by a hefty margin). Let the madness begin here.

Beth Gaston Moon is an analyst at Schaeffer's Investment Research.

Hunker down with your iPod and set "Just a Lil Bit" to repeat mode ... you may be hurting for new 50 Cent tracks if he leaves the business. Last month, the Eminem protégé (née Curtis Jackson III) made a flippant statement to reporters that he would leave show business if Kanye West's latest release, Graduation, topped 50 Cent's new album, Curtis, in its first week of sales. Both albums "dropped" on September 11.

The publicized sales battle was resolved today, and to Kanye went the spoils. According to Nielsen SoundScan, the man behind the 2005 smash single "Gold Digger" sold 957,000 copies in its first week of release, while 50 Cent's new album sold just 691,000. 50's last album, The Massacre, hit shelves in 2005 and sold 1.1 million copies in its first week. A publicized temper-tantrum after the Video Music Awards and a self-mocking appearance on Sunday's Emmy's broadcast may have helped give Kanye the edge.

Graduation was released on Roc-A-Fella Records, co-founded by Jay-Z, while Curtis was on the Aftermath label, which is owned by Dr. Dre. Both are ultimately distributed by Universal Music Group, a subsidiary of Vivendi Universal.

If you're like many Americans you view rappers as negatively as thugs or gangsters, you're going to be surprised with the amounts of money some "gangsta rappers" are puling in.

A video recently appeared on Forbes.com which broke down the earnings situation among rappers. According to Forbes, Sean Carter (AKA Jay-Z) pulled in about $34 million last year due to his latest album, Kingdom Come, and his entrepreneurial pursuits.

According to the Associated Press, rapper 50 Cent earned roughly $32 million last year with his G-Unit record label and clothing line. 50 Cent should top the list next year as he cashes out of VitaminWater for $400 million -- a topic covered by our own Zac Bissonnette here.

Other prominent rappers on the list included Diddy ($28 million), Dr. Dre ($20 million), and Eminem ($18 million).

One has to begin wondering if rapping about the ghetto will grow old. It seems like many of the well-known rappers makes 500-10,000 times what the average American makes. Not so ghetto anymore, yo.

More Vitamin Water news

Beth Gaston Moon: High school vending machines getting more eclectic
Zac Bissonnette: PepsiCo plans a lower-calorie Gatorade
Jonathan Berr: Coke, Pepsi thirst for profits from bottled water
Zac Bissonnette: Experts doubt Snapple will satisfy Coke
Zac Bissonnette: Will Coca-Cola gulp down Snapple?
Joseph Lazzaro: Coke's catching up in the health drink segment
Zac Bissonnette: Coke swallows Vitaminwater
Zac Bissonnette: Coke wants vitamin water
Zac Bissonnette: Coke Zero is no zero, it's a big hit
Sarah Gilbert: Fuze acquisition pits Coke v. Pepsi in ritzy juice war

Coca Cola's (NYSE: KO) purchase of Glaceau, makers of Vitaminwater, earned hip hop star 50 Cent 800 million times as much money as his name suggests he is worth.

It has been reported that 50 Cent will star in a commercial for the drinks, which will feature him conducting a symphony orchestra in a rendition of his hit "In da club."

I can't find information on how much 50 paid for his stake in the company, but it's safe to assume that he a made a massive return on investment here. He's not the first celebrity to make a fortune as an early investor in a company. Adult contemporary star Kenny G was one the original ten Starbucks investors.

But frankly, it's much more heartwarming to see 50 Cent making money, mainly because he's less annoying than Kenny G, although that's not much of an accomplishment.