Thanks for that information, Jeff. Good to know that some people can be objective.
Now I'll watch it when it gets to HBO.
I think the movie is very similar to Boyz in the Hood. That movie also got a lot of bad press about glorifying gangster life and violence in general when in reality it vilified it.
Like Boyz in the Hood, Get Rich or Die Tryin is probably not a good fit for an older or very social conservative crowd. There is a lot of profanity and some senseless violence but that is pretty much the point the movie is trying to get across - the profanity is part of the culture and violence is indeed senseless.