EZ Jackster

"EZ Jackster" is the fifth episode in season 1 of The Proud Family. It first aired on October 5, 2001.
==Overview==
Penny's crush on a new boy at school has repercussions beyond her wildest dreams when she helps promote his music-sharing website. Penny is used as a tool to infect the whole world with a website marketing illegal free music downloads using the philosophy that "free music is our birthright."
==Synopsis==
Penny and Dijonay have gotten jobs at Mr. Ming's music store where Penny has a on crush a boy in black who doesn't buy anything on account of buying being "retro". Mr. Ming gives the boy a tongue-lashing for not buying anything and he disappears when Trudy, Oscar, the twins, Suga Mama, and Puff come in to watch Penny work. Mr. Ming gives Penny and Dijonay their first checks; $128 for Dijonay and five cents for Penny that's captured in a photograph that Trudy takes.
On their way home, it is revealed that Penny owed Mr. Ming $145 for buying a lot of CDs, despite giving his employees a ten percent discount. Suga Mama suggests grounding Penny and Oscar reminds his daughter to "keep your mind on your work and not the boys". Later in her room, Penny is listening to a clean version of Sir Paid-A-Lot's songs when Mega shows up, coming in through the window via a tree branch. He tells Penny that he has an answer to her money problems, upgrades her father's vintage computer into a "bomb computer" and introduces her to EZ Jackster, a Napster like website where users can download music for free. After giving her the Morpheus test of a blue mouse and a red mouse, Penny clicks on the red mouse and she and Mega are transported into the computer. He goes on to explain EZ Jackster's purpose and when she asks if downloading music for free is legal, he replies, "It's our birthright." Penny is hooked, and spends a weekend downloading Sir-Paid-A-Lot's songs, including "Where's My Money," "Get Yo Money," "Make Mo Money," and "When Do I Get Paid?"...but not before Mega asks her if she is "the one."
One weekend later, Dijonay visits Penny and she takes them both into the computer. She then asks Dijonay to spread the word and the word spreads to France, Africa and a remote island. Even Suga Mama and Puff join in on the fun when she finds out they have Rufus Thomas' songs on the site. As Penny and Mega celebrate over the site getting millions of hits, Sir-Paid-A-Lot pays a house call to Wizard Kelly in the middle of a meeting, demanding a royalty check over a million dollars instead of five cents. While he rants, the Wizard figures out that his company is getting robs and instigates an investigation. Back at home, Trudy is preparing dinner, Suga Mama and Oscar are watching wrestling and Bebe and Cece are manhandling Puff when the broadcast is interrupted by a WCOOD news report of EZ Jackster and the highest usage of the site is coming from their house. Penny is then ordered outside to speak with the press. After getting home, Trudy, embarrassed by the fact that Penny stole tons of music, convinces her now-grounded daughter to think for herself and not lose her mind over a boy. When she leaves, Mega visits Penny and she tells him that downloading music is stealing. His philosophy, conflicted with Oscar and Trudy's further confuses Penny and she instantly drops the Aesop when Mega gives her a new Sir-Paid-A-Lot single.
Unfortunately, Penny is dealt a hard blow when she and Dijonay find Mr. Ming's music store completely deserted and a news report from Marsha Mitsubishi informs the three of them that EZ Jackster has effected all parts of society in an extremely negative way. Record sales are down severely, world famous music artists are changing their lifestyles, malls are empty, hair salons have closed and even Proud Snacks has fallen victim to the trend. But even that doesn't stop Oscar from advertising his snacks when he mentions a few beneficial purposes while interviewed. Mr. Ming then blames Penny for causing all of this and fires her and Dijonay (especially since he has no music left to sell) without any severance. Penny goes home and tells Trudy that she was right all along.
In a pre-credits scene, Penny gets a phone call from Mega, asking her if she is still downloading, to which she replies that it is stealing. No matter how hard he tries to convince her that he trying to create a world without "rules, borders, or control", Penny tells Mega that she is wrong for him and hangs up. The episode ends with Penny donning a pair of sunglasses and flying off into the sky, presumably to do battle with Mega.
==Cast==
*Kyla Pratt as Penny Proud
*Tommy Davidson as Oscar Proud
*Paula Jai Parker as Trudy Proud
*Jo Marie Payton as Suga Mama
*Tara Strong as BeBe & CeCe Proud and Puff
*Karen Malina White as Dijonay Jones
*Gedde Watanabe as Sir Paid-A-Lot
*Orlando Brown as Sticky Webb
*Soleil Moon Frye as Zoey Howzer
*Ray J as Mega
*Kevin Michael Richardson as Doctor Payne and Sergeant Snelly
*Aries Spears as Wizard Kelly
==Trivia==
*Moral: Think for yourself and don't go by what others say.
*Production wise, this is actually the third episode.
*Even though Zoey and LaCienega appear in this episode, they have no speaking lines.
*Oscar's angry facial expression is similar to the one from the episode "Pulp Boot Camp", except that his eyes are open and looking to the right.
*Right before the cut to commercial break, Oscar is heard calling for Penny in increasing worry as she buys from EZ Jackster; as it's free, it's unknown why he was reacting as if he was watching his bank balance dwindle.
*Intro door guest: Sir Paid-A-Lot
*This episode premiered on Disney Channel the same day Max Keeble's Big Move premiered in theaters.
*On Disney+, this episode is titled "E-Z Jackster", while Google Play, iTunes and YouTube have the title as "EZ-Jackster".
==Goofs==
*When Penny clicks on the mouse with Dijonay, her arm turns red as if she was wearing her normal clothes.
*When Penny comes downstairs, she is wearing her regular clothes.
*While watching the news bulletin, Oscar says that the Christmas lights are still up on the house. However, there are no lights on the house in the news bulletin, nor are there any lights on the house when they bring Penny home.
*At first, Wizard Kelly said that five cents was a lot of money to get. But later, when Sir Paid-A-Lot told him his salary was a million dollars, he was shocked. Thus, it is unclear if Wizard Kelly is a good guy or bad guy.
==Cultural references==
*A lot of this episode (the red and blue mouse, the white room, calling Mega "Morpheus") parodies the movie .
*Near the beginning of the episode, when Mr. Ming smells Suga Mama's stinky feet, he exclaims "Who let the dogs out? Put your shoes back on!" This is a reference to the Baha Men's "Who Let the Dogs Out".
* was a real famous R&B singer who was born in 1917 and unfortunately died two months after this episode aired.
*Sir-Paid-A-Lot character is parody of a famous rapper named .
*EZ Jackster is an allusion to "", a website that provided illegally free music downloads. After several lawsuits, Napster was rebranded as a site where MP3s could legally be purchased, predating iTunes. It would later merge with Rhapsody to become a music streaming site.
**The site was mentioned in the The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder episode "Get In" when Sir Paid-a-lot lists things.
==External links==
*EZ Jackster on The Proud Family Wiki
Category:The Proud Family episodes