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50 Cent has one of the most unique stories in the history
of hip-hop. We all know the story...major label deal...shot
9 times...loses deal...bootleg's himself, signs major
deal....and the latest chapter to the book being written
by the rapper...almost 900,000 units moved in 4 days...breaking
Snoop's previous record for higest selling debut album
by a rapper. What's next? Only 50 knows. Read this in
depth article, conducted by our good friend, Davey D.
WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE INTERNET & ITS IMPACT
ON MUSIC?
50 Cent: I don’t even care... my deal itself…
I’m in a good space financially… you know…as
long as it’s being heard.. those people are the
people that are supporting me at the concerts…Right
now I’ve been touring won the mixed tape circuit…I
think the mixed tape circuit is the largest form of
promotion… The bootlegger is just trying to feed
his family... it’s not going to stop. Don’t
ever think it’s gonna stop... It’s a hustle…they
hustlin to get their money... you can’t beat em…you
might as well just capitalize off of them…and that’s
what I did in the beginning with the mixed tapes circuit.
I think the mixed tape circuit is like black market
distribution so I distribute my music through there
to the point where they understand that buying a 50
cent record is a safe buy…you not gonna have to
question whether there’s going to be quality material
on there or not cuz you heard him before.
WHAT CAN PEOPLE EXPECT WITH “GET RICH OR DIE TRYIN”?
50 Cent: It’s the best music that I’ve recorded
to date... I’ve got the best production... Dr.
Dre, Eminem, Roc Wilder Twee Lo, Diggah...It’s
various production cuz I got a chance to work on there…I
did 48 records in preparation for this…16 records
on the album…I got a lot of extra music so I can
use them on soundtracks and other placements.
WHAT WAS YOUR SELECTION PROCESS LIKE?
50 Cent: Dr. Dre and Eminem…they made the final
executive decision. I told them what I wanted and we
kinda shifted through them... (more) I recorded 12 w/
Dre and I only put 4 on the album so I got plenty of
records.
WHO ARE SOME OF THE OTHER PEOPLE THAT YOU WORKED ON
FOR THE ALBUM
50 Cent: Me and Em...we did a lot of records.. I don't
even know how many we was just recording.. but I had
four on the “8 Mile”Soundtrack that I participated
on... one was “Wanksta”, “Places To Go”…
one with me and D12 and one with OB Trice –“I
Just Want To Love You”… but it’s cool..
publishing checks serious on that one so it’s all
good.
YOU ARE OBVIOUSLY A TALENTED RAPPER. HOWEVER, DO YOU
FEEL THAT YOU GET THE PROPER RESPECT FROM OTHER RAPPERS
IN SPITE OF PAST LYRICS THAT MAY HAVE SEEMED LIKE YOU
WERE DISRESPECTING THEM?"
50 Cent: Where I’m at right now I don’t even
see anybody.. my competition is just to fit in with
Eminem and Dre... I’m not even trying to keep up
with anyone else in the music business outside of Em
and Dre... I could be in there and be the guy under
them or I can make myself almost the equivalent of them...
that’s what I’m working to do... you know
the other rappers aren’t exciting right now to
me… I’m sayin everything is exactly the way
it was… the same crews. Everything is the same…G
Unit is new… it’s hard to break an entire
crew or entire situation… and it’s starting
to come along… we laid the groundwork so I’m
happy to see the progress.
DESCRIBE G-UNIT
50 Cent: G-Unit is my record company... we in negotiations
now... it should be distributed by Interscope…if
they give me the right bag of money or it might be someone
else...depending on how Jimmy [Iovine]... but Jimmy
he likes me.., he knows something’s wrong with
me but he says its ok cuz Em and Dre says its ok ..
you know...
WHAT DO YOU THINK HE THINKS IS WRONG WITH YOU?
50 Cent: He thinks the hood is so in me so deep that
it might not ever get out of me…
WHAT DO YOU THINK
50 Cent: I don’t know he might be right... I don’t
know... all I can be is what I am… the things you
go thorough make you what you are… my experiences
make me the way I am… make me say the things I
say... and react to situations that way. .
ANY REGRET FROM PAST THINGS YOU’VE SAID?
50 Cent: Nothing… “I Rob” was the best
thing I ever could think of.. & I did it cuz...when
you’re on a major label.. there’s a hundred
artists on that label… you gotta separate yourself
from that group and make yourself relevant... all I
was doing with that record was makin everybody at one
time say “WHO’S 50 CENT? Who is this guy?”…And
it worked... it’s effective to date… every
interview that I speak on they mention that and ask
me about it.. how do you feel… well I don’t
care…
WHERE DID YOU WRITE “I ROB”?
50 Cent: I wrote it in the car on the way to the studio...everything
on it was kinda true… everybody knew what I was
sayin… they just laughed at the fact that I would
actually say it... the creative part was how I put it
together… when you’re starvin...When robbery
is not out of the question it’s easy to come up
with that concept... you know what I’m sayin...
at that point, I wasn’t doing well financially
so when you look at artists.. bigger artists have bigger
diamonds certain things that come with success …
you know the fact that they have money excessively allows
them to buy jewelry excessively… buy cars and nice
houses and everything else they want...
DID YOU ENJOY WORKING WITH EM?
50 Cent: He’s cool…right now I don’t
really want to talk about him to much because he told
me he was gonna hook me up … He said that when
he was finished with Mariah that... I could you know…..I
thought... I was gonna hit that and then he didn’t
hook me up.. I ain’t really happy with him right
now… cuz you know I’m into that you know…(what
did you want to do with Mariah that didn’t happen?)
I wanted to hit that… he said he was finished so…
(it’s situational I’m sure – no love
lost right?)… we be alright you know.. I just thought
he was gonna hook me up… I see her in the street…
I try… she probably won’t… HA HA….
WHAT HAS CHANGED SINCE YOU BEEN ON SHADY RECORDS?
50 Cent: I ain’t gotta worry about bills…
Finances changed a lot and the ho’s they treat
me so much better.. I feel like I got a facelift...
YOU SAID THAT “IN DA CLUB-“YOU SELL LIKE
EMINEM" AND YOU GET PLENTY OF "GROUPIE LOVE"
50 Cent: Yeah they treat you a lot better…like
I’m eligble for a whole lot of women that I’m
not eligible for… they found that them checks get
cut… things get different. Like I look better or
something… they treat me better… this is cool
though …(you just take it in stride)…yeah…
it’s fun… I mean as long as you know why the
situation is happening...you be alright.
WHAT ALLOWS YOU TO STAY GROUNDED?
50 Cent: I work… I work alot so I ain’t out
to absorb all of that…plus my hood…they love
me on the music tip but not everybody is happy with
me…there’s always gonna be somebody who doesn’t
like you and there’s some people that would like
to kill me…(and that will keep you down to earth?)
it’s got to .. cuz I can’t move around like
it’s not there.. I gotta be aware of what’s
going on… I can’t afford to be lost.
HOW DO YOU STAY FOCUSED? KNOWING ALL THE THINGS GOING
ON
50 Cent: If I wasn’t doing well I would still
be in those situations.. it’s just like when you
be in the hood you fightin over a corner.. it’s
the same risk …when you doin well as an artist…someone
may try you just to try you.. when you respond…it’s
still on .. so it’s the same situation… doesn’t
bother me… but I”m happy to be in the situation
I’m in now... I feel blessed
.DID YOU REALLY GET SHOT 8 TIMES?
50 Cent: 9 times on May 24, 2000 I got shot… I
was in the hospital for like 13 days...and it sounds
crazy... it hurted more to not know what I was gonna
do with myself AFTER being shot.. like when I called
Columbia Records and they didn’t know what to do.....
like I was supposed to do a video with Beyonce and as
soon as I got shot.. they just like moved it.. well
Beyonce’s doin a record with Amil(?) You see what
I’m sayin..then the Amil record came out and I
was in the hospital for 13 days I got out and called
them up and they don’t got no answers for me…
there was no Plan B for me..
if I don’t make music.. I’m going back to
the hood ...I’ll sell crack.. I’m gonna go
back to sell crack if I can’t make it in the music
business…and that’s because that’s what
I was doing before that.. I never had working papers..
I never had a job… I sold crack until I got in
the music… so this is the best thing that happened
to me and I do it excessively… I make music cuz
it’s almost like I can escape everything I was
involved in… alls I gotta do is make music... I
put out 4 mixed tape albums waiting to release my real
album…I don’t do nothin but make music...
you know what I mean?
YOU GOT A SON?
50 Cent: My little boy Marquis… he’s like
6 years old…he’s in my Wanksta video in the
intro and at the end of it… he thinks he’s
a star right now…
IN TERMS OF ALL THE THINGS THAT HAPPEN WITH YOU RIGHT
NOW HOW DO YOU RELATE TO HIM WHAT’S GOING ON
50 Cent: He knows what’s going on… I explained
it to him exactly how they gonna have to explain it
to their kids when they hear my music.. you see if your
kid is listenin to my music.. you need to sit him down
and explain to him that some peoples lives is like TV..
The shots do go off in the hood… people do get
hit.. if that’s not actually the life surrounding
their kid… you can let that kid that that’s
what really goes on in certain places cuz that be goin
on in my real life situations.
My son know… my son was in the house when I got
shot 9 times.. it happened in front of my grandmother’s
house… but he heard the shots and then he see daddy
in the hospital.. he understands what’s going on
even though he’s only 6 years old… he knows
exactly what’s goin on … then when he see
me put my vest on before I leave the house… he
asks me do I have my vest sometimes…I set it around.
My son asked “Daddy why you carry a gun… you
ain’t a cop? I said…I looked at him and said
“Sometimes you gotta shot or be shot”
It is what it is… I don’t try to sugar coat
it or nothing… I try to explain it him that I’m
blessed and in a situation that I can provide another
situation for him him so he don’t have to go through
that… the only reason I took him to shoot the “Wanksta”
video is I wanted to show him there was other things
out there to do outside of what’s goin on right
there. To me that’s it.. if you asked me what I
was going to do while I was hustlin’… I’m
gonna say “Hustle”…well cuz that’s
it…I started when I was hustling when I was 12…any
12 yr old kid that is not doing good in school and you
tell him if you do good in school for 6 more years and
you can get that car and then the kid’s curiosity
leads him through the hood to find someone who’s
got that car that didn’t have to go to school that
hustled… well then it doesn’t seem like one
of the options… it seems like the “only option”.
I hustled… that’s the only way I could get
what I want… because the other way was too hard.
I can’t do it that way … I dropped out…
I’m hustlin…man, I’m not doin good at
this…everything is not for everybody… they
could say whatever.. I ended up getting my GED in the
joint in jail… but if I wasn’t in jail I wouldn’t
have gotten it cuz I would’ve been out in the street…
YOU WROTE A JOINT WHILE YOU WERE IN JAIL WITH CUTMASTER
C? TELL US ABOUT THAT
50 Cent: I just talked to him about what was going
on when I was locked up… he took the conversation
and put it on his tape…50’s kinda big right
now so he wanted to get some of that attention…
it’s all good.. I would’ve done the same thing
if I was a mixed tape DJ. I’d have capitalized
on it.. it was a good move on Cutmaster C’s part..
plus I like my presence in the street to be big…
so whatever… let’s do it
SINCE THIS ISN’T YOUR FIRST WHY IS IT THAT YOU
ARE JUST BECOMING POPULAR IS IT BECAUSE YOU WERE WITH
A COMPANY THAT DID’NT PRODUCE YOU CORRECTLY?
50 Cent: This is really my first album that is being
released… I think Shady/Aftermath is way better
than Columbia.. Dre understands being from NWA…my
lyrical content … and Eminem…picture him saying
“Yo you can’t say that” He’s as
edgy as you get on his level… so he understands
exactly what it is and I think that’s what drew
him to me… you know when he heard the music.. he
know what it is.. so it’s cool…I’m real
comfortable…the work process is I’ll go do
it and they’ll listen and then they’ll say
“Yo You know what I think you should do something
like this and I ‘ll take their advice and pass
the world of respect… cuz I know that for sure
they are really in my best interest. They are my corner
for real...if they didn’t come get me to do the
deal… what would I be doin?…
Interview by Davey D. for Daveyd.com
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