Eminem had to have him, Jay-Z admits he’s the hottest rap act around, the streets love him, and Irv Gotti and Ja Rule are mad as fuck that he’s blowing up. He’s 50 Cent and he doesn’t go looking for trouble, but it always seems to find him.

You probably remember his breakout “fuck everyone” smash, “How To Rob”, but after the Queens native was shot nine out in front of his grandmothers mothers house in 2000, 50 was looked at as too much of a risk and dropped from his Trackmaters/Columbia deal. Damn near everyone had forgotten about the name-calling emcee by the time he resurfaced to set the streets ablaze with his G-Unit: 50 Cent Is The Future mixtape series. 50 re-invented the mixtape freestyle, putting them into song format, allowing him to spread his street gospel even further. And with the help of Sha Money XL, Lloyd Banks, and Tony Yayo, 50 and his G-Unit army caught on like wildfire–no one was safe. The industry that shitted on 50 a few years earlier, was once again at his door. But this time, the tables had turned, the power of the dollar was in 50’s court. Things were definitely looking good, although no one expected for Eminem, who was fresh off of going platinum the first week his Eminem Show was released, to fall in love with 50’s music the instant he heard it.

50 Cent wasn’t full of shit when he claimed to be the future, because he is. But not only is he the future he’s the present. His major label debut, Get Rich or Die Trying is due out this February. Let’s go...

So when did everyone start jumping on your dick, as far as record deals?

I had a lil’ momentum goin’ ‘cuz I had my attorney Theo setting up meetings. But everyone was kinda afraid at first, for real. I was sitting down with different label heads who had a perception of me that I wasn’t cool to even work with. From that, I made the decision to get Chris Lightly (Violator Management) involved because I needed someone to speak to these labels for me without me being present because they already had a fear for me. Because they figure I’m really from what I say I’m from. If you’re from what you say your doing, in reality you’re a risk. If they give you money and you're out there and active on the street, your at risk. They prefer you to be fake-ass rapper. I had deals on the table with a few companies. There’s not too many places you can go and win, the game is small. Def Jam was kinda out of the question. I was lookin’ at J Records. Universal’s like a whore house; they got so many successful projects there, how hard would it be to get focused on? I also had Jive Records and Capital. Capital is like a cash out, I don’t even think they’re in a condition to sell records. But they’re offer’s gonna be bigger ‘cuz they know the talent of the artists. So when you meet with them and they give you a big number, you can say (deal-wise) were at this, because an offer has officially been made. Continued on page 2 »