50 Cent: Shut Me Up...I
Dare You!
50 Cent has a lot on his plate today. He has to do multiple interviews with rags and online ‘zines – all hoping to get something unique from the man born Curtis Jackson. With his third commercially available album set for release on September 11th – 50 is as anxious to get the buzz spread about the new album. But the King of Queens has seen his fair share of rocks being thrown at his throne. Nemesis’ such as The Game, Nas and Cam’ron all attacking hip-hop’s bully in the press, during shows and even on YouTube.
Even though Curtis takes it in stride, the constant questions irk him as he ponders why should anyone compare him to anyone else. His sales from Get Rich Or Die Tryin’ and The Massacre easily conquer his opponents. And after acquiring chips du jour from Glacéau and keeping his name in everyone’s radar with dropping arguably another classic with "I Get Money". HipHopDX.com had the luxury of sitting down with 50 Cent as Curtis speaks on Curtis, vents his frustration and confusion with Young Buck and dispels rumors about a relationship between him and Ciara
HHDX: A lot has changed since the album’s original release date in June. After all the hype surrounded by the album – are you happy with the end result of the product?
50 Cent: Yeah, absolutely. I’m happy with it. When I initially started, I was happy with the project. But what I have right now, I think that it will impact the public right now. I make my music for everyone, but at the same time, when I’m in the studio – that’s what’s exciting for me. I make it for the general public. I got songs for me that I made and I enjoy it, but I’ll never put them out. Conceptually, they’re a little bit too much for others to ever accept from 50 Cent. You have some artists who simplify their sound; they have a good time with the music and enjoy what they’re doing. Look at how music is now – it’s nothing to really think about. You hear the song once and you’ll know the hook. From “Ay Bay Bay” to “Straight to the Bank,” it’s about the hook. I’m coming down off of what I would do initially when I would make these songs up, which is already having the chorus built into the song. Everyone knows that I’m a chorus driven artist, but I’m really trying to make an effort to showcase the skills.
HHDX: The streets are really buzzing about that “I Get Money” track – how did the track come about?
50 Cent: That’s one where the chorus came already built in. The guy who produced it [Scott Boogie] had never sold a beat before. So, it was a monster track. I got records from Timbaland, Dr. Dre, Kanye West, Will.I.Am and Swizz Beatz – just to name a few. I had done five records with Swizz, but they’ll end up on the next G-Unit album. At the same time, I’m being aware of what the public is wanting. The single makes me feel like how "In Da Club" was at the beginning of my career. I think that it’s one of those songs that’ll have longevity to it. There are other big records that came out in the last two years while I was gone, but it took awhile for them to grow in the public eye. Jim Jones had "Ballin’" ("We Fly High") and that was out for a year. You had that Rich Boy song – "Throw Some D’s On It" and that was out for nine months. It takes a long time for others to hear it and get it to where it needs to be.
HHDX: There’s a rumor that you’re planning on dropping two albums in 2008, in hopes of getting off of Interscope. Is that true?
50 Cent: As everyone knows, I have a five album deal. Curtis is album number three. I started recording Before I Self Destruct, I have completed about twelve songs. Then there is a ‘Greatest Hits’ clause in the contract that I can use as my last album requirement with Shady/Aftermath/Interscope. That’s the plan for the next few albums, after that, that’ll be the end of my contract. The plan for it afterwards is to do what any and everyone else would do – renegotiate. If it works out for the best, you’ll see me there. If not, then I’ll move on…
HHDX: In the last few months, you’ve really enforced your business muscle with G-Unit on a corporate level. With the changes made with the artists being dropped and all that – do you see G-Unit’s stock rising after Curtis’s release?
50 Cent: Man, absolutely… G-Unit is so closely associated with 50. When I have the people’s ear, they have it, as well. It’s like people will say, “50’s back… G-Unit’s back!” And it’s all based on a record! The hip-hop fan and public are a fickle bunch. We, as artists, have to hold ourselves to a higher consistency. I mean, you have cats like Dre, but he is so talented, he’ll have a hundred beats made in a week. What’s ill is if you don’t know which beat you sound right on, you’ll write to the wrong Dre beat.
HHDX: How’s Detox coming?
50 Cent: He’s working on it. I’ve recorded two songs for him. He’s such a perfectionist. But sometimes that can be a bad thing. You create new pressure when you wait that long. When you put a new album against the last two classics, people will scrutinize it if they become impatient. It happened with this album for me. They’d compare it to the last two by saying that it’s better than the Massacre, but they’re not sure if it’s better than Get Rich Or Die Tryin’. The impression is so deep. This is why Jay-Z’s albums get compared to Reasonable Doubt.
HHDX: A while back, Young Buck was quoted at Starpulse.com saying that the beef between you and The Game needed to end. Do you think that that could be possible?
50 Cent: Buck has his moments, but you have to know that he gets high! He fuckin’ says shit that can’t be fixed. If I never worked with him [Game], there wouldn’t be a beef. If I didn’t like him early on in the career, I wouldn’t have had to do so much for him to create what he had. I came on as part of a business decision. I came up with six songs for his album; three of them were his singles! He [Game] wants to be 50 Cent; in his head, he wants to be me! He wants to do what I did to Ja Rule. But for me, it’s all business… If the people out there like 50 Cent, then buy Game’s album, so I can make more money [laughs]!
HHDX: There are those who still think that you and Buck are not seeing eye to eye. Could you clarify on what’s going on between y’all two?
50 Cent: I see eye to eye with him. He’s like my younger brother. He does shit that doesn’t make any sense to me, but it is okay. It doesn’t change my relationship with him. Even in your head, I think that you’re an idiot if you walk around with the intention of trouble. You’ve seen him handle trouble when it gets there, though. I don’t want that either. But when a person displays as much disrespect as he does, it’s hard to continue to conduct business. If you look at it, his opportunity is thanks to me! Dre was going to drop him at the time. I don’t know why someone would be so disrespectful. I’ll tell anyone that they got to function on their own. They should write their own albums and do their own thing. When they need assistance, I’ll be there. They’re all credible artists, man. They’re the better rappers in my head. If people don’t point to G-Unit and say that creatively these guys deliver, then something is wrong. It’s not like I got to help them with their verses. They do it in the same spot that I’m doing mines. So, I treat them as credible artists.
HHDX: But he wasn’t in the “I Get Money” video…
50 Cent: They all have their separate careers, but Buck, at that time, was on tour in Canada. I was lucky to get the rest of them to show up. Nothing in G-Unit splits up unless I say that I’m not fuckin’ with them. After that, then they can split up. Other than that, nobody is going anywhere. They are contractually bound to a company. If they say otherwise, they’re going crazy… I still own the project. The buying public didn’t know who these people were until I introduced them…
HHDX: Speaking of “I Get Money” – Jim Jones had said that he wouldn’t mind working with you in the future. Is there anything in the works with that?
50 Cent: I’m not sure if I’m going to do it, yet. Jim Jones is one of the smarter guys out of the Diplomats crew. He’s just focusing on business opposed to beef. Cam jumped out the window. So, right now, Jim’s generating the interest that’s keeping that crew alive. But like everyone else, he’s going to be faced with doing it again. If he does, he’ll be cold as ice. As far as for the other guy, Cam’ron, he’s a lucky guy…
HHDX: Why?
50 Cent: …Because I’m talking about him. The fact that he said something on the air, that ain’t beef, son! If it had some substance for it to turn into something, it would’ve already been like that. It would’ve been on some street shit. I said it in an actual interview that he thinks that he could fuck with me. He was making comparisons about Jim’s sales versus Lloyd Banks’… but its 50 Cent and Cam’ron on the phone [laughs]. I sold 8 million records, B! Don’t talk to me about them dudes while it’s you and me talking on the air! What I’ve done to the general public, outside of Tupac, is become a believable individual. I’ve given them a more vivid description of my lifestyle than a lot of cats in the game. I felt like that with Tupac. That’s the only comparison. I don’t got any “Thug Life” comparisons. We weren’t similar in that regards. But people understand what I’m talking about. When I go on TV, radio, anywhere… the ratings go up.
HHDX: With rap music and the industry both musically and business-wise not up to par, you and Kanye have albums that are anticipated, yet are dropping on the same day. How do you think that this affect the culture and the business of hip-hop as a whole?
50 Cent: I think that it’s good for hip-hop music, period. Kanye is a great producer. So, we’re going to see what’s going to happen. I actually went to see him while I was making this album to see if he had something that’d change my perception of my own project. We’ve worked together on this album. The ill part of it is where I don’t like it where they try to make it seem like a competition. I don’t think it’d affect sales, but it’d be the marketing that gets affected. The idea of making him my competition doesn’t make sense because I’ve sold three times the amount of what he’s sold. That means any rapper can come out and say that they’re competing with me. What’s going to happen afterwards? You know what…?
HHDX: What’s that?
50 Cent: I just came up with an idea, man… Let’s see who gets trophies for having the best record. My first album sold 872,000 and then 822,000 the next week! Usually, there is a 40-50% decrease in an album’s sales. Mines had a 70% increase. Check this out, when the second album came out, I sold 1.14 in four days! I accomplished a feat of bringing back my core base of fans and increasing upon that market. As we go into this third record, "I Get Money" is growing. I don’t know if it’ll be peaking at the time the album drops, but I also have the joint with Justin Timberlake. What people don’t realize is that we’re in the business of selling music, but it’s also about creating public interest. If the record doesn’t sell at all, if I sold 200,000 copies, then you can say that my run is over…
HHDX: Fifty, I just wanted to know… how’d you manage to get Ciara to forget about Lil’ Bow Wow?
50 Cent: [Laughs] You’re a nut, man! They came at me about doing the song and I heard the joint. It was before her album came out and I was thinking that she’s the future of R&B. People love Beyoncé, but look at how long she’s been around! I think that she’s dope, though. But I’m about the future of the business and her [Ciara] and Chris Brown are just that. They’re going to be the best things out in a lil’ bit. But as far as what people think between me and her, man… [laughs], the video did that.
Even though Curtis takes it in stride, the constant questions irk him as he ponders why should anyone compare him to anyone else. His sales from Get Rich Or Die Tryin’ and The Massacre easily conquer his opponents. And after acquiring chips du jour from Glacéau and keeping his name in everyone’s radar with dropping arguably another classic with "I Get Money". HipHopDX.com had the luxury of sitting down with 50 Cent as Curtis speaks on Curtis, vents his frustration and confusion with Young Buck and dispels rumors about a relationship between him and Ciara
HHDX: A lot has changed since the album’s original release date in June. After all the hype surrounded by the album – are you happy with the end result of the product?
50 Cent: Yeah, absolutely. I’m happy with it. When I initially started, I was happy with the project. But what I have right now, I think that it will impact the public right now. I make my music for everyone, but at the same time, when I’m in the studio – that’s what’s exciting for me. I make it for the general public. I got songs for me that I made and I enjoy it, but I’ll never put them out. Conceptually, they’re a little bit too much for others to ever accept from 50 Cent. You have some artists who simplify their sound; they have a good time with the music and enjoy what they’re doing. Look at how music is now – it’s nothing to really think about. You hear the song once and you’ll know the hook. From “Ay Bay Bay” to “Straight to the Bank,” it’s about the hook. I’m coming down off of what I would do initially when I would make these songs up, which is already having the chorus built into the song. Everyone knows that I’m a chorus driven artist, but I’m really trying to make an effort to showcase the skills.
HHDX: The streets are really buzzing about that “I Get Money” track – how did the track come about?
50 Cent: That’s one where the chorus came already built in. The guy who produced it [Scott Boogie] had never sold a beat before. So, it was a monster track. I got records from Timbaland, Dr. Dre, Kanye West, Will.I.Am and Swizz Beatz – just to name a few. I had done five records with Swizz, but they’ll end up on the next G-Unit album. At the same time, I’m being aware of what the public is wanting. The single makes me feel like how "In Da Club" was at the beginning of my career. I think that it’s one of those songs that’ll have longevity to it. There are other big records that came out in the last two years while I was gone, but it took awhile for them to grow in the public eye. Jim Jones had "Ballin’" ("We Fly High") and that was out for a year. You had that Rich Boy song – "Throw Some D’s On It" and that was out for nine months. It takes a long time for others to hear it and get it to where it needs to be.
HHDX: There’s a rumor that you’re planning on dropping two albums in 2008, in hopes of getting off of Interscope. Is that true?
50 Cent: As everyone knows, I have a five album deal. Curtis is album number three. I started recording Before I Self Destruct, I have completed about twelve songs. Then there is a ‘Greatest Hits’ clause in the contract that I can use as my last album requirement with Shady/Aftermath/Interscope. That’s the plan for the next few albums, after that, that’ll be the end of my contract. The plan for it afterwards is to do what any and everyone else would do – renegotiate. If it works out for the best, you’ll see me there. If not, then I’ll move on…
HHDX: In the last few months, you’ve really enforced your business muscle with G-Unit on a corporate level. With the changes made with the artists being dropped and all that – do you see G-Unit’s stock rising after Curtis’s release?
50 Cent: Man, absolutely… G-Unit is so closely associated with 50. When I have the people’s ear, they have it, as well. It’s like people will say, “50’s back… G-Unit’s back!” And it’s all based on a record! The hip-hop fan and public are a fickle bunch. We, as artists, have to hold ourselves to a higher consistency. I mean, you have cats like Dre, but he is so talented, he’ll have a hundred beats made in a week. What’s ill is if you don’t know which beat you sound right on, you’ll write to the wrong Dre beat.
HHDX: How’s Detox coming?
50 Cent: He’s working on it. I’ve recorded two songs for him. He’s such a perfectionist. But sometimes that can be a bad thing. You create new pressure when you wait that long. When you put a new album against the last two classics, people will scrutinize it if they become impatient. It happened with this album for me. They’d compare it to the last two by saying that it’s better than the Massacre, but they’re not sure if it’s better than Get Rich Or Die Tryin’. The impression is so deep. This is why Jay-Z’s albums get compared to Reasonable Doubt.
HHDX: A while back, Young Buck was quoted at Starpulse.com saying that the beef between you and The Game needed to end. Do you think that that could be possible?
50 Cent: Buck has his moments, but you have to know that he gets high! He fuckin’ says shit that can’t be fixed. If I never worked with him [Game], there wouldn’t be a beef. If I didn’t like him early on in the career, I wouldn’t have had to do so much for him to create what he had. I came on as part of a business decision. I came up with six songs for his album; three of them were his singles! He [Game] wants to be 50 Cent; in his head, he wants to be me! He wants to do what I did to Ja Rule. But for me, it’s all business… If the people out there like 50 Cent, then buy Game’s album, so I can make more money [laughs]!
HHDX: There are those who still think that you and Buck are not seeing eye to eye. Could you clarify on what’s going on between y’all two?
50 Cent: I see eye to eye with him. He’s like my younger brother. He does shit that doesn’t make any sense to me, but it is okay. It doesn’t change my relationship with him. Even in your head, I think that you’re an idiot if you walk around with the intention of trouble. You’ve seen him handle trouble when it gets there, though. I don’t want that either. But when a person displays as much disrespect as he does, it’s hard to continue to conduct business. If you look at it, his opportunity is thanks to me! Dre was going to drop him at the time. I don’t know why someone would be so disrespectful. I’ll tell anyone that they got to function on their own. They should write their own albums and do their own thing. When they need assistance, I’ll be there. They’re all credible artists, man. They’re the better rappers in my head. If people don’t point to G-Unit and say that creatively these guys deliver, then something is wrong. It’s not like I got to help them with their verses. They do it in the same spot that I’m doing mines. So, I treat them as credible artists.
HHDX: But he wasn’t in the “I Get Money” video…
50 Cent: They all have their separate careers, but Buck, at that time, was on tour in Canada. I was lucky to get the rest of them to show up. Nothing in G-Unit splits up unless I say that I’m not fuckin’ with them. After that, then they can split up. Other than that, nobody is going anywhere. They are contractually bound to a company. If they say otherwise, they’re going crazy… I still own the project. The buying public didn’t know who these people were until I introduced them…
HHDX: Speaking of “I Get Money” – Jim Jones had said that he wouldn’t mind working with you in the future. Is there anything in the works with that?
50 Cent: I’m not sure if I’m going to do it, yet. Jim Jones is one of the smarter guys out of the Diplomats crew. He’s just focusing on business opposed to beef. Cam jumped out the window. So, right now, Jim’s generating the interest that’s keeping that crew alive. But like everyone else, he’s going to be faced with doing it again. If he does, he’ll be cold as ice. As far as for the other guy, Cam’ron, he’s a lucky guy…
HHDX: Why?
50 Cent: …Because I’m talking about him. The fact that he said something on the air, that ain’t beef, son! If it had some substance for it to turn into something, it would’ve already been like that. It would’ve been on some street shit. I said it in an actual interview that he thinks that he could fuck with me. He was making comparisons about Jim’s sales versus Lloyd Banks’… but its 50 Cent and Cam’ron on the phone [laughs]. I sold 8 million records, B! Don’t talk to me about them dudes while it’s you and me talking on the air! What I’ve done to the general public, outside of Tupac, is become a believable individual. I’ve given them a more vivid description of my lifestyle than a lot of cats in the game. I felt like that with Tupac. That’s the only comparison. I don’t got any “Thug Life” comparisons. We weren’t similar in that regards. But people understand what I’m talking about. When I go on TV, radio, anywhere… the ratings go up.
HHDX: With rap music and the industry both musically and business-wise not up to par, you and Kanye have albums that are anticipated, yet are dropping on the same day. How do you think that this affect the culture and the business of hip-hop as a whole?
50 Cent: I think that it’s good for hip-hop music, period. Kanye is a great producer. So, we’re going to see what’s going to happen. I actually went to see him while I was making this album to see if he had something that’d change my perception of my own project. We’ve worked together on this album. The ill part of it is where I don’t like it where they try to make it seem like a competition. I don’t think it’d affect sales, but it’d be the marketing that gets affected. The idea of making him my competition doesn’t make sense because I’ve sold three times the amount of what he’s sold. That means any rapper can come out and say that they’re competing with me. What’s going to happen afterwards? You know what…?
HHDX: What’s that?
50 Cent: I just came up with an idea, man… Let’s see who gets trophies for having the best record. My first album sold 872,000 and then 822,000 the next week! Usually, there is a 40-50% decrease in an album’s sales. Mines had a 70% increase. Check this out, when the second album came out, I sold 1.14 in four days! I accomplished a feat of bringing back my core base of fans and increasing upon that market. As we go into this third record, "I Get Money" is growing. I don’t know if it’ll be peaking at the time the album drops, but I also have the joint with Justin Timberlake. What people don’t realize is that we’re in the business of selling music, but it’s also about creating public interest. If the record doesn’t sell at all, if I sold 200,000 copies, then you can say that my run is over…
HHDX: Fifty, I just wanted to know… how’d you manage to get Ciara to forget about Lil’ Bow Wow?
50 Cent: [Laughs] You’re a nut, man! They came at me about doing the song and I heard the joint. It was before her album came out and I was thinking that she’s the future of R&B. People love Beyoncé, but look at how long she’s been around! I think that she’s dope, though. But I’m about the future of the business and her [Ciara] and Chris Brown are just that. They’re going to be the best things out in a lil’ bit. But as far as what people think between me and her, man… [laughs], the video did that.
