50 Cent Talks Charity, Album And The Economy

Lately, 50 Cent [click to read] has been working on several projects including his upcoming album, Before I Self Destruct, his impending co-authored book The 50th Law, and his Curtis Jackson Community Garden at Baisley Park in Queens, where he plans to grant $150,000 over a two-year period in order to develop an outdoor childrens learning garden through his foundation, G-Unity. In addition to all of this, 50 is also gearing up for his new MTV show 50 Cent: The Money and the Power, which premieres tonight. The show will feature 14 contestants who will compete against each other to prove their entrepreneurial knowledge and determination.

50 Cent credits his success to his use of partnerships to get many of his projects rolling.

"You know, the guy who wants 100% of his business ventures is going to jump off the building when the stocks drop, he told the Los Angeles Times. You see what I'm saying? The guys that have really established wealth, they don't look for 100% of the actual business.

Because of the countless endeavors 50 is involved in now, the owner of the G-Unit brand says that hes too busy to engage in conflicts with other rappers.

I've been actively involved in other things. [Other rappers] don't feel they have to just watch me. Right now they may have a little bit of negative energy toward Kanye [West] or Lil Wayne and it's so different, because the artists are so differentYou get so many classifications within Hip Hop! They'll call me a gangster rapper because there's aggressive content. I write the harsh realities. But I'm conscious of what I'm saying, so I don't understand why I'm not considered a conscious rapper. And I'm the highest-selling guy that they'd consider a gangster rapper, so that'd make me popular, which is pop! So now I'm just all confused.

50 continued to talk about his website, Thisis50.com, the stock market, and of course, his forthcoming album, Before I Self Destruct.

[The mood of the album] feels like the title: Before I Self-Destruct. What people generally enjoy is the cycle of entertainment. They build entertainers in order to destroy them for the sake of entertainment The album is the meltdown. I bear the same frustration all artists do. In between each project there's a shadow of doubt cast over you with regard to how much consistency you deliver.

50 Cent: The Money and the Power premieres tonight on MTV at 10 pm ET, while Before I Self Destruct hits stores on December 16th.

Reported by Salima Koroma.