 G-Unit commander talks about his music, his label, and Kanye West's success.There's no denying that 50 Cent is a hot property within the global pop culture maelstrom. He's got both a videogame (Bulletproof) and feature length film (Get Rich or Die Tryin'), lurking on the immediate horizon, and just released his autobiography, From Pieces to Weight [Check out the IGN Filmforce interview with 50 where he discusses the aforementioned projects in-depth]. In fact, Curtis Jackson's got so much going on these days, it's easy to lose sight of the fact the he is first and foremost a rapper.
Yet with his G-Unit posse--Tony Yayo, Young Buck, Lloyd Banks, and Olivia--various label signings, the Get Rich or Die Tryin' soundtrack and the recently released The Massacre Special Edition CD/DVD, 50 is still staying true to his first love.
50's continued dedication to rap can be seen in his recent partnerships with R&B singer Olivia, and deals with underground rap heroes Mobb Deep and M.O.P., as well as rumors of wooing Mase away from Diddy.
While The Massacre Special Edition has just hit store shelves, the next new G-Unit project will be the soundtrack for Get Rich Or Die Tryin', which promises an impressive line up of musical talent including friends of 50 as well as members of the G-Unit. The soundtrack will also feature some new tracks from 50 himself, which will likely include the theme song that 50 hopes can rise to the level of Eminem's "Lose Yourself."
 "The music is great," 50 says of the soundtrack. "I feel like, you know, I think they should anticipate the soundtrack like they would anticipate the next 50 Cent album. You know, I've got great performances from each of the artists: Lloyd Banks, Tony Yayo, Young Buck. They contributed while they were working on their new albums. What I was able to do was [I] was able to let them work and while they were recording their records, I just take my favorite record from them. 'That's hot, let me get that, put that on my soundtrack…' Everybody has a song that we did together. It was a little selfish, but I wanted to make the record, my soundtrack, important to me later when I look back at it…"
Branching out from the kind of music he's known for is a tricky career move for 50. On the one hand he'd like to be able to take his music to different places, but his fans have also come to expect a certain thing. "You know what I feel like, it's soulful," he explains. "I'm trying to make a record that makes people kind of go left a little bit, but not too far from where my audience already embrace me, because they change too fast it's no good.
So you should expect me to come to you my next album with something totally different from what you already know. In the history of music there hasn't been an artist that did the research, trust me - that put out an album that was successful that was themed, split personality or more than one type of personality. You can do emotions - a great album has emotions. It has anger, it has sad music, it has happy music, a little humor. You know, but for you to give them two people won't quite work...You know, there's been a few Tracy Lee split personalities. Cassidy, all of that, none of those projects were successful, because the general public typecasts you.
When you give them something that wasn't what they want, they go, 'No, that wasn't what I wanted from you. I don't care what you feel like today…'. So 50, you're not gonna shoot nobody?' You see what I'm saying? It's a beautiful thing at the same time, because I believe Ice Cube's career, you know, everybody who paid close attention to it, he screwed his face up on every cover, every cd he was on. And as soon as he smiled and did comedy, Friday, he was talented, successful and great for Hollywood…"
As with Cube, success in the rap arena has afforded 50 a multitude of opportunities beyond his own music as the hip-hop market continues to grow. "I always was a fan of the music, but I didn't always look at it as something I wanted to do with my life," he says. "You know, you got some kids out there that start a lot earlier. Now, because it's becoming more and more relevant, hip-hop is growing as a business and an art form. Hip-hop, as a genre of music, pulls a billion dollars a year. You know, so you got a lot of that with the independent artists and the major label artists and stuff like that. I look because I intend to create companies where I'm able to give the same deals that a distribution company like Kotch can get. So I'm going to have associating myself with more artists. I'll probably corner their merchandising and use them for advertising…"
50's own label, G-Unit Records, has been plenty busy lately. The label recently signed Mobb Deep and M.O.P. "Well, Mobb Deep and M.O.P., the first time I said anything about signing them, they was talking about it. I was [a] fan of their music before I had the opportunity to be promoted by a major company. Our records have similar content; they write it from their perspective. You can give two writers the same topic of music, leave them, and they'll come back with two totally different songs from the same perspective. You can pick and choose which one you like better based on your personal preference. That's what it is for me and Mobb Deep or me and M.O.P.. We get a chance to write music that is a reflection of the environments that we come from."
What drew 50 to both of these groups, despite that they all hail from different parts of New York, is the similar stories they all share. "M.O.P. is from Brownville, Brooklyn and Mobb Deep is from Queens Bridge and I'm from South Side Jamaica Queens. To me it's a similar story, but totally different… The way I market myself is the way I market M.O.P. and Mobb Deep, but the people that are in the position to actually do that can't see it because they didn't see them get that big jump the first time," 50 explains.
"See, if I wasn't blessed with the opportunity to come with the timing that I came, the world might not have been ready for 50 Cent. So if I had come out when I thought I was ready, maybe '97 with Jam Master Jay, or '99 with "How to Rob" on Columbia Records, I wouldn't have been as big of a success, because they may not have been ready to accept the aggressive music that I write. I wrote music for the environment that I actually live in because I didn't have radio as an option. So I just made what was relevant. Down the block, they loved me like they love cooked food. You know, it's just like, 'That's it. You see what he said? That's really what's going on.' And they go outside and it's right in front of them."
With M.O.P. and Mobb Deep already part of the family, the next signing for G-Unit could be former Bad Boy, Mase. The pairing seems a bit odd at first glance, what with Mase having spent time away from rap to serve God as a minister, but 50 sees it as a perfect fit, one that will provide balance to the G-Unit stable. "We're working on it. We're in the studio now. Mase is perfect, being that. I don't want to turn my company into something that is just the top of the FBI list. You see what I'm saying? Because we're all from the same environment. I'm being honest with you…"
In terms of being honest, at the moment the only rapper popular enough to challenge 50's crown is Kanye West, whose new album, Late Registration, is the current toast of rapdom. West's background is almost the polar opposite of 50's, and 50 isn't so sure Kanye is the real deal. "I feel like Kanye West is successful because of me. I feel like, after 50 Cent, they were looking for something non-confrontational and they went after - the first thing that came following that was the Kanye West record and his career took off. And, just, a lot of times, he puts together witty phrases and he's a great talent as a producer, but I still don't know who Kanye West is if I listen to his record. By listening to the record, I don't know who he is. I know he was in a car accident, that's what I know."
The other thing 50 knows is how to market himself. He just recently released a special edition CD/DVD version of his enormously popular The Massacre album. Yet rather than drop a typical re-issue containing a few b-sides and remixes, this album features videos for every single song on the album. "The videos, I shot 21 visuals. The significance of that, if you ask any artist, they'd probably tell you the ultimate thing would be to create visuals for each one of the records on their album. Even though maybe one or two records is a hit, a smash hit off the average, I be getting' like four, five, six records that could be possible singles… But I'm only comfortable with that, because I don't know which way the general public's gonna shift. The artist feels like all of them are great, all of the records. I got a chance to create visuals for all of them and make them what I wanted them to be. I didn't have to edit them to the standards of BET or MTV formats. It's cool. It's an opportunity for me to draw my audience closer to me.
So after the The Massacre Special Edition, the soundtrack for Get Rich or Die Tryin', the G-Unit records and seemingly endless stream of side ventures, when can fans expect the next full length 50 Cent album? "I don't know. You think they need a break? I may have to give em' a break. I want to see what they do if I sit down for a second," 50 laughs. "When I say I sit down, I don't mean that I won't be acting, I mean that I'll leave the U.S. for a little while. I'll go over outside of the country and start developing my base out there a little more while they think I'm at home chillin.' Then I'll come back and finish em' off."
 by Jeff Otto |
