New 50 Cent Interview

[Jellyman]

He’s got a thing for that Gucci, that Fendi, that Prada, but 50 Cent’s street knowledge keeps him grounded. BEN PARKER reports.  

Curtis Jackson, aka 50 Cent, is not only the most controversial figure in hip hop in 2003, he is the biggest selling.

50’s debut album for Eminem’s label Shady Records, Get Rich Or Die Tryin’, has sold nine million copies worldwide.

Yet, 50 insists on keeping it real. “There is a line from In Da Club where I say: ‘Got a mill from the deal, but I’m still on the ground.’ And it’s true,” he says.

“Financially, I was in a good place before Get Rich Or Die Tryin’ even went on sale. But it was never about money, or jewellery, or the flashy things.

“I just wanted to say how hard it was for me to get to where I am at now.”


And right-about-now, 50 Cent is hip hop’s brightest star: constantly name-checked by his peers, always asked to throw down a guest spot verse with rap’s A-list, and forever analysed by media commentators.

There are obvious reasons why -- not the least that Jackson’s real life story is authentic gangsta: drug riddled and peppered with gunfire.

Jackson was born into a drug selling dynasty. His mother Sabrina was a hustler.

She was murdered before Jackson was eight. Jackson lived with his grandparents, but started hustling when he was 12.

Even today, 50 says if he wasn’t in the rap game, he’d be hustling.

“Some people are out there doing the wrong thing and enjoying it,” 50 says.

“That is something that was a part of my character. I wouldn’t have done those things if I had options. That is clear to me now.

“But, bottom line: I will provide for myself by any means necessary if I’m starving. And it was the only way to provide for myself ahead of music. Until I was going to make music for a living, I hustled.

“Maybe if I was blessed with the opportunities of coming into the world with something else, that would have generated my interests in another direction.

“But I didn’t have those options.”

Jackson was convicted of possession of a controlled substance in 1994. He served seven months of a three year sentence in juvenile detention. That time in lockdown forced a re-think about his life.

He returned to the streets intent to hustle something else: hip hop.

50 Cent signed to Columbia Records, but he was swiftly dropped by the label after an incident, three years ago, in which he was shot nine times.

Jackson was a back seat car passenger when, on one cold night in May, 2000, he took nine bullets. He refuses to speculate on the gunman.

He says he will never forget each shot ringing out, then hitting him. It also proved to be another life-changing incident. 50 knew he had to up the ante with his rhymes, and elevate himself above a tenuous life-or-death existence.

“That paranoia stays with you: that it’s possible that it will happen again. That is why I take precautions. I travel in a bulletproof car and I wear a bulletproof vest, always.

“It’s all good,” 50 Cent says.

The memory of slain rappers, TupacShakur (2Pac) and Christopher Wallace (The Notorious B.I.G), is the only reassurance 50 Cent needs. He is not afraid, just cautious.

“If Tupac was wearing his bulletproof vest, he could have prevented the wounds that killed him. Biggie Smalls: same difference. I am not exempt from the situations that killed Pac and Biggie, so I take precautions.”

However, lately, the only people gunning for 50 are the fans. Locally, his latest single P.I.M.P has been nudging the top spot, and 50’s Rod Laver Arena show has almost sold out.

His clique, G Unit, has just released its Beg For Mercy album, putting on hold 50’s next solo record, due for a February, 2004, release.

“I’ve been working every night and every day, ever since Get Rich Or Die Tryin’ came out. It hasn’t changed anything. The pressure of having a hit record doesn’t go away.

“In this business, you are as good as your last record. If you can maintain putting out hit records, you’re straight. The moment you stop,” he says, setting up a diss against his rap rival, “you are Ja Rule.”

Eminem and Dr. Dre contribute on 50’s next album.  “I really enjoy working with Em and Dre in the studio,” he says. “They are both perfectionists.

“I think Em gets it from Dre, and they feed off each other. What can I say? It’s great having both of them around me.

“Even with the success of Get Rich Or Die Tryin’, we can see that there is a whole ‘nother level to get to, a higher level to work my way towards. I mean, Em is at that point right now, where he does the same amount of records sales outside the States as he does in the States.

“You see Em do 8 million record sales and you know, worldwide, it’s closer to 17 million.”

Eminem is helping 50 Cent stay grounded. Em’s advice to him: “Create your circle and keep that circle around you close.

“It’s not easy,” 50 laughs. “When you blow up, everything around you changes. I have a lot of extra cousins now, and new family members.”

At least 50 has a place for them to stay. In September he bought a 60 room mansion in well-to-do Connecticut. Mike Tyson used to own it.

However, 50 was outraged when details of his house buy was leaked to the US media. It seems the leak came from his neighbours-to-be, who didn’t want a hip hop guerilla in the midst.

“People seem to think I’m going to bring trouble. ‘Here comes 50, he’s crazy, there goes the neighbourhood …’ You know what I mean?

“I’m not looking to bring any trouble into the environment, but at the same time, they are the people who publicised the fact that I purchased the house, and where I’m at.

“So, now, if trouble comes there I’m going to deal with it accordingly.”

Live, 50’s set is an extension of the successful Roc TheMic tour he did with Jay Z in the US earlier this year. “It’sFiddy raps with a bit of pyro,” he says.

“Eminem told me all about y’all in Australia. He said the crowds have a lot of energy, and it has a cool hip hop scene. I’m really looking forward to getting there.”

50 Cent plays Rod Laver Arena on Friday December 5, with Obie Trice and G-Unit.




rapnewsdirect.com

[CRAFTY]

Cool interview, thanks for posting it.

[Darksider]

Cool interview, thanks for posting it.

[JTSimon]

Yet, 50 insists on keeping it real. ?There is a line from In Da Club where I say: ?Got a mill from the deal, but I?m still on the ground.? And it?s true,? he says.

I got a mill out the deal and I'm still on the grind   not ground

I think the reporter just collected info on 50 and called it an interview...because Lloyd Banks solo is February and 50's 2nd album is coming out in June.

[PLANT]

Cool interview, thanks for posting it.