50 Cent on new TV deals, classics, Nas - and why he told Ari Melber ‘you're #1'

amount of money for records that were great on the street, right, no they don't, you know what I mean, half the time they don't. They don't pay you, some people don't pay, even when they get paid, when they appear on the lists. What about the first three? Jay-Z Kendrick Na. The first three are correct or not. No. They are still good artists, but not for all time. Not who the number should be. one, I don't know, I don't know who would be the number one artist, let's say hypothetically it was 50 Cent, number one, so who would be Jay?

After that, probably not, depends on the time period, the way you would do it. look at him like me how do you not look at the number one selling artists if we are in the business, if you are in the business, then you have to look at the number one selling artist because it is a business, okay, let me ask you, this is the most important question. difficult, huh? Do you like that metric because it's good for you because you're Diamond no no I don't like it I'm thinking of M when I say you think of Eminem it's M for sure, like 90 million records wow, that's a wild number though look, look at the bridge when you see these Lamborghinis Ferraris and Bentleys and stuff like that, there's no Lamborghinis and Ferraris that you can buy in hip-hop culture if there's no consumer base if they don't see where they fit into the culture or where, then there's no reason for them to support it. and buy it so when you look now there will be boys at home wow oh 50 I just love Eminem so much yeah I love them to death yeah I love them to death okay but I'm looking at it and I'm you saying, how could people be interested enough in it to consume it without it being marketed directly to them so that they feel a part of it?

Well, well, you used to say you were the Underground King. That hasn't been crowned, right, that's no longer true. Now I wear my halo all the time. Yeah, so before I let you out of here, I was actually looking at some of your old stuff and I was thinking, uh, no. You even know, if you like it, remember when you liked the Guess Who's Behind tape, yeah, first of all, that was one of your first mixtapes before this Get Rich or Die explosion, was that some kind of joke or a bravery say guess who it is?

When you really weren't out, yeah, no, I was because I got shot, so I can't come back from the hospital after that, but your potential national listeners wouldn't know, oh no one would know, period like in that moment I had the Smugglers' trick to sell the CD, as if they had to put a fake barcode on the back of the tape. I had to put Columbia Records on the back and give it to the kids who were hoping they would copy it. I'd put that on tape, yeah, it's like you and who kid or who 50 Cent is the future and then you hand it to a DJ, no, no, but give it to them so they can come out and then let them feel like I found something that they must have stolen from Columbia Records and then they can start pushing it, but at that time Colombia was holding you back, yeah, no, they let me go, they'll let you out, but I'll take you off an album.

I mean, right and there were no distribution channels at that time that you could have gone to, so you had created your own right on the Internet. I had to now the artist, new artists meet the audience directly before meeting the record company. There's no artist development, so there's no hip-hop groups, what was the last Migos group, there's no groups that think about that, there's no groups, it's a bunch of solo artists, right? I mean, and the kids who would have been writers because they simply were. They're not marketable, they're like darling collaborations, like when you have the 21 and Drake or Drake and Future mixtape, yeah, but they're not a group, they're not a group, they're just working together, yeah, you know, like there is .

Groups, when they had departments and we had artist development, they put people together because they were better together, so it would be a part like sometimes there are extremely talented singers who could sing the song better than your beloved Superstar, right? now, but they would take that song from that artist and say let's give it to this one and this will be a hit, so do you think you're saying there's a real cost to development, but that's why also live performances suffer ? but do you feel like this system is fairer for people like you because at least you can make yourself heard?

Now it's easier for everyone because you can't find an audience without knowing that you can go out and find things that didn't exist. At that time you had to develop a strong enough following for the NR department or record companies to recognize you as a star, well that's not going to happen, that's why I see it a little differently than new artists . You may not understand that no, if you've been through this in a way where you have that respect and this is always generational when people feel like some barriers need to come down and it's well, sure, other barriers mean that people actually Does not do that. early work and muscle development, so they may have a different orientation than you.

I want to read the killer tape. Remember this? Okay, they call you damn 50. Good to see you back on the hood, you said look at my cherry red SL. I'm doing good, sometimes I can't find the words to say how I feel so I take a threat quote look at the wheels so you're quoting Threat to society yeah so I just wanted to put this up. For you before I let you go, they say I quote, but it seems like you quote too, yeah a little bit, do you remember everything on every early mixtape, most of it?

You don't know, I mean, it's because when I go back and listen to it, I can experience how I felt at the time, like I knew who I was and then you listen to it like now, creatively, I would access more creative energy if I were writing. . that same type of more creative content but with the voice it sounds the same hunger and stuff, yeah, I think you would. I think I can get to that point where I can, you would feel like I'm hungry for no reason, like why is it. He likes that because we listen to the music, if you listen to it enough then you know what it sounds like, you know what I mean, so you know when your playing is up to par and you can go with that, but it's not like that.

Same, not the same, but I'm probably a rich man, riches, yeah, no, not to say, man, it's a little, I know how to do it, I know how to say it, I could give it to him, I can go write it for him and when he produces a pop smoke, obviously there is credibility, but he is saying that he has a mastery of his own external perception of how it is going to sound, like even The Postman pop album, which was easy to make, that the channel where he and died tragically when I was like 20 years old, yeah, yeah, but putting the music together was easy so it was, you know, because of his legacy, yeah, I can choose the hair, which one should we go, where and how should I do it, yeah, what's the record well as we show him quoting him and he grew up with you so that's a closing the circle moment before we let you out of here we want to do a lightning round this will be difficult for you because you're a bit of a Talker but falling behind is in a word or in a sense, okay, other people did it, some of them you crushed in the interview we showed and the numbers, so it's in a word or a sentence, okay, Eminem, the best Lloyd Banks, great, Tony Yayo.

I smoke, loyalty boy 50 Cent, the rapper, I still got it, man 50 Cent, the TV producer, just get going 50 Cent, the emerging mogul, oh man, that's it, you know what bothers me about the word mogul Does this change? Your behavior? You have to behave differently when you're mobile, I think so, so this means I can't be the rapper anymore. I can't rap anymore, or maybe we need to have a different view of the rapper. Yeah, well, I have to find out exactly. how to balance that because I don't want that title, look when you get in trouble every time I get in trouble.

I'm already going to rapper 50 Cent, yes, something positive happens if you start doing anything that comes with money, they go to the Mogul. Mogul, yeah, he says oh, that feels good. I'm like he's trying to figure out if this is so. Yes, there is some restriction to be able because I will just wait to be a mobile lady, yes of course, if something changes, yes. okay people we mentioned, future for oh Talent Nas, the best Jay-Z, good business, get rich or die trying, the classic, the best advice I got was Jimmy

told

me he pointed to the TV, yeah, I delivered a record, um, my life was Me, Eminem and Adam Levine, and both M and Adam Levine were the best-selling people in the world and they

told

me they couldn't play the record and I thought you can't play the record. , what is the advice?

Why can't you play the disc? Yeah, it was just like he was angry. I think they were angry and upset with me because I created SMS Audio. Why did they have rhythms? Yes and they didn't want to support. There would be if they were. supporting musically would be funding or creating your competitor so they couldn't play the record and then, um, but he pointed to the TV, he says, I don't know, maybe he pointed to the TV and I thought he'd pay attention to it. There are so many details when I'm around them that I started watching TV, oh maybe you should do that, do something, huh, best advice you've ever given me.

I was saying what the name of the state is. I would stay away from uh. Like I don't like gang stuff, I like games, I don't like conspiracies, I don't like the word Rico, like none of that, so I would say, actually, I was telling Casanova, yeah, stay away. from it, stay away from it, but You know things still happen to you I thought it was all over when it was over when uh no, I never liked things to end for you, yeah, ah, I don't think so. I knew I made it when I took my mom and them to a space. where it was better than what they got into like it was a new house, but they don't have to work on things like that now I feel like that's the most important thing I accomplished, what people still don't understand about 50 Cent is that I'm not sure if they still don't understand me, hey, okay, if you didn't understand it, but they did, they misunderstood me at one point because I'm not done, uh, I'm not looking for the same thing, so I'm not competing the same way and they.

Don't they miss the competitive side of hip-hop culture? It makes you compete well, artists. The difference between when they called it battle and when they called it meat was when we started using terminologies that were actually being used in the neighborhoods and stuff. Beef spilled on the street is supposed to become a negative thing when almost 90 per

cent

of the time it doesn't turn out well, but you know people look at it because I was in a position where I was in the focal point of the culture so I'm constantly competing with someone new because the same thing is when they look at Nikki and say she's crazy like Nicki Minaj Nicki Minaj, there are a lot of new women coming into hip-hop culture and she got a position that she has to fight to stay, yes they will let you hold the position, yes, so yes, you have to stay active and do what you have to do, yes, the last question, 20 years later, yes, the most important thing you have learned is to count the The money man has to count the money, you can't trust accountants, you know, some of these people are accountants and they don't have, they're not real CPAs, just be a CPA and it would be like 10. people there okay count your money yourself count it nice to see you again mister 50 Cent thank you 20 years Ari hey I'm Ari from MSNBC and it's 50 Cent and you can always find our videos on msnbc.com .

Ari, visit us. thank you