50 Cent on Conquering TV, His Beef With Diddy and Why He Brought $3.5M to Our Photo Shoot
Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson’s 49th birthday was three days ago, but he’s still in a celebratory mood.
If there was any question as “Fiddy” nears 50 whether he’s still at the top of his game, the answer arrives with him at the photo shoot for this story: The rapper turned mogul brings $3.5 million in cold hard cash, most of it stuffed into two heavy black suitcases. Some is assembled into a square stool that he sits on while smoking a cigar. Every now and then, as he poses for photos, he digs into the stash and adds a few more stacks to the table beside him — as those on set watch in awe, including the four security guards Jackson arrived with. The doors are locked shut, and the window shades are closed for maximum privacy.
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Asked whether he had to visit the bank to get the funds, Jackson says with a relaxed smile: “I just had that. I got more than that,” then adds that “I was inspired [to bring it] by [Muhammad] Ali,” referring to the 1964 Sports Illustrated cover for which the then-22-year-old boxer posed with $1 million in winnings. “I was like, ‘I want to do a shoot like that.'”
Suffice it to say, business is good for Jackson. Power, the Courtney Kemp-created series he executive produced, launched a run of hits for Starz after its 2014 debut, going six seasons and leading to multiple spinoffs, including Ghost and Raising Kanan (each renewed for its own fourth season) and Force (renewed for a third). His other series for Starz, BMF, recently wrapped its third season and, mirroring the Power franchise, is expanding into its own universe. Starz — which says Power programs and BMF average about 10 million multiplatform viewers per episode — relies on Jackson for unrelated series as well. His company is producing upcoming shows like boxing drama Fightland and Queen Nzinga, about an African warrior queen.
“Many executive producers are executive producers in name only, who start off, go to the initial pitches, get things going and then move on to their many other projects,” says Kevin Beggs, chair of Lionsgate Television Group. “Given the scope of 50’s portfolio, one could easily assume that it might be more of a vanity play, but it’s just not the case. He is hands-on, super involved, really collaborative … he’s an impresario, he’s a promoter, he’s a creative force that’s working closely with the writers and showrunners.”
Jackson’s G-Unit Film and Television company has several shows in development for Hulu, Paramount+, Peacock and BET, and he’s now bringing some of his most famous musical collaborators into the fold, for projects like a series based on 2002’s 8 Mile with Eminem, who first signed Jackson and helped release his debut album in 2003.
“50 is like a brother to me,” says Eminem, who guest-starred on season one of BMF in an episode directed by Jackson. “50 has proven again and again that there’s really nothing he can’t do, and nobody gets in the way of him getting it done.”
Jackson also is working on an animated series for Amazon Freevee called Lady Danger Agent of B.O.O.T.I. with Nicki Minaj. “He’s a blueprint to what resilience looks like,” Minaj tells THR. “Whenever he’s been counted out in the real world or within the entertainment business, he’s risen to the occasion and come out triumphant. He’s smart. He’s a businessman. I can see past the ‘funny 50’ — I see a very deep thinker. He’s honest. He’s mastered the chess game of reinvention throughout many eras of music, entertainment and social media. Yet he still somehow always seems to remain authentic. That is a very difficult feat.”
On top of all this, Jackson is launching a FAST channel, building a film studio in Shreveport, Louisiana, and (already a former New York Times best-seller) releasing a novel about a Black female Texas Ranger.
So, yes, the rapper is a full-fledged media mogul, though one who is rarely out of the news cycle, often for other reasons. Case in point, in reaction to the assassination attempt on Donald Trump (which took place after this interview), the entertainer began to trend on social media with viral memes featuring the former president’s face imposed on the cover of Jackson’s debut album cover, a reference to Jackson being shot nine times in a drive-by shooting in 2000. The virality meant his 2003 track “Many Men (Wish Death)” — which includes the refrain, “Many men wish death upon me” — saw a recent 250 percent streaming bump.
Jackson hasn’t publicly said who he’s supporting in November, but in 2020, he said he planned to back Trump over Joe Biden, a decision criticized on social media, though he later clarified his stance: “Fu*k Donald Trump, I never liked him.”
And then there’s Diddy, about whom Jackson is producing a doc for Netflix. An avid social media user, Jackson has been trolling Sean Combs for years (more on that below), upping the intensity as Combs faces several lawsuits over allegations of sexual abuse, rape and sex trafficking. (Combs has denied the accusations.)
“I’ve been very vocal about not going to Puffy parties and doing shit like that,” says Jackson, who first met Combs as an unsigned artist and helped ghostwrite some of his songs, including “Let’s Get It,” the 2001 top five rap hit. “I’ve been staying out of that shit for years. It’s just an uncomfortable energy connected to it.”
He describes watching the gruesome video of the Bad Boys Records founder attacking Cassie, Diddy’s girlfriend at the time (and whose now-settled lawsuit against him set off his avalanche of legal woes). “First, he denied that it even happened, and then the tape comes out — so that means everything that n—a says is a lie,” Jackson says. “When someone watches that, if they have a daughter and they can imagine her being under those circumstances, that shit is crazy. Like, they let him get away with it. With all the influence and power you have, the person you’re with is supposed to want to be a part of your life, not be forced.”
On board to make the Netflix Diddy documentary series is Emmy-winning filmmaker Alex Stapleton, whose credits include Shut Up and Dribble and Hello Privilege. It’s Me, Chelsea. “As partners, we share the same goal: to tell a story that is authentic, multilayered and deeply engaging for a global audience, which has followed and lived with this still-unfolding story for over 30 years,” Stapleton tells THR.
Sitting down with THR — that $3.5 million now packed back into those suitcases — Jackson talks about his growing empire, the Diddy doc and why he was almost left out of the legendary 2022 Super Bowl halftime show.
50 turns 50 next year. How are you feeling at this stage in your life?
I feel great, man. I had the most amazing birthday. I was in Canada. I was supposed to be performing for them, and they were performing for me. I came out, it was like a beach club, and the intensity was like, “Holy shit. This is ’03.” [The year he released his multiplatinum debut album, Get Rich or Die Tryin’.] I said, “Goddamn, hold up.” That was the best birthday I had.
I have a lot of stuff I’ve got to accomplish over this year. I’ve got to not make mistakes and be completely on it. This year, I’m going to get some work done. I’m not going to fuck up. (Laughs.) I’ll keep myself out of little bullshit.
What made you want to produce a docuseries on Diddy?
I’m the only one from hip-hop culture that’s produced quality projects. We do have a lot of talent within our culture where the talent has developed a comfortability in front of the camera, so they’re usually a part of it as an actor or driving force of why someone would watch the project; not the behind-the-scenes production, producing the whole project, so there’s a difference.
Over the years, you’ve made a point of not attending Diddy’s parties — was that because somebody told you the energy there was off? Or did you go to something that felt odd?
He asked to take me shopping. I thought that was the weirdest shit in the world because that might be something that a man says to a woman. And I’m just like, “Naw, I’m not fucking with this weird energy or weird shit,” coming off the way he was just moving. From that, I wasn’t comfortable around him.
I know you and Diddy have collaborated on a few songs. Were you ever friends?
It was mostly work. I wouldn’t call it a friendship because there wouldn’t be disappointment between us if we didn’t speak to each other. There’s points that we worked together. Jennifer Lopez actually told him he should work with me as songwriter in the beginning. And I was around at the early stages, and he could have done my record deal at that point. This is following me being shot up, the Trackmasters deal [at Columbia Records, where Lopez was signed], and I’m just getting back to work, and he’d call me to write. I remember Diddy would call, and my son’s mom would answer, and I didn’t want to get on the phone like, “No, no, no.” And she was like, “What the fuck? We need money.” (Laughs.) She’s looking at me, like, “What? Why don’t you want to talk to him?”
I didn’t ever party or hang out with him. Puff is a businessperson; when [people call him] a producer, I see people that were taken advantage of, who produced things that he took from them. He got the credit. He’s not a producer. He’s been able to take advantage of the business and the creatives in it. I don’t have any interest in doing that. I actually fall under the creative. So I just didn’t take to hanging out with that.
There have been so many silent voices when it comes to what’s going on with Diddy, as if people are afraid to speak up. Why?
Some of them were involved, at the parties and enjoyed themselves, so they don’t know what the fuck is on tape or what’s not on tape, so they’re not going to say anything because they might have had too much fun. And then you’ve got other people who look and go, “Well, that’s not my business and I don’t want to be in it.”
Then you’ve got a part of our culture that says, “That’s snitching” or “dry snitching” or shit like that. It’s not uncomfortable for me to say what I said because I’ve been saying this shit for four years, five years. I been telling you, “I don’t fuck with him. I don’t like the way he moving. This is a little crazy.” Everybody else is not going to be as comfortable as I am saying it.
You and Mary J. Blige have a great relationship and she’s also close friends with Diddy. I wondered if she had reached out to you …
No, no. You know what? Mary never reached out to me to tell me to not fuck up Puffy, because she knows that he does shit.
Your ex and child’s mother, Daphne Joy Narvaez — who was named in Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones’ lawsuit against Diddy — claimed you raped and physically abused her in a social media post. [She has since deleted it.] You’re suing her for defamation. What’s happening?
For me, I pussyfoot around the Daphne stuff and I’ll tell you why. I got a family court case. The allegations that came out — she posted things to her page saying some crazy shit — but this comes eight hours after I filed for custody for my son. And she put that up in response to that, and I’m like, “Ugh.” In this climate, you know how quickly they pass judgment. Things have worked out since she’s said those things. I had my son on Father’s Day, and we chilled. I’d like to respond and say some wild shit, but I’ve got to sustain that for my son.
Were you worried? Because regardless of what’s real or not, those claims can be damaging, especially because you’re making a doc about someone who is an abuser.
It is damaging. It is damaging just to have anything said about you at this point. Because you have people out there who don’t believe in your intentions, and if things are going in a positive direction for you and something pops up, they go (gasps), “This is what we have been waiting for.” For entertainment purposes, they exploit that as much as possible, but there is no merit to it.
Some critics have pointed out that Dr. Dre has an abusive past and he’s your mentor and have wondered if that contradicts you producing the Diddy doc?
It’s fine that they would feel whatever they feel because I don’t know what is true or what’s not true about that situation. And these things date back to before I was even signed to Dr. Dre.
But this would mean not acknowledging all the things that are positive about him, all the successes I have had and everything, because that’s the time frame we are talking about. Look, it may irritate people that have heard that. That’s crazy to think that you would not produce a doc series now based on that as well.
You’re opening a studio in Shreveport, Louisiana. What made you want to do that?
It’s given me a bigger responsibility. The studio itself, it’s for me to create content, to go make television shows and films and stuff like that. But Shreveport, I have to be able to create an experience for people to come, so I started investing in the downtown area, buying properties and stuff. I got to revitalize that along with the studio. And I’m sure everyone can’t see my vision for it because I look at things like, “Nah, it’s going to be like this.” My career has been like that. My life has been like that. I’ve been able to firmly believe in things where there’s not much around me to support the idea in the beginning, but it allows me to be passionate enough to work in that area until it actually works — that tunnel vision.
What can we expect from your upcoming FAST channel?
It’s a huge difference from the Starz format. Starz is subscriber-based. This one is free and ad-supported. There’s going to be new content in there, but I got access to a huge library of action films. It’s got to be premium. I don’t want to see me like I see my people on Tubi. I’ll make sure the quality of everything is there. The platform has to be able to fit my original material. So you’ll see the Power series — those universes will be there. BMF now has spinoff shows coming. Give me one year and I’ll be ranked the highest FAST channel.
Did you think your production empire would get to this level when you were starting out?
No. This is mirroring my music career. My first album turned into the largest debut in hip-hop, 13 million copies sold; the first television show that I produced became the highest-rated show on the entire network. So when that happens, the building kind of leans toward you, “What other ideas you got going on over there?” It gave me the ability to [do more]. I had to persuade them; Starz was very difficult because they weren’t acknowledging how significant it was. There were points that I had to say, “You know what? Y’all know what time it is” — because it was taking six months for us to come back when I just had Power. And at that point, they had lost 40 percent of their subscribers. They just turned it off because they were only waiting for Power.
I’m like, “I know I haven’t been doing this as long as you guys have been doing it, but you’re not acknowledging that you’ve got a programming issue. I’m not your problem. Your programming is your problem. What you need is more.”
Have there been people who’ve served as Hollywood mentors?
When you say mentor, I look at people in positions and go, “How did you get to that position?” And I’ll do my research.
My coolest experience was with Tyler Perry. Because there were points that I was feeling resistance or I was going, “What is this?” Because I’m not feeling the energy surrounding you being No. 1 for 10 years consecutively with multiple shows. And there was a point that I was with a group entertaining the idea of buying BET, and they couldn’t tell me what BET was worth without Tyler. They were trying to sell it for $3 billion and couldn’t tell me what it was worth without Tyler. So I looked, and I’m like, “Oh wait a minute.” Then, when I stopped by his studios, I immediately identified with how he was moving faster, the pace. We have the old Hollywood pace, the old “we are doing white Hollywood.” He’s doing the diverse version of Hollywood that has to move faster to make more. And you don’t have to compromise quality. You will notice the difference in the premium programming when it’s done correctly. It’s just better planning. That definitely changed my perspective.
Perry complimented you in a recent interview. Do you guys have something in the works?
He said if I wanted to do something, and I’m saying, “Yes, let’s do it.” Now we’ve just got to sort out what that’ll be.
Power has never earned an Emmy nomination, while Game of Thrones has won 59 from 159 nods, and I always thought it was interesting that the final season of Power had its premiere at Madison Square Garden but Game of Thrones‘ final season only premiered at Radio City. How did you pull that off?
I was able to convince Starz that what they felt was big wasn’t big to me. They think the Chinese Theatre in California is it. I’m like, “OK.” Radio City Music Hall, Madison Square Garden — I sell those shits out in a blink and I go, “Wait, why do you think there will be an issue? Are you not sure that what’s happening is actually happening?” And I had to talk them into it to get them to support the Radio City Music Hall idea first. There were people standing outside; when you use prestigious venues, landmarks, people get dressed to go to Radio City Music Hall. They will clean up for that. When we look good, we feel good, right, they take pictures now and post, “Going to the Power premiere.” And it got so much coverage that they didn’t know they were paying [for it]. It felt like we were paying for a premiere, not for each individual who documented the experience. And it turned out that we premiered far higher than the prior season.
Then I’m like, “Yo, that was cool, but let’s do it bigger.” And they’re looking like, “How many people? Are you sure?” This is not going to be a problem. If they have to pay for what went on at that premiere, it would have cost them $3 million to $4 million. It definitely created a cultural event — the largest premiere for any television show.
Do you feel like if the Power audience wasn’t predominantly Black, it would get more attention and awards?
I do. And the acknowledgement that’s missing, I receive from Tyler. He understands it. He’s gone through it all the time.
He’s never received a competitive Emmy nomination. [He was honored with the Governors Award in 2020.] Have you ever had conversations with the Television Academy?
I have done that several times.
What were the conversations like? Did any of it make sense?
No, it does not make sense. The easiest way to point it out to the public is the actual facts: When the show is clearly No. 1 in African American households, if you don’t want to acknowledge it, you don’t want to acknowledge African Americans and Latinos. It’s a choice. I don’t know if it’s OK, but it’s a choice.
You have won an Emmy — alongside Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. Blige, Kendrick Lamar and Jay-Z — for the 2022 Super Bowl halftime show. When the lineup for the show was first announced, your name was not on the list … you came out as a surprise …
They wanted to leave me out of it. They didn’t want me there.
Who is “they”?
Roc Nation. Yeah, they didn’t want me there. Eminem wouldn’t do it without me. That’s how I ended up on the show because he was not coming if I didn’t do it. When that happens, you go, “Damn, so you just lost Eminem because you didn’t bring 50? Damn. All right. Bring 50 then.” But if it was up to them, they would not have me there. I’m the surprise. I’m not on the bill at all. But they couldn’t get Em to do it without me.
What are your thoughts on the Grammys?
I don’t care about them. They don’t mean anything. It’s an acknowledgment of the success of the project, and the excitement is to be in the room with your peers. Other than that, what is the acknowledgment? It doesn’t mean anything. I haven’t even seen anyone in a bad financial space where they would sell their Grammys. Then it would mean something that you received this award. It has zero value.
Do you vote at the Grammys?
No. I don’t know who’s voting in that shit. It’s crazy. Whoever they are, they’re off at Beyoncé’s house because she has 30 of them.
A lot of people on your level don’t handle their own social media accounts, but that’s definitely you on Instagram, right?
Yes. I try to not take things so seriously. On social media, in general, you’ll see the worst things that you could see about yourself when you’re a celebrity. You’ll see things that will adjust your emotional state if you’re not prepared for it. And I’m so accustomed to it that I’ll go, “OK.”
As a metaphor, a person across the street looks at you and because they see the clothes you got on they assume, right? “He thinks he’s smarter than all of us.” If they assume that and they don’t know you, are you the kind of person that would go across the street? Because that would require energy for you to cross the street. For me, the position that I’m in makes me look across the street and if I identify it as something negative or uncomfortable, then I don’t go across the street to explain myself. I simply say, “Fuck you,” from across the street, and I keep going. And I only do this because if it doesn’t affect me emotionally, then it doesn’t slow me down from my journey.
You were featured on “Monster” from Michael Jackson’s posthumous album, 2010’s Michael. But that song and two others were removed from streaming services in 2022 because people questioned the authenticity of Michael’s vocals. Did you feel like Michael was singing on “Monster”?
Those were definitely Michael’s vocals. You know what’s crazy, Teddy Riley [who worked on Michael’s 1991 Dangerous album] produced that record. And Chris Tucker will tell you how excited Michael was about the music I was making.
You and Michael didn’t record together, right?
Yeah. The communication about doing it started before he passed [in 2009]. And when he died, Teddy was like, “Yo, you got to do this joint.” “Monster” was like his new “Thriller.” I was like, “Yo, definitely. Let’s do it.” I was excited to do it.
Did you and Michael ever get a chance to meet?
No. I didn’t. You know how excited I was to record that record? Because I had the Michael Jackson photo, when he was moonwalking and the street was lighting up during “Billie Jean,” that shit was over my bed when I was growing up, and he was the coolest person in the world. At that point, there was nobody cooler than Mike.
Is there anything that you regretted doing?
Regretted? Look, I think we wasted too much time arguing, me and Fat Joe, me and Cam’ron. There’s other guys like Jada[kiss], we cleared it up easier. But we wasted time because it was just the competitive nature. It wasn’t like we crossed paths and had real heat for each other. It went on more with Joe because he’s more like me, he’s closer in character to me. When we’re at odds, we are at odds, and we did that for a long time. And because of his loyalty to Irv [Gotti] and Ja [Rule], because he worked with them, I was seeing him not be happy from the things that were making me happy. It’s easy for me to say, “Fuck you,” if what makes me happy makes you unhappy, then we’re not on the same page and it turns into some shit, and I couldn’t pinpoint what exactly happened. When you look back at it, you go, “Wait, what happened?” Because we didn’t even have no altercation or no specific thing that created it. Now he’s like my friend, and I don’t care that he has relationships with people that I don’t, because he’s always had those relationships.
Do you ever see Kendrick and Drake being friends?
This is hip-hop. I think it’s competitive to a degree, obviously. Even Drake, his position and the attitude and his choices, those are 50 Cent choices. “Fuck it, everybody got to get it then.” When it becomes Drake versus Kendrick, it’s because it’s the only thing you can put up against Drake’s success.
Look, our culture loves to see you go up because it’s confirmation that they can go up. But when you stay up — “I want this shit forever, man” — they go, “Well, goddamn. When you going to come down? If you don’t come down, I ain’t going to have my chance to go up.” And then it’s these clouds that come over you, and that cloud is doubt, a shadow of doubt that doesn’t come from material or your work ethic. It’s doubt from the artist community, where they say, “I don’t know, his new shit is cool, but it’s not his first shit.” They do that to you and Drake’s just experiencing what you experience as a backlash from success, from the consistency he’s delivered over and over. I don’t see a loss for Drake. The people who bought Drake material are going to buy Drake material when his next song comes out. Now, the shit that I do, it ruins your whole fucking career.
Speaking of beefs — have you ever talked to Ja Rule?
Nah.
This story first appeared in the July 31 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.
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