LostAngel

September 2, 2007

Curtis Jackson started out as a crack dealer and ended up rivalling The Beatles. The man hoping to be hip-hop's first billionaire introduces Nigel Farndale to the bling side of The American Dream and explains why George W. Bush is his hero

Like a formation of geese ahead of an approaching cold front, an entourage arrives. It includes several hefty bodyguards with wires coiling from their ears and sunglasses shielding their eyes. Minutes later there is indeed a change in the atmosphere: a crackle of static. Perhaps this time 50 Cent really has entered the building.

However, I have been here before. Several months ago I was asked if I would like to interview Curtis Jackson III, better known as the gangsta rapper 50 Cent. What interviewer wouldn't? He has texture, as they say. His (single) mother, a crack dealer from the New York ghetto of Queens, was murdered when he was eight. His grandparents did their best to raise him, along with eight other children, but at 12 he became a crack dealer himself, and was so good at it he was soon making $3,000 a day.

In 1994, aged 19, he was arrested and sentenced to nine years in prison. He served three and, on his release, did a demo of the rap songs he had been writing on the walls of his cell. He sent them to Jam Master Jay (the musical force behind the pioneering rap group Run-DMC), who liked them, became his mentor and taught him how to count bars, write choruses and structure songs. 50 Cent had just signed a deal with Columbia in 2000 when he was shot nine times by a rival gang and left for dead. He survived, but when his assailant was found dead soon after, the record label took fright and dropped him.

The rapper Eminem was not so faint-hearted. Along with his mentor and business partner Dr Dre, he signed him up and, in 2003, 50 Cent released 'Get Rich or Die Tryin' ', a hip-hop album that became the biggest seller in the American charts that year (nearly 900,000 copies were sold in the first four days of release). By the time his follow-up album was released, he had become the first artist since The Beatles to have four songs in the top 10 of Billboard's singles chart.

His new album, 'Curtis', is released later this month. But nowadays he earns more than $50 million a year without even bringing out a record, thanks to the cross-branding business empire he has built up: as well as his own record label, there is a 50 Cent clothing line, a 50 Cent publishing arm, a 50 Cent film company, a 50 Cent condom range, a 50 Cent sports watch line (diamond-encrusted, of course), a 50 Cent PlayStation game, and a bottled vitamin water line (his stake in the company, Glaceau, is said to have earned him millions when it was sold to Coca-Cola for $4.1billion in May). Forbes magazine has called him a 'masterful brand-builder and a shrewd businessman'.

Anyway, I was to meet him in Berlin at the weekend. At the 11th hour, the venue and time changed: it would be the following week, at his 52-room mansion in Connecticut (previous owner: Mike Tyson). There I was to have some 'hang time' with him. That trip was postponed, too. It would be in LA the following Wednesday. The night before I was due to fly, it was postponed again, for a week. This routine happened twice more. It became almost amusing, a weekly game, an exercise in morbid fascination.

The week after that, I actually reached the airport without the usual postponement call. The plane took off. Still no call. I checked my messages when I touched down. Confidence was high: 50 Cent had arrived in LA that day for a concert that would be broadcast on the web. I waited backstage to meet him. His heavies began to appear. There was a change in the temperature. The crackle of static. Then mobile phones started ringing and faces started dropping. There was a rumour that 50 Cent had cancelled. It turned out to be true. An executive from his record label took me out to dinner that night and assured me that Fifty, as everyone calls him, was normally very professional about these things. No one knew why he had cancelled the concert. There were hints that he might have been taken ill.

I'm reflecting on this runaround as I sit waiting in a London studio a month later. Then Fifty nonchalantly ambles in, wearing his own-brand baseball cap and a large diamond-encrusted cross around his neck. He slumps on the sofa in front of me and gives a toothy grin. 'Wass up?' he says. I was going to ask him the same thing.

What was up in LA? What happened? 'Right, LA. How was your trip out there?' I've had better. 'Right, right. It was the new album. It was due for release then, but it wasn't how I wanted it. I had to go back and work on it. I'm very hands-on. I'm fine with failing, but only if it's my fault. I don't like putting my life into other people's hands.'


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LostAngel

Hmm. Q magazine has dubbed him 'Dead Man Walking' because of the various death threats that are regularly made against him - he made a lot of enemies in his drug-dealing days and still does with his 'diss wars'. The recent face-off with Kanye West over their respective new albums coming out on the same day is mere professional rivalry. But much of his early notoriety in the music business concerned the fights he picked with his fellow rappers, deliberately starting feuds by insulting them in his songs. The list is long, but his biggest feuds have been with Ja Rule, The Game (a former protégé), and the most famous rapper-cum-entrepreneur of them all, P. Diddy. It's a dangerous game - his mentor Jam Master Jay was shot dead, allegedly as part of a rap feud - and the bulletproof vest Fifty wears and the bulletproof car he drives (a Humvee, naturally) are not just for show.

How safe does he feel today? 'Pretty safe. As safe as I'll ever be. Do you feel safe? You've got terrorist attacks going on here in London.'

And on that subject I ask him how his flight was, bearing in mind that a couple of years ago he and his 18-strong entourage were held up for five hours by security coming into Heathrow. 'It wasn't difficult for me this time because I flew private.'

That must help. 'Yeah, early on I had real hassle at the airport. But after several trips to London, they are more relaxed about it. My bodyguards don't carry guns in the UK, only in the US. Trouble is, the security men go on perception. Because of the content of the lyrics they felt I would cause trouble, so they had that worked out before I touched down.'

Ah yes, the lyrics. Some are witty, some quite poetic, others are, well, n---er this, motherf----er that and 'let loose wit dis Uzi' the other. So, I ask, would it be fair to say that Fifty glamorises gun violence? He speaks heavily and chewily, in a slightly lisping and slurring voice. I'll not attempt a phonetic version of it here, but he drops letters, swallows words and his vocabulary is unwieldy - 'finances' for money, 'terminology' for words, 'altercation' for fight, a bit like a policeman taking the stand in court.

'There is a difference between glamorising violence and creating a work of art that entertains on some level,' he says. 'Hip-hop is a mirror. What I write is a reflection of the environment I grew up in. What I do is reporting. I think it is clear to everyone that I am no longer living that life I describe, but I use terminology that they use in that environment, so that people there can relate to it. People say I should take out the cursing and I say, "Sure, I'll change my standards if society changes its standards".'

A change of tack. Does it worry him that the young people who buy his albums might feel inspired to go around shooting people afterwards? 'Anyone who could be influenced by music would have to be so distorted they could be influenced by pretty much anything,' he says, adjusting his baseball cap as he catches his reflection in a mirror behind my head. 'The kid that become violent because he listen to music is already crazy. People who can't separate entertainment and reality are not mentally normal.'

So, people who act violently after listening to his lyrics were going to act violently anyway? 'Exactly.'

Yet that can't be true, can it? These things must have an influence. If someone listens to one of his records again and again they will get pumped up by it, feel aggressive. 'That would also relate to film.' People don't watch films over and over again, though. 'Yeah, but sound and picture has to be more impressionable than sound on its own, doesn't it? If you have a rapper come on and tell you he is going to shoot someone that seems to upset people more than if a film-maker comes on and actually shows you someone being shot. It's double standards. It's simple math.'

Why does he suppose people are drawn to that which frightens them? 'I think death in itself is entertaining to humans. I believe that is because it is everyone's fate. I'm going to die, you going to die, everyone is going to die. You see someone in a life-threatening situation and it is entertaining.'

Entertaining? Unlike most of us, 50 Cent - he took his name from that of a Brooklyn robber - has stared death in the face. He says he knew for certain he was about to die. What did that last moment feel like? 'I think you can remember pain a lot better than you can remember joy. I think pain leaves a bigger impression. We can smile watching a sitcom, but the painful points in our life stand out like scars. I physically have scars from that altercation.' He holds a finger to his cheek. 'See this little dimple? It's cute. I believe God meant to give me it as a baby, but gave it to me a few years late.'

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LostAngel

When he was shot, Fifty suffered wounds to his legs, chest and calf. His hip was also shattered. The skin on his right hand is still puckered by the impact of another bullet. The bullet that smashed through his jaw and lodged in his tongue left him with a curved scar, still visible near his mouth. It makes it look as if he's smiling to himself. Did he know anything about it at the time? 'It happened so fast that I didn't even get a chance to shoot back ... I thought, "S---, somebody shot me in the face. It burns." I was awake on the way to the hospital and then I went under anaesthetic. Only when I woke up did the pain really start. At the time I didn't think about the number of times I'd been shot, I just thought, "I survived".'

What about mentally; does he have nightmares about it? 'Not nightmares. A little bit of paranoia. After I was shot I would be more aware of what was going on around me. More alert.'

Has he ever had therapy? 'No… it would have been traumatic if I wasn't from the background I'm from, but it happened all the time there. It feels like the norm. Not being shot nine times necessarily, but being shot. If it isn't a friend of yours or someone you know, you tend not to notice or think about it much. You can't feel that physical pain for them anyway.'

Does that make him emotionally frozen? 'I am insensitive on some levels. I can be selfish. At some point I will make choices based on what I want rather than what is right for everyone else.'

Tell me about it. His mouth broadens, flashing a set of bright pearly teeth, gritted tightly together. 'I guess that is what allowed me to continue believing I would be a success when others couldn't see why. I run on my own energy. When you orphaned you have no choice but to do that. Me, I'm like one in a billion. There's not going to be another 50 Cent. They'll get to half of the movie, they just won't get to this part.'

He refers to the movie that was made about his life and in which he starred. Get Rich or Die Tryin' was directed by Jim Sheridan, the director of the Oscar-winning My Left Foot, and offers chilling insights into the world of the crack dealer. Does he feel any guilt about his previous life? 'No.'

Why not? 'If I was conscious of having any other options at that stage in my life I would have chosen those options. I just thought of my mom buying nice things for me with the money she made from crack and I thought I could do the same. That was my reference. Her friends had nice cars, nice jewellery, things that said luxury and success, and they acquired them in short periods of time.'

His boastfulness and selfishness are almost understandable in this cold and unforgiving context. I ask if material rewards still matter to him? 'There's a point where you exceed your own expectation. But ambition is part of my character. I don't believe I'm at where I'm at by accident. It's not for money, but for what it feels like to be successful. You know what money is? It's freedom - to say I'm going to get on a plane tonight instead of tomorrow because I've got one waiting.'

He recently expressed an interest in buying the imposing Debenham House in London's Holland Park as part of his property portfolio. Some accounts suggest that the agents were a little patronising at first, pointing out that it was on the market for £40 million. His business manager pointed out, in turn, that such a sum wouldn't make too much of a dent in his budget. Does he know how much he is worth? 'I'll be the first hip-hop artist worth a billion dollars. I know how much money I have in different places. I understand about branding and synergy.'

The comment reminds me that the phrase 'Get Rich or Die Tryin' is nothing if not a bling version of the American dream. Perhaps we should not be surprised that Fifty's sympathies, unlike those of nearly everyone else in the music industry, are Republican. If his convictions did not prevent him from voting, he claims he would vote for George Bush. He has performed for the troops in Iraq and says the President is, 'Incredible … a gangsta. I want to meet George Bush, just shake his hand and tell him how much of me I see in him'.

It would be a memorable encounter. And Fifty does know how to dress for the occasion. He wore an Armani suit and tie recently for a charity event photo op in which he held hands with the Duchess of York. 'She's a sweetheart,' he tells me. 'She came back to my dressing room afterwards and we talked for a while. It was for a good cause.' But he normally wears what he is wearing today: baggy T-shirt and jeans, trainers with the laces undone, a baseball cap which he keeps adjusting constantly to get the right angle. Certainly there is vanity there, and egomania. Like Caesar he refers to himself in the third person. But he can seem two-dimensional.

His world view was shaped by money and machismo, and success has not significantly changed that. 'Most people from my background end up incarcerated or killed, like my mom. I associated everything good in life with my mom and when she died everything became bad. I was angry with the world. It was f----- up for me. It wasn't until my son came into my life that I realised I could accept the repercussion for that lifestyle. He changed my direction from selling drugs to writing music.'

He has a close relationship with his 10-year-old son? 'Yeah, he's my partner. He's my inspiration. It's unfortunate that me and his mom don't have a good relationship. We don't communicate so well.' But he loves his son? 'Absolutely.'

I ask only because the theme of his autobiography is that love is dangerous because it will get you killed. 'When you living in that lifestyle it can literally get you killed because the people who love you will hurt you and say 'I'm sorry' afterwards. But someone who has fear of you won't do those things to you. Whether it's the physical repercussion they fear or just you, as a person.'

What about women - does he find it easy to fall in love with them? 'That different. Loving a woman is loving another person. With my son it's like loving myself. He's a purer version of me. He hasn't been exposed to the things that altered my character.' He pauses. He is now staring directly at his reflection. Past me. 'No, that's not exactly true. He saw me in the hospital after I was shot so he has that in his head, but, outside of that, nothing bad. If you talk to my son I'm like a superhero to him because he can remember us having no finances, all being in the basement sleeping in a single room.'

His son now attends a private school. Is he a strict father? 'You know, his mom runs his life right now. But I'll allow him to listen to my music because he knows it is just entertainment. He knows what the difference between me and what is being said on my records is. If you were worried about my lyrics you should also be worried about what your kid's watching on television. Same with magazines. I look in your magazines and I see women topless and it's great. But in the States they consider it soft pornography. They have a whole different vibe over there. The Bible belt.'

Which brings us neatly to the subject of feminism; you suspect The Female Eunuch is not in his top 10 favourite books. 'The guys who have more finances have better things around them, including better-looking women,' he explains. 'He can be the ugliest guy, but if he has a nice car he will have a nice woman by his side because, away from his physical attributes, financial security is attractive. The women, they struggling like we struggling.'

So all woman are gold-diggers? 'Yeah. And not just from my perspective.' So is that where he will end up; is there a Mrs Cent in the wings? 'Well hopefully I won't have to be married more than one time.'

Is he in a relationship right now? 'No, I'm as free as a bird.'

I wonder if he is in touch with his feminine side. He says he doesn't display emotions, that he has learnt to suppress them, that anger is one of his most 'comfortable feelings'. But is he able to cry? 'Yeah.' About? 'Normal stuff. Don't think I'm not human. I've been in tough situations, but what I've experienced isn't normal. A regular person might feel comfortable to start crying, I don't. The times it does happen there might not be an obvious reason for it. It might be when I'm off a bit. Bit low.'

He is now addressing his reflection completely, trying his cap at different angles. What makes him feel vulnerable? Anything? 'Too much information out there 'bout me. You know, like, not insecure exactly, but I have things I wouldn't want other people to know.' Like he has a Barbie doll collection at home? 'I don't have a Barbie doll collection at home.'

Fifty says he was chubby as a child, which seems hard to believe when you see him now with his pumped-up muscles. His is a bodybuilder's torso composed of spheres and illustrated with a tapestry of tattoos, one of them spelling out his son's name, Marquise. Has he ever wondered what his father was like? 'I never met my father and have no interest in where he is. He could have helped me. He could have influenced me before I made mistakes. I'm not curious to know what he looks like. I know I look like my mom. I got photos of my mom. Big teeth like me. She had a big smile like me.'

Useful weapon that smile, I suggest, more useful than a gun. 'My smile has got me a long way in life. It disarms people. They have a threatening impression otherwise.'

And not without reason. 'Well, if someone puts me in a position where my back is against the wall, they going to find out where I come from. My past is my shadow. Everywhere I go, it goes with me.' On that poetic note we part company and I am left thinking that the wait, the extraordinary wait to meet 50 Cent, was worth it.

50 cent: the numbers

13 The number of days Fifty spent in hospital in 2000, after being shot nine times in his car outside his grandmother’s house. He discharged himself while still unable to walk.

200,000 The number of dollars Fifty has spent on bullet-proofing his cars since that shooting. 'I’m actually disappointed nobody’s shot me,’ he says. 'I spent a whole lot of money on that s---.’

2 The number of parents only 'spoilt’ children grow up with, according to Fifty – he never knew his father; his mother was murdered when he was eight.

25 The number of bathrooms in his Connecticut mansion, six of which have Jacuzzis.

3 The number of hours Fifty spent dealing drugs each weekday, as a teenager – his grandparents mistakenly thought he was doing 'school activities’ every afternoon from 3-6pm.

32,000,000 The number of dollars 50 Cent earned in 2006, according to Forbes magazine’s newly published 'Hip-hop Cash Kings’ list. The only rap musician to earn more was Beyoncé’s boyfriend, Jay-Z ($34million)

57 The number of complaints the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) received in 2005, about a Reebok TV commercial that featured dripping blood and Fifty being asked: 'Who do you plan to massacre next?’ The ASA promptly banned the advert for glamorising gun culture.

# 'Curtis' is released on 11 September

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MS DIOR

thanks girl.........my eyes hurt from reading all that..............

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CHR!SSY:TH3 OR!G!N@L..HATING IS THE SINCEREST FORM OF FLATTERY....FUCK YOU! ;)

-=$BL=-

damn, thats a lot to read, massive props

Yung_Rich

god damn u should of summarized dis shit
but propss..

FaithinChrist

thanks boy....

KidOne

propz fuckin nearly made my eyes bleed readin all lat

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Mind of matter u need common sense so you analize n study current events

NEWSKULL

^^^LOOL AT THEM... ANYWAY GOOD READ MA!!!... HOW MUCH IS £40 million IS US DOLLARS???

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DAVID BROWN CLOTHING

KRYSIECENT

'See this little dimple? It's cute. I believe God meant to give me it as a baby, but gave it to me a few years late.' - AWWWW BLESS HIS HEART. BUT THAT WAS A GOOD READ. AND HE A ASS FOR THAT ALL WOMEN ARE GOLD DIGGERS SHIT. I LOVE HIM!

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I walk with God.

*50*CENT*WIFE*

AWWW MY EYES HURT LIKE HELL BUT THAT WAS A GOOD READ ;)~

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.....*M*K*J*.....B.I.S.D.OUT.NOW.....

jondoejondoe195

He obviously knows nothing about Scarface coming out.... and theres a lot of people who watch shit like juice, new jack city, goodfellas, godfather.... over and over.

People who are listening to the record over and over to get pumped up and go out shooting are looking for a way to get pumped up..... its not like people just randomly hear a track and it convinces them that killing is cool so they go and start shootin.

there are a lot more influences telling people not to shoot people that can help balance out the rap....dear God watch the news.... we live in this country on fear and consumption and that all this thing with critizing rap is.... instill fear and it creates more consumption and rappers don't mind cause it sells their records.... look at eminem and all the protesting! Proteseter actually help his record sales. they would be better of ignoring him!

Cloud'sKing

thanks good LOng read

Hakaroodi

propz mayne..