I Got It MADE

JACKSON, New Jersey — 50 Cent has targeted a lot of foes in his rhymes, but the G-Unit leader won't be adding Mayor Michael Bloomberg to the list anytime soon. The rapper postponed his 40 Day event scheduled for Sunday (August 30) in Queens, New York, when he was unable to obtain a permit from the city for the picnic. The process hit a snag after the New York Post quoted anonymous sources saying the New York Police Department had concerns over the rapper's involvement.

Despite meeting with the New York mayor to squelch any concerns, 50 was unable to pull the event off. "People will point to Bloomberg and immediately think that I would be upset with Mayor Bloomberg or the governor, and both of them wanted me to have the actual event," 50 told MTV News.

The problem, according to 50, was that city officials didn't want him to publicize the festivities, fearing an overly large turnout would be difficult to manage. But before he could assure Bloomberg that safety wouldn't be a problem, the Post ran an article making the private negotiations public.

"They told me not to promote the event, and then it got national coverage. Then the fear factor comes in," 50 explained. "Can you control 100,000 people being in your neighborhood? 'Cause you might not be sure of a turnout at an actual venue, but in the neighborhood, everyone is gonna show up."

It would be easy to blame Bloomberg, 50 said, but ultimately, the mayor has to listen to his advisers. "He's gonna look at the police commissioner and ask, 'Is this gonna be a safe situation?' " 50 said. "And if they tell him no, then it's not gonna happen."

Fif, however, chided the Post for stirring up controversy. "Why are they reporting [about] an event that hasn't taken place yet?" he asked. "Did no one get killed that day? Did no accidents happen that day? Why are they so interested? Because they know they can sell newspapers that way."

50 called the postponement "a loss." He said it's difficult to imagine rescheduling the festivities when it's so public now. He said the biggest disappointment was that not everyone in his old neighborhood was able to take the trip to Six Flags for Family Day on Saturday.

"I attempted to create Family Day in my actual neighborhood for the kids that couldn't get chaperones to bring them on the actual buses to enjoy this," he said. " 'Cause I'm one of those kids that wouldn't have had a chaperone. I understand what it's like to have people come back and say, 'Yo, it was crazy,' and they enjoyed the festivities there and to kind of be disappointed to have not been a part of it. I thought it all the way through and decided to finish up in the actual neighborhood; I show up there, do a little something out there. I had Staples, Home Depot, a lot of independent businesses in the community that were supportive and a part of it. But then what I ran into was a lot of standards placed on me doing the event because of my association to it. You have people who are excited and really receptive to the idea. Then you have people who agree to disagree and are miserable. They just want it to stay that way for everyone else."

mtv