50 Cent On The Money With Movie Career

31 October 2009

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50 Cent went from crack dealing wild child to jail, and subsequently from a hard life of hustling all the way up, from the bottom of the New York underground rap scene, to the very top of the world hip-hop scene.

Rapper, video game star, actor, book publisher, clothing designer, diamond trader - his CV is littered with differing roles and entrepreneurial endeavours which have helped him amass a fortune estimated at £270 million. But unlike more traditional high rollers, 50's impressive bulky stature sports numerous tattoos and bullet holes.

Also, unlike most pop stars, 50 - real name Curtis Jackson, his moniker was adopted as a synonym for 'change' - exudes effort and, as his past would suggest, is no stranger to working hard.

As he tried to break into the music business, 50's first album - with Run DMC's Jam Master Jay - was shelved in 2000. He was then consigned to a hard life of recording mixtapes and perfecting his style and delivery - a process hindered when he was shot at close range nine times. He survived, but was left with a slight slur in his speech after one bullet went through his cheek - not easy for a man trading off his speech.

In 2002, 50 got his biggest break when he was discovered by Eminem, and after intense sessions working on his album with producers including the legendary Dr Dre, his 2003 album 'Get Rich Or Die Trying' - spearheaded by the mega single 'In Da Club', which reached number one in the singles charts across Europe and the US - was the precise moment at the rapper's career really exploded.

After this initial hit, things started to flow fast, with singles such as 'P.I.M.P' and '21 Questions' cementing his status as the hard living face of commercial rap. His next two albums, 2005s 'The Massacre' and 2007s 'Curtis' served to solidify this reputation and although they weren't as huge a hit worldwide as his debut, sold they in their millions and 50 has racked up over 20 million total album sales to date.

With "the rap game in a choke hold" - as he delicately put it - the ever-business minded rapper embarked on an offshoot career as an actor, and it is in this area in which he has put the most effort in the past couple of years.

Debuting with the semi-autobiographical 'Get Rich Or Die Tryin'' in 2005, although it can be said there were teething problems with 50s acting style, it showed a promising will and force in front of the camera and won him further roles, as a gulf war soldier in 2006 thriller 'Home of the Brave' and reaching a pinnacle by starring alongside Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro in 'Righteous Kill'.

2009 promises to be a huge year in both 50's musical and movie career, however, as he appears in no less than three films, British gangster flick 'Dead Man Running', 'Streets Of Blood' alongside Val Kilmer, and his most ambitious work to date - the album and film combination 'Before I Self Destruct'. For this last project 50 developed the concept, wrote the screenplay, directed the film and stars in it.

Again drawing on his own life experience, the film follows a young basketball player whose life is torn apart when his mother is shot. The protagonist swears revenge and sets out to take on the thugs who have ruined his life in order to avenge himself and his brother.

Despite being more than happy to trade off his thuggish past in films and raps, when we meet 50 he is personable, surprisingly calmly spoken and eager to joke. His mind is obviously cut out for business, but he is also surprisingly self aware and accepting of his position in the world's rap premiere league, but also open to talking about drugs, aliens, his mindscape as an actor and the possibility of starring in a rom-com.

Q: Your latest film is a British gangster film, 'Dead Man Running', how did you get involved in that?

A: Well, I was approached by the director, Alex De Rakoff, he checked me out, came to my office and we talked about the screenplay. We have mutual friends and I guess he had more detail because he wrote it, he knew the character so well and had me in mind. But originally, my character was written as an English character and I actually just didn't have enough time to speak with the accent properly.

Q: Can you speak in an English accent?

A: Ha! Whaddya you think? (assumes English tone) 'c'mon bruv' (laughs) I can do that, I have it around me. I have friends out here that talk in the voice, and I definitely get in with the accents.

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