With a new mixtape due this Friday, his Street King energy drink and charity campaign fresh on his mind, and a long-awaited fifth album still in the works, 50 Cent sat down with XXL magazine recently to talk about the state of hip hop and what music's been missing.
"The whole culture, I think, is a little…confused. It’s not what I fell in love with, you know?" 50 said of hip hop in 2011. "So my job is to make an album that doesn’t have any holes in it, that is a representation of all of the elements I fell in love with."
The G-Unit general said that he used to hear music on the radio that inspired him and even made him jealous. Not so much anymore.
"When I was in the mixtape circuit, there was a lot going on. I was able to take things that I wish I made myself and do ’em over. Now it’s not a lot of sh*t out there I would do over. I’m like, 'Nah, that ain’t even it right there,'" he said. "When Black Rob had 'Whoa!,' I wish that was my record. I wish 'Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See,' by Busta Rhymes, was my record. F***in’ 'Lean Back,' I wish that was mine. You see what I’m saying? And you know me and Fat Joe don’t get along."
In pursuit of worthy competition, 50 said he's decided to look in the mirror.
"For me, I’m still up against what I’ve done. So in order to top it, I know it’s a difficult task," he said. "You know, I see the bloggers. My audience hasn’t grown with me. They keep saying, “Aw, man, I want the old 50!” ’Cause those people, it would take them on a safari. I was bringing them close enough to the animals, without being able to get hurt. I was taking them into my neighborhood, where you can very well get your ass killed."
50 said that he's been working with Dr. Dre on his yet-untitled new album, and that in turn, he's offered the good doctor some words of advice for his own highly anticipated effort, Detox.
"I keep saying to Dre, I’m like, 'Yo, you don’t have to invent nothing. All they want is a strong version of what you gave last time. They need a new version of that,'" he said. "It’s like Sade. She goes away for six years, and then she comes back with a new disc. You go, 'I love this sh*t!' It reminds you of the f***in’ shit that she gave you before she left. There’s certain artists that have that luxury. You could go away and still be interesting enough to come for people to want to hear that effort. Dre is like that."
As for Lil Wayne, the only other hip hop artist to sell over one million albums in a single week since 50's The Massacre in 2005, Fif said the Cash Money superstar was finding out what it's like to be in his shoes.
"He’s turning into 50 Cent," he said of Wayne. "He’s going through that process of being successful, ’til people go, 'You know what? Get the f*** outta here. We don’t want you here no more.' Because you’re successful."
Read more of the 50 Cent Interview at XXL.

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