50 Cent celebrated the 10th anniversary of his debut album Get Rich Or Die Tryin' a few months back. The album made a huge impact on the charts, elling over 13 Million copies, making it one of the best selling records of the decade. As the music industry has slowed since then, 50 has yet to come close to his initial sales, and in a recent interview spoke about his acceptance that he will never sell such a large amount of albums again.
“Newsflash, I’ll never sell 13 million records again,” 50 admitted. “I’ll never sell 10 million records again. I don’t think anybody’s gonna do it. It’s a different business. It’s a different thing and I’m cool with that. I’m making music because I love it and it’s why I’m here. There’s nothing that can actually compare when it’s right. What it feels like when it’s right. When the music is just dead right and it’s like ‘woo’ that energy that’s there…that’s some special kind of high that you get addicted to and you’ll chase it for the rest of your actual career.”
Fif then went on to speak about Eminem's ability to be both a great battle rapper, and a competent songwriter, and how his presence has contributed to rap becoming pop music. “I think the best rappers are like battling each other. They come up with the wittiest lines—[the] coolest ways to insult a person you ever heard in your life,” he explained. “But they can’t write a song to save they life…Em is one of the guys from that platform that made it to that point. [He’s] that strong of a writer. He means more to music culture than people give him credit for. Because Hip Hop culture is a black art form, it’s a black music. When they have a figure or you have someone that’s from a different ethnicity come in and he does it as well, if not better than everybody in it—it loses its color. And that’s why Hip Hop music is now Pop music…You gotta be careful or you’ll get your ass handed to you on a track man. He’ll get to you.”
50's Street King Immortal is due out later this year. Check out the full interview below.