50 Cent hasn't been rapping as prolifically as he once did, but he's still observing the game from the sideline, planning his moves accordingly. In a new interview with XXL, Fif speaks on the patience required to enter new industries, his upcoming Animal Ambition project, and the difference between him and Kendrick Lamar.
"When you enter new areas, you're going to get resistance, and you've got to be willing to work your way through those barriers," he explained. In Kanye's case, wanting to be a part of high end fashion. That's a process. It's not something that happens."
Fif then shared how he felt Lil Wayne had successfully broken into a new industry through perseverance.
"It's like with Wayne, he went through the process with Skateboarding culture. It was almost like 'he ain't no skateboarder'-- he wasn't accepted at first, until they saw his passion for it," he said. "He kind of became flagship for it, because I wan't paying any attention to it, until I saw him doing it. I was like 'why are you on a skateboard'... next thing you know I'm at the X-Games, and I'm talking about Wayne, because he's the only one from my world that actually has that passion for it."
The NY rapper spoke briefly about his newly announced project, Animal Ambition. "It's something that I just came up with, because I was just inspired to write it," he said. "I'll have music videos for every song on the project, but I'll wait to see when they start to choose which records they like... I wouldn't call it a mixtape because it's album quality material."
Finally 50 spoke about his relationship with Kendrick Lamar, and the artistic differences between himself and the TDE rapper. "I love Kendrick," he exclaimed. "There's a huge difference in the two of us in our characters, and how we present ourselves. To me, Kendrick, he possesses the ability appear like he didn't know this was gonna happen. There's a level of confidence required in order to withstand the doubt... I had so much doubt prior to it actually working for me, that I would appear--at points-- a little arrogant. Kendrick will give you that energy like, 'this is so great, this is really happening."
Fif also commented on K.Dot's infamous "Control" verse, offering a slightly new take on the overexposed topic.
The rapper said he interpreted Kendrick's verse as saying "'the new music I've made is better than the music I've made in the past, and if you don't bring yours up to standard, you're gonna get left behind'" adding, "I don't think it can register as an attack, because he's worked with everyone he mentioned."
Watch the full interview below.