Tell me about your debut, The Hunger For More.
I started working on my project during the Roc The Mic tour this past summer with Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg, Fabolous, Bone Crusher, Chingy, Lil’ Mo, a lot of artists. I had the chance to see what works and what doesn’t work. I’m a critic, but I look for the things that artists do good. It’s easy to find out what somebody’s flaws are. I look to see what’s making them sell records, and I build it into what I can do. I had the privilege of making a percentage of my album in Southside Jamaica, Queens, where I grew up, and I had the pleasure of making the rest of my album all around the world. That made my music more appealing to the masses ‘cause I’ve been everywhere. Japan, Germany, London, everywhere. You see different things. The things you go through make you who you are. That’s why I feel like I had the privilege of having the best of both worlds. I gave you what I feel like you need to know from my personal experiences and I gave you what I’ve been learning. Like when Michael Jackson did his “Black Or White” video with the kids morphing from different races. When I seen that I was young and didn’t understand the significance. But when you go around the world you start seeing everything, now I know why he did it. Because there’s somebody in every country that’s going, “He looks like me,” and then they relate to the music. Even if they don’t understand English. I think I have records on my first album that could have made my second album because of the broadness. Things that I’m talking about and seen. For the most part, my mind state was still from my neighborhood, because just last year the finances weren’t there so I remember. So it’s still the struggle there, just mixed in. Kind of like when Biggie did his first album. I actually put my album to the side to finish my performance on the G-Unit album, Beg For Mercy. Once I was done with that, I was already 18-19 tracks deep into my solo project. Before I knew it I had 50 records. My problem was selecting the records I wanted to go on the album.
Is The Hunger For More similar to Get Rich Or Die Tryin’ and Beg For Mercy?
Me and 50 have been working together for so long that your ear kind of spreads. I kind of have the ear that he has. I could tell what kind of record he would like. Same with him. He might hear a beat and not necessarily want to rap on it but know I could make it something special. My project is the same quality performance, quality production as Get Rich and Beg For Mercy. I got Nottz, Hi-Tek, Eminem, Timbaland, a lot of new producers. I even got a beat from a dude in Germany.
Did you have full creative control over your project, or did you have to get the approval from 50, Eminem, and Dre?
Just 50. I get all my answers from him. I get my direction from him. That’s the only person I have to satisfy. He had Em and Dre, I just got 50. Whenever things are not going right, I ask 50.
Why did you pick “On Fire” as your first single?
“On Fire” means I’m the shit. I’m really what’s happening right now. It’s been done. I’ve heard the term. But nothing’s new. “On Fire” was one of the last records I recorded. Eminem produced it. It came at a time when I had a lot of singles. But that was the club one. I wanted to get in the club because I perform more than the average artist. I’d rather give you a club banger than a radio record. At the end of the day, your performance determines whether people wanna buy tickets. One show can determine your next 50 shows.
How did you pick your collabos, like with Snoop, Fabolous?
Personal favorites. Snoop is my favorite all-time. Even though I’m considered the lyricist out of the group I think that came from me wanting to be complicated, not to be what you could predict. In NYC there’s so many rappers you have to stay on your toes just to separate yourself from everybody else. You have to say something that makes everybody say, “Whoa!” I found the way to do that is to be predictable. Snoop was my all-time favorite, not because of what he said but how he said it. He could get his point across with three words, just stretched out. He was lazy. He’s cool. And that’s my whole persona. I’m the laid-back one out the group. That’s why I like Slick Rick, Big Daddy Kane, the smooth ones. Fab is kind of the same way. He’s cool. That’s all I got: Snoop, Fab, Eminem, 50, Buck and Game. Tony Yayo comes out the day before my deadline to record. Hopefully, I can get him home and go straight to the studio so he can get on my album.
Since you like laid-back rappers, how do you feel about Mase’s comeback?
I just heard [his] record [“Welcome Back”] yesterday. He sounds like he never left. He really didn’t. He was on a hiatus. He was aware of the game. I respect the reasons he left. He had to clear his mind. Him coming back, it’s at a good time. Kanye West has “Jesus Walks.” I think that would have been a good way for Mase to come back. You can speak about your beliefs but you have to make it relevant to where you came from. Everybody you’re talking to, nine times out of ten, is not doing the right thing. You don’t want to scare them. You want to show them, emit a message. I think a lot of people emulated Mase. He made it cool to be laid-back.
Do you and G-Unit ever feel like D12 on their single “My Band?”
I understood it. For the most part we don’t have that problem. Maybe when we go overseas, they build the interview around 50 because he was the forefront. Then again, there was only three of us from the beginning. That’s different from six. And my voice is distinct. And Young Buck because of his slang. And Yayo has a high pitch. We’re so different in terms of voice, tones, styles. In the beginning people used to confuse me and 50, because when I went with 50 that was the first time I ever was recording in a studio. D12 came straight to mainstream with the video. NYC has a whole different set up. It’s like boot camp. My beginning was on the mixtapes. In NYC the mixtape market is so big. There’s over eight million people in NYC. 50 was downloaded 300,000 times over computer. I have over 200 freestyles in the streets right now. There’s my reference. That’s what made people think it’s not a fluke. Now it goes from street to the mainstream. I already have the street behind my back. Now I got to convince the mainstream that I could do both.
What does G-Unit mean to you?
G-Unit is a brand to the world. To me it’s my family. To the world it’s sneakers, clothes, rap, movies, cartoons. It’s a movement. I have separate ventures but it still ties back into G-Unit as a whole. You have to know the chain of command and play your position. I’d rather be a key player on a winning team than the star on a losing team.
What are your outside ventures?
I have an adult film/video game coming out. When I was on the Roc The Mic tour I had the privilege of meeting a lot of people. The day after the GRAMMYS I started filming for the video. I’m not performing, just initiating. It’s not your average adult film. It’s an advanced DVD to where you can determine the environment and outcome. I think that’s what’s going to separate it from every other thing out there. I did it because I felt like I could change the game. It’s a wide open market there. The highest-selling DVD was 60,000 copies, Jenna Jameson. And we sold over 800,000 copies of the “New Breed” DVD off the Get Rich Or Die Tryin’ CD. Once I tap into that market, it won’t be taboo anymore. Anything that happens new, they don’t run with it. They don’t expect it at all. Nobody would’ve expected 50 Cent to sell 11 million records worldwide off a buzz created from a mixtape.
How do you feel about hip-hop today?
I think hip-hop is at a good state, at the highest it has ever been because it’s opening other gates for things outside of music. You have so many different ways to market yourselves, movies, we got a video game coming out this Christmas, we have a Saturday morning cartoon coming. There’s so many things you could do now. I think eventually you’ll have rappers with their own model cars.
Where’s the best place you’ve visited?
I’m half Black, half Puerto Rican. I had the pleasure to go to Puerto Rico a few times. The first time I went, that was one place I felt like I belonged there. I understood why I was from there. My whole family was from there. It felt good for me to be there.
