50 Cent vs. 50 Cent
The sales duel with Kanye West is merely a side story. 50 Cent's real competition is with himself.
NEW YORK — THE rapper's rampage must have been a scary thing to behold: a destructive, reflexive reaction to bad news. But viewed another way, 50 Cent's meltdown here last month also exists as an extreme demonstration of his commitment to excellence.
On Aug. 9, 50, hip-hop's most combative, controversial superstar, was screaming down the phone at an executive from his label, Interscope Records, blind with rage that a video for one of the songs from his eagerly anticipated third album, "Curtis" (due Tuesday), had been leaked to the Internet.
Without warning, the multi-platinum-selling, muscular gangsta rapper (born Curtis Jackson III) ripped a 70-inch plasma TV off the wall of the executive suite at his G-Unit Records, smashing it to the floor. Then, for emphasis, he hurled the BlackBerry he had been talking into full force at the window, shattering the glass, sending shards onto Manhattan's 31st Street below.
To hear Jackson explain his actions, the outburst had nothing to do with the kind of channeled aggression that has defined his career; no "beef" was involved. Which is to say it wasn't in response to a rap rival, even though 50 has exchanged disses with the Game, Lil Wayne and Cam'ron, among many other comers, on the way to establishing himself as hip-hop's most vituperative -- and, arguably, most successful -- MC.
Turns out 50 went ballistic over a perceived betrayal by Interscope marketers who, he says, have continually undercut his efforts to put out his music his way. "I'm frustrated at this point," 50 Cent said, pacing like a caged panther across a black shag rug at the New York office of his streetwear company, G-Unit Clothing, last week. "I feel like it's impossible to deliver my record to the public the way I planned it. You don't get a second chance at a first impression. It's been destroyed already."
Interscope Records officials declined to comment for this story. The whole issue probably wouldn't matter as much if it weren't for the pressure-cooker situation 50 has put himself in with the release of "Curtis." Since selling 12 million copies of his 2003 debut album, "Get Rich or Die Tryin'," fan expectations have ratcheted up with each new release; many look to the rapper to set hip-hop's creative and commercial standards. Add to that his own sky-high standards: The rapper views his 2005 album, "The Massacre," as a disappointment for selling only 9.8 million.
