50 Cent Singer

It looks like 50 Cent might be retiring at the ripe old age of 32. The Queens, N.Y., rapper announced a few weeks ago that if his new album, "Curtis," did not outsell Kanye West's new collection, "Graduation," during their first week in stores that he would call it quits as a solo recording artist. Well, both albums hit the shelves Tuesday and early results suggest that 50's sales aren't as big as his words.

"50 Cent: The Money and the Power" premiered on MTV on Thursday. In the series, 14 contestants compete to prove their entrepreneurial savvy and display their corporate blood lust. 50 Cent -- real name Curtis Jackson -- is also the co-author of the forthcoming book "The 50th Law. " His new album will be released Dec. 9. The new single: Scott Storch produced it. He's a little bit of a wanted man! Do you know where he is? [Storch owes half a million dollars in property taxes and has lost much of his fortune valued at over $70 million.]

Call it a case of art imitating life: Drug dealer turned superstar rap icon 50 Cent is set to portray -- what else? -- a drug dealer in the upcoming indie thriller "Righteous Kill," which co-stars Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro as detectives chasing a serial killer.

For hip-hop fans who relish a good debate, the last few weeks have been a gift horse. On Sept. 25, hip-hop went to Washington. At a congressional hearing titled "From Imus to Industry: The Business of Stereotypes and Degradation," spearheaded by Rep. (and former Black Panther) Bobby L. Rush (D-Ill.), speakers included Viacom Chief Executive Philippe Dauman, Warner Music Group CEO Edgar Bronfman Jr. and rappers Master P and David Banner.

A Miami judge has dismissed a copyright infringement lawsuit accusing rapper 50 Cent of stealing the opening line for his 2003 hit "In Da Club" from a song by former 2 Live Crew frontman Luther Campbell. U.S. District Judge Paul C. Huck found that the disputed phrase was a "common, unoriginal, and noncopyrightable element of the song" and was not entitled to copyright protection. Campbell's song appeared on his 1994 solo album "Still a Freak for Life."

50 CENT is about to walk a mile -- or is it eight? -- in the shoes of his mentor, Eminem. The rapper with the monetary moniker is both the star and the story of "Get Rich or Die Tryin'," which opens Wednesday, and he doesn't mind comparisons to "8 Mile," the 2002 film that put Eminem in theaters.

Rap feuds aren't usually about differing opinions on President Bush. However, that appears to be the case with 50 Cent and Kanye West. 50 Cent says he disagrees with West's remark that "George Bush doesn't care about black people," proclaimed during a September telethon for Hurricane Katrina victims. "I think people responded to it the best way they can," the rapper told ContactMusic.com. "What Kanye West was saying, I don't know where that came from."

Rapper 50 Cent, whose benefactor and mentor Eminem weathered similar accusations earlier in his career, is taking heat for comments about gays that appear in the April issue of Playboy magazine. After using a common pejorative for gays, 50 Cent adds, "I don't like gay people around me, because I'm not comfortable with what their thoughts are. I'm not prejudiced. I just don't go with gay people and kick it -- we don't have that much in common."

He's been shot. He's been stabbed. He's been locked up -- most recently on New Year's Eve. For rap music fans, that only adds to the allure of 50 Cent. Popular on the club scene for years, the 26-year-old native of Queens is aiming for the big time with the release next month of his first commercial album. For many in the music industry, "Get Rich or Die Trying" is one of the most anticipated hip-hop albums of the year.

The "showdown" between Kanye West and 50 Cent, whose new albums both come out Tuesday, has played out -- it was ridiculous before it began and blatantly illustrated the music-loving public's eagerness to participate in media events even when they have no larger relevance or even basis in reality.

Don't hold your breath waiting for 50 Cent to retire. Sure, the trash-talking MC may have uttered what seemed like famous last words, vowing to hang up his mike if Kanye West's "Graduation" were to outsell 50's third album, "Curtis," in their first week of release.

It looks like 50 Cent might be retiring at the ripe old age of 32. The Queens, N.Y., rapper announced a few weeks ago that if his new album, "Curtis," did not outsell Kanye West's new collection, "Graduation," during their first week in stores that he would call it quits as a solo recording artist. Well, both albums hit the shelves Tuesday and early results suggest that 50's sales aren't as big as his words.

The "showdown" between Kanye West and 50 Cent, whose new albums both come out Tuesday, has played out -- it was ridiculous before it began and blatantly illustrated the music-loving public's eagerness to participate in media events even when they have no larger relevance or even basis in reality.

Like candidates trying to sway voters on Election Day, Kanye West and 50 Cent will appear on BET's "106 & Park" on Tuesday, when both their heavily anticipated albums hit stores. West and 50 Cent have hyped the albums as an epic battle of rap titans -- 50 Cent has said he'd retire if West's "Graduation" outsells his "Curtis" CD in their first week out.

Call it a case of art imitating life: Drug dealer turned superstar rap icon 50 Cent is set to portray -- what else? -- a drug dealer in the upcoming indie thriller "Righteous Kill," which co-stars Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro as detectives chasing a serial killer.

YOU'D be forgiven for judging the paperback novella "The Ski Mask Way" by its cover. The book's jacket artwork depicts a muscle-bound thug stripped to the waist to reveal a tapestry of tattoos: a skull, a spider and the word "Un Broken" etched across his pectorals in gothic font. Flanked by the silhouette of prison bars, he clutches a woolen balaclava, leaving little doubt as to the shoot'em-up literature within.

To make himself a movie star and his life story a movie, the rapper 50 Cent had to revisit the day he was shot nine times by lying on freezing asphalt for three hours with a chest full of fake blood and bullet holes. For other scenes, he had to conjure up the walk and talk of his youth, when he was an orphaned kid living on a desperate boulevard in Queens, N.Y., where a beating or arrest could be around the corner. He even had to narrate the murder of his mother and the torching of her corpse.

Rapper 50 Cent's "The Massacre," which entered the national sales chart at No. 1 on March 9 after selling 1.14 million copies in its first four days in the stores, holds on to the top chart spot after selling 771,000 more copies last week. With that success, 50 Cent's extended musical family on Interscope Records claims three spots in the Top 10, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Compton rapper the Game, who is part of 50 Cent's rap group G-Unit, holds the No.

A Miami judge has dismissed a copyright infringement lawsuit accusing rapper 50 Cent of stealing the opening line for his 2003 hit "In Da Club" from a song by former 2 Live Crew frontman Luther Campbell. U.S. District Judge Paul C. Huck found that the disputed phrase was a "common, unoriginal, and noncopyrightable element of the song" and was not entitled to copyright protection. Campbell's song appeared on his 1994 solo album "Still a Freak for Life."

Near the end of the new straight-to-DVD documentary "Stop Snitchin, Stop Lyin," Compton gangsta rapper the Game is shown creeping through the underbrush behind a Farmington, Conn., home he says belongs to his hip-hop rival, 50 Cent. It's the latest salvo in an escalating war of words between the Grammy-nominated, multi-platinum selling MCs that has raged across stages, in TV interviews and on underground mix-tapes for almost a year.