50 Cent Retires; Declares War against Def Jam & Roc-A-Fella
50 Cent is facing retirement after being beaten by rival Kanye West in the pair's chart battle. Early in September, 50 told hip-hop web site SOHH.COM the following, “If Kanye West sells more records than 50 Cent on September 11, I’ll no longer write music. I’ll write music and work with my other artists, but I won’t put out anymore solo albums.” After the loss, 50 Cent now confirms to follow through with his word.
"I should of said if Kanye West sells more period that I would retire, not first week. When Interscope f--ked up the very beginning of my project, I should of let that be an indication that I wouldn't be coming out at my very best. I'm a priority at that label so I couldn't even imagine them f--king my project up that badly. They dropped the ball on everything."
When asked if the animosity towards Kanye West and Def Jam was gone, Curtis, which is 50 Cent's real name, responds, "It's not over. Ill keep my word [to retire]. But I declare this war. Every release date Def Jam sets - let me raise the stakes - and Roc-A-Fella Records sets, I will put something up on G-Unit against it. I've already started to lock and load on G-Unit. Everybody I got right now can go against Def Jam and Roc-A-Fella, and I will make sure everybody over there gets destroyed. You need to understand something - If I couldn't take out Kanye first week, fine. That was the last time. Next week and every other week from now on is mine. I will not only take out Kayne, but all the other members of Roc-A-Fella and everyone else on Def Jam under Jay-Z. The war starts first quarter. Ill give them n--gas time to catch up. This is round two. I'm going to K-O in every round and not stop till the bell rings at the end of 12 rounds.
50 Cent claims that every artist on G-Unit could go head-to-head with everyone on Roc-A-Fella. Could that imply a war between the two owners of such labels? Could the war between 'Kanye West vs. 50 Cent' turn into 'Jay-Z vs. 50 Cent'? "Man, I'm already taking s--t from Jay. He was about to sign this female singer to Roc-A-Fella and I came in and took her from right under him. I started a bidding war. [I Get Money] is real, man. Her name is Keshia Chante, she like 19 years old. She got that hunger in her too, man. It didn't take that much more money for her to come with me. Real recognize real and she knew Jay wasn't where she needed to be. Everybody is ready. Yayo is, Young Buck is ready, Lloyd Banks is, Mobb Deep is ready, Hot Rod, we returning heavy." You can see the venom in 50 Cent's eyes, he's vicious, angry but rich. He continues "He's [Jay-Z] a business man. I'm a business man. I respect him as a business man but sometimes his hustle is crooked. I got him on my single I Get Money [see the "I Get Money (Billionaire's Remix)" article]. By doing that he was adding himself to my side. He did good by me. The record hits hard in the streets and in the clubs, but he helped the opponent. You think Dre or Eminem would ever do anything with Murder Inc.? Nas? Cam'ron? Nah man. That's the wrong side of the field. Our loyalty is right."
50 Cent knows he lost Round 1, and even when he touches the thought of losing, you can see that he is still in denial. He says he's going for 11 more rounds but if I understand correctly, losing by over more than 250,000 in album sales is what they call in the boxing ring a 'knockout'. I'm sure his new best friend, professional boxer Floyd Mayweather, can teach him that after being knocked out, there isn't a round 2.
Fortunately, for the competitive hip-hop industry and 50, rules are meant to be broken. There's nothing like a good fight.