http://www.hardknock.tv Hip hop superstar 50 Cent sits down with Nick Huff Barili as part of SXSW's interview series to discuss his meteoric rise to fame from humble beginnings in Queens, to his incredibly successful musical career and hip hop empire, as well as his current work with SMS Headphones and the upcoming release of his album "Street King Immortal". This hour long interview will be posted in separate parts. In part 4 of the interview 50 Cent talks about how having his son impacted his career and how he tried to have the relationship with his son that he didn't have with his own dad. "I do feel that kids are an opportunity to make a better version of yourself". 50 doesn't see his son going into rapping because his passion is for basketball and says that even when he was around the music his son was more interested in what went on in the production of the record and what Dr Dre and others would do in the studio.
"A lot of the times, my childhood experiences help me with projects that I create now," 50 told HardknockTV. "Like, I created 'Playground.' It was a book based on bullying. My son was was telling me a story about something someone next to him was experiencing at school. I found myself explaining it from a perspective where I realized I was the bully. I was like, 'Damn. How you gonna teach him and you're tellin' him...' So, I wanted to create a book where I made the audience like the bully before I made them realize that his own actions was comin' from something internal that had nothing to do with those situations...That book was a successful book. And now it has been picked up to become an animated television show on FOX. So, you'll see it soon."
50 goes on to say that although he has been successful in business and in music, "The part that I've lost consistently has been in my investment of friends and relationships." 50 says that where he is from you are only as strong as your crew. 50 compares G-Unit to crews like Eminem's D12 and Nelly's St Lunatics and says that he made a point to make sure that everyone in the crew got their shine stating that you can name every member of G-Unit but probably can't of D12 or St Lunatics.
"A lot of people here may not know every member of D-12 by name or every member of the St. Lunatics," he continued. "But chances are, they recognize who was a part of G-Unit. It's because I was so conscious of the people around me that, after the first record took off - and Interscope Records really didn't want - Why do you want a G-Unit record when you can have a 50 Cent record when that one is the largest debuting Hip Hop album? You want another 50 Cent record. So I was adamant about positioning them properly because those crews, D-12 and St. Lunatics, had people that spearheaded them like Eminem and Nelly that had so much success, those projects would take two years before they would finish. They would come out and be such a huge success that they're traveling and touring with so much going on that their crew would be there and they would turn into those guys that are just in the background...I didn't want that to happen so I made the G-Unit project at that point and it offered them different things."
"[I got ] to the point were I was writing their music. Helping them with their albums....I think that there are certain things you do were you enable people and they feel like you are supposed to do that. This is how we do it versus they appreciate you actually doing it. So I made that mistake also."
We have more with 50! Tune in for part 5 of our conversation with 50 cent next week exclusively at www.hardknock.tv
Subscribe to www.youtube.com/hardknocktv for our latest videos. You can also follow us at www.facebook.com/hardknocktv and @Hardknocktv @NickHuff on twitter
