The rapper and mogul on building a television empire, producing a Netflix doc on nemesis Sean Combs and why he was finally invited to the 2022 Super Bowl halftime show: “They couldn’t get Eminem to do it without me.”
Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson’s 49th birthday was three days ago, but he’s still in a celebratory mood.
If there was any question as “Fiddy” nears 50 whether he’s still at the top of his game, the answer arrives with him at the photo shoot for this story: The rapper turned mogul brings $3.5 million in cold hard cash, most of it stuffed into two heavy black suitcases. Some is assembled into a square stool that he sits on while smoking a cigar. Every now and then, as he poses for photos, he digs into the stash and adds a few more stacks to the table beside him — as those on set watch in awe, including the four security guards Jackson arrived with. The doors are locked shut, and the window shades are closed for maximum privacy.
Asked whether he had to visit the bank to get the funds, Jackson says with a relaxed smile: “I just had that. I got more than that,” then adds that “I was inspired [to bring it] by [Muhammad] Ali,” referring to the 1964 Sports Illustrated cover for which the then-22-year-old boxer posed with $1 million in winnings. “I was like, ‘I want to do a shoot like that.’”
Suffice it to say, business is good for Jackson. Power, the Courtney Kemp-created series he executive produced, launched a run of hits for Starz after its 2014 debut, going six seasons and leading to multiple spinoffs, including Ghost and Raising Kanan (each renewed for its own fourth season) and Force (renewed for a third). His other series for Starz, BMF, recently wrapped its third season and, mirroring the Power franchise, is expanding into its own universe. Starz — which says Power programs and BMF average about 10 million multiplatform viewers per episode — relies on Jackson for unrelated series as well. His company is producing upcoming shows like boxing drama Fightland and Queen Nzinga, about an African warrior queen.
“Many executive producers are executive producers in name only, who start off, go to the initial pitches, get things going and then move on to their many other projects,” says Kevin Beggs, chair of Lionsgate Television Group. “Given the scope of 50’s portfolio, one could easily assume that it might be more of a vanity play, but it’s just not the case. He is hands-on, super involved, really collaborative … he’s an impresario, he’s a promoter, he’s a creative force that’s working closely with the writers and showrunners.”
Jackson’s G-Unit Film and Television company has several shows in development for Hulu, Paramount+, Peacock and BET, and he’s now bringing some of his most famous musical collaborators into the fold, for projects like a series based on 2002’s 8 Mile with Eminem, who first signed Jackson and helped release his debut album in 2003.
“50 is like a brother to me,” says Eminem, who guest-starred on season one of BMF in an episode directed by Jackson. “50 has proven again and again that there’s really nothing he can’t do, and nobody gets in the way of him getting it done.”
Jackson also is working on an animated series for Amazon Freevee called Lady Danger Agent of B.O.O.T.I. with Nicki Minaj. “He’s a blueprint to what resilience looks like,” Minaj tells THR. “Whenever he’s been counted out in the real world or within the entertainment business, he’s risen to the occasion and come out triumphant. He’s smart. He’s a businessman. I can see past the ‘funny 50’ — I see a very deep thinker. He’s honest. He’s mastered the chess game of reinvention throughout many eras of music, entertainment and social media. Yet he still somehow always seems to remain authentic. That is a very difficult feat.”
On top of all this, Jackson is launching a FAST channel, building a film studio in Shreveport, Louisiana, and (already a former New York Times best-seller) releasing a novel about a Black female Texas Ranger.
So, yes, the rapper is a full-fledged media mogul, though one who is rarely out of the news cycle, often for other reasons. Case in point, in reaction to the assassination attempt on Donald Trump (which took place after this interview), the entertainer began to trend on social media with viral memes featuring the former president’s face imposed on the cover of Jackson’s debut album cover, a reference to Jackson being shot nine times in a drive-by shooting in 2000. The virality meant his 2003 track “Many Men (Wish Death)” — which includes the refrain, “Many men wish death upon me” — saw a recent 250 percent streaming bump.
Jackson hasn’t publicly said who he’s supporting in November, but in 2020, he said he planned to back Trump over Joe Biden, a decision criticized on social media, though he later clarified his stance: “Fu*k Donald Trump, I never liked him.”
And then there’s Diddy, about whom Jackson is producing a doc for Netflix. An avid social media user, Jackson has been trolling Sean Combs for years (more on that below), upping the intensity as Combs faces several lawsuits over allegations of sexual abuse, rape and sex trafficking. (Combs has denied the accusations.)
“I’ve been very vocal about not going to Puffy parties and doing shit like that,” says Jackson, who first met Combs as an unsigned artist and helped ghostwrite some of his songs, including “Let’s Get It,” the 2001 top five rap hit. “I’ve been staying out of that shit for years. It’s just an uncomfortable energy connected to it.”
He describes watching the gruesome video of the Bad Boys Records founder attacking Cassie, Diddy’s girlfriend at the time (and whose now-settled lawsuit against him set off his avalanche of legal woes). “First, he denied that it even happened, and then the tape comes out — so that means everything that n—a says is a lie,” Jackson says. “When someone watches that, if they have a daughter and they can imagine her being under those circumstances, that shit is crazy. Like, they let him get away with it. With all the influence and power you have, the person you’re with is supposed to want to be a part of your life, not be forced.”
