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Interviewer
The first show. 50. Big day for him today. Big day for him today. He's got Get Rich or Die Tryin coming out. You're seeing the posters all over the place. There's a soundtrack that goes along with it. Also think he was just nominated for a whole bunch of vibe awards also. 50's feeling pretty good about 50 right now. 50, you there?
50 Cent
Hey, what's up?
Interviewer
How you doing?
50 Cent
Oh, man, everything's good.
Interviewer
First, the first thing we gotta ask you is, are you east coast right now? Are you West Coast?
50 Cent
East Coast.
Interviewer
Okay, so it's nine o' clock to you, because I know, like, if it was on the west coast and it was 6 o' clock your time, then I gotta ask you the remedial questions.
Co-host
You feel more awake right now.
Interviewer
That's right. Yeah.
50 Cent
I'm up.
Interviewer
Hey, 50, before we get into some of the stuff that you've got your hands into right now, I want to get a professional opinion from you.
50 Cent
Okay.
Interviewer
And I want to tell you where I'm going with this. Dallas Austin here, you know, Dallas Austin, big time producer here in Atlanta.
50 Cent
Right.
Interviewer
I mean, he's worked with everybody. This guy's the man.
50 Cent
Right.
Interviewer
Well, the mayor of Atlanta has assigned him a very, really, really tough job, and that is to write an anthem for the city of Atlanta.
50 Cent
Wow.
Interviewer
So this is a song that is supposed to represent all four and a half million people here. All walks, lights, all communities and stuff like that, right?
50 Cent
Yeah.
Interviewer
Now, this guy is a genius, obviously, but it's a pretty tough order.
50 Cent
That's a tough. I think they should have took the. What's the name? It's the new record Ludacris put out. Is it Georgia? Georgia from Ludacris. Rachel.
Interviewer
From Ludacris. Because everybody here was thinking that Jermaine.
50 Cent
I think it's his group from.
Interviewer
Ludicrous group. I'm in the. I'm in the Dark. I do want to say this. I haven't heard that record sample from.
50 Cent
Ray Charles in it or judges.
Guest or Additional Interviewer
I think maybe I haven't heard that.
Co-host
I don't know if I've heard that version.
Interviewer
Yeah, you know, I want to do those. I want to play like the 32nd kind of piece of audio that we have of the Dallas Austin anthem for you and like, get your professional opinion on it.
50 Cent
All right.
Interviewer
Because we've played it the last couple of days and I'm bummed for Dallas, but, you know, like, Atlanta's like, not embracing it. So let me play it for you. Tell me what you think. All right? At this point, that's all of the song that we have.
50 Cent
Wow.
Interviewer
Now, from a professional standpoint, I mean, you're in the industry. What do you think?
50 Cent
Sounds like a great record. It sounds like a regular party record, though. Doesn't sound like an anthem.
Interviewer
I think that's what people are getting all jacked up about. Like, it's a good.
Co-host
Well, well, I. I think that, you know, there was so much because Atlanta's trying to do a whole new branding thing. So it's not just an anthem that we have a new logo and it's just, you know, trying to get more business into the city of Atlanta. And I just think that it was a lot of pressure on Dallas to come up with something. And I think we were already told something was coming, so I think our expectation was up. And so it's almost like 50 just said. I guess we expected it to be different than what it ended up being.
50 Cent
Right. I mean, when you say anthem, I'm thinking along Star Spangled Banner line.
Interviewer
Oh, something a little bit more traditional. Yeah, that's a tough order. Like, if a mayor of a city comes to you and says, I want you to make a song that represents the whole city.
50 Cent
It would definitely come to me.
Interviewer
They might. They don't want to hear what you have to say.
50 Cent
They mad the kids.
Interviewer
Listen, that's a tough order. It's a really tough order. But we just wanted to throw that bay to see, like, somebody in the industry to see what they thought about it, you know. Yeah, that's tough. It's a tough order. Well, let's talk about Get Rich or Die trying here. A little bit of controversy starting to come out about it already. But you're used to handling this kind of thing.
50 Cent
Oh, yeah, yeah.
Guest or Additional Interviewer
Yesterday, the LA community leaders were coming out and saying they were repulsed by your movies posters Get. Get Rich or Die Trying because of the guns on the posters. How do you respond to all that?
50 Cent
I mean, it's a gun on the poster. How often have you seen a gun used for marketing for a film? You know, if we go on the local blockbusters or wherever, we can rent DVDs or movies, you'll see it probably more than you see people's faces.
Interviewer
Right.
50 Cent
You know, these are standards that are placed on music as an art form that aren't placed on any other form of entertainment. And because I'm from coming from music to film, they still want to feel like it's a problem, like, you know, say things about it. But, I mean, look at the rock. Got something Coming out right now with a huge gun on the COVID The Matrix.
Co-host
Doom. Talking about Doom.
50 Cent
Yeah. So many different things that they come out with that have guns in it. Everybody's sold guns before on advertisement for a film.
Interviewer
So you think the reason why they're focusing on you is cause you're trying to go from music to movies?
50 Cent
Yeah, yeah, because they have a problem with. Think about it. When the last time you seen a gun on the COVID of a cd, it wasn't. It was being distributed by a major company that was probably 97 with KRS1 criminal minded, you know what I mean? Like for me, you have to do that. You have to put that art inside the packaging.
Guest or Additional Interviewer
Do you think that there is a social responsibility in art and in your music? I mean, do you feel a responsibility to your fan base? We sort of debate that on this show a lot with different artists.
50 Cent
Yeah, I do. But you know what? I write a music that's a reflection of the environment that I come from. My responsibility is to write the true perspective of what goes on there. See, they pick a situation, probably a day to put in the newspaper that goes on where I'm from when there's several situations that go on. Like when they speak about me being shot nine times that has been beaten into the heads of the general public through different media outlets and other publications because journalists are infatuated with it. Trust me, I wouldn't ask. I wouldn't ask to talk about that if they didn't ask me those questions, you know, And I know people who've been through more, you know what I'm saying? And if you look at their actual format, like for entertainment, period in the history of entertainment, they build entertainers in order to destroy them for the sake of entertainment. So as I start to get to a point where I don't even feel like I'm peaking, but they do, you know what I mean? It starts to be new obstacles constantly.
Co-host
Is there more pressure on starting out or is it pressure when, like you said, they think you're peaking? Is there more pressure now that you're successful and they're just finding a way to knock you off the top of the mountain?
50 Cent
Well, I think that that's difficult, you know, because you have other things going on when your pressure is there with you coming out, you know, like your financial problem, you know. So that pressure is probably more than when, you know, in a good space and everything else is there, but people just want to see you not do well.
Interviewer
What is like 50? I gotta ask you this question. Because it always seems like there's, there's like something like you got to be looking over your shoulder. It seems to me like in just about every corner of your world, you know, like if it's not the media, then it's other artists that are taking shots at you. Like, what do you see could be the most dangerous thing to your empire already? Like, what's the thing that you fear? Do you fear anything?
50 Cent
Losing focus, that's all you know, for me. Can't nobody do nothing to me that hurts my situation outside of myself. And that's me not being focused and creating the best possible product. You know what I mean? As far as going in to make music for a new album, I believe that they didn't really want to see this record do as well as the last one to date. I have the best selling album this year.
Interviewer
And why do you think that is?
50 Cent
Because I did a good job, man. I sat there, I worked on my project. I know better than to stop working now because I just relaxed for a little bit while I was putting out Lloyd Banks album and Young Bucks record. I just kind of sat back and then I started creating again. And I felt all this new pressure because there's a shadow of doubt cast over artists between each project he releases. Regardlessly if you're dealing with the general public. And I didn't understand that. I showed nothing but consistency having my album sell 11 million records. Thanks for mercy. Our group album sold 3.5 bank sold 2 bucks, sold 1.5. Didn't have game record come out and be a success and still have people doubt me. They didn't doubt whether I could make a good record. They said, do you think you can do it again? Because I had so much success my first album and at the end of the day, you know, I realized that they only doubted me because generally people in the public don't believe in themselves. So that has to happen. It's the telephone game. As one person asks the other one, you think you're going to do it again and then that starts to become the move. 50.
Interviewer
Is some of this starting to beat you down a little bit? Because as I was reading some interviews that you've done recently on the Internet, I started to catch this reoccurring theme, like, maybe I'm gonna head over to Europe for a little while. Maybe I'm gonna take myself out of the US public eye.
50 Cent
You know what? For a moment after the release of the Massacre, I was ready to go out of the country because I have more fun performing outside of the United States than I do performing here.
Co-host
Really? Why?
50 Cent
Because people overseas, they have to make a decision to enjoy hip hop as an art form. They have to search for it. You know what I mean? And what it is is a lot of people that come see me, my venues is exactly the same size. I do 30,000 people a night while I'm overseas. So while I'm outside of the country, I got an audience of people. Some of them don't even speak English, watch my music, break the language barrier. They're that excited about being in the actual environment and why everything's going on, that they come out and the energy level is higher. They still can view things from a fan perspective because they're not that personal with it. In the US everybody feels like they have what it takes. So they watch. From a critic standpoint, if they don't have actual major record label deal, their homeboy down the block got his own studio in the basement and he feels like he's an independent record company now.
Interviewer
This is almost like a double edged sword because if all rappers and hip hop artists had your attitude and moved to Europe, then Europeans would start to develop the same attitudes as Americans and you'd just be traveling all over the world trying to find a new audience.
50 Cent
Yeah, it was. The significance of my situation is I can go over there and have the same venues. A lot of artists don't go overseas a lot because they take a pay cut. They're not as popular over there. So they end up in smaller venues and get less money for performance. So they don't go out there. In my case, them is King Kong out there. He's the biggest. When we go out there together, the 30,000 people venues turn into 80,000. We on the soccer field. Wow.
Interviewer
I want to talk about some of these artist 50 that, that I don't know if you want to call it in competition with, but just that are in the same genre, same format. Because I read yesterday that at one point you had said Kanye is successful because of you.
50 Cent
Yeah.
Interviewer
Why is that?
50 Cent
See what I was saying is even the resistance that I'm getting towards being on a poster with a gun, like the advertisement of a film with a gun. You know how often you've seen these things. They're making a decision to try and go against what I'm writing creatively at that point. Having my album come out the first time, I outperformed everybody as far as show dates. I performed 300 shows in 365 days on give it to Dodge, Ryan Away from that, my album sold 11 million copies. I sold everybody that came out. The year that I came out, still I was overlooked as best new artist. So my music outperformed everybody's, but they decided not to give me best new artist at the Grammy. Now Kanye west, when he came, he came right after that. And it's non confrontational.
Guest or Additional Interviewer
He's more palatable.
50 Cent
Yeah, it's easier for like, if you look, you'll see him on the COVID of Time magazine. Not because his success as a musician is placing him there, but he's. Now it's an easier goal. We can pick this and go. His theme is College Dropout.
Guest or Additional Interviewer
But his song was about Jesus and not about get rich or die tryin'. Is that what you mean?
50 Cent
Yeah, you know what I mean. At the end of the day, regardless, the overall theme is my trophies come. They usually have signatures under them. They check. All right, you see what I'm saying? And these people make decisions on. That's politics. That's all. You know, And I don't like to get involved with it much. You know, I just. I say what I feel. Same way Kanye west will say exactly what he feel. I actually like him for the things that he said.
Guest or Additional Interviewer
So is that frustrating for you not to take home these awards you feel like you've earned?
50 Cent
It's not frustrating. You know what? I only care about the shows that are actually based on the performance of the music. Right now I'm in a financial space where I'm content with where I'm at. Ambition is not a learned behavior. I think it's a part of a person's character. And for me, what makes me happy is creating a new goal and accomplishing it. So I'll continue to work. It may not appear that I'm happy with where I'm at because I'll constantly work on something new. This is what makes me happy. But I am content. I really look at the soundscan as an indication of how many people I'm reaching.
Interviewer
So are the Vibe awards one of these awards that you really feel are credible that you'd like to take home?
50 Cent
Billboard is Billboard Awards are based on the actual performance of the music.
Interviewer
So it's not an opinion. These are based on facts, these are based on stats, these are based on money. And that's what you're about.
50 Cent
That's right. Billboard, nascap, and I've been asked right of the year for, you know, I didn't get it one year because I didn't have a record out.
Interviewer
How about Get Rich or Die trying. Now, the movie. This has got to fire you up. Because now, I mean, if there's one thing you've told us in the couple of times that we've talked now, is that you're always looking to kind of try to stretch yourself, go to the next level. And now we're looking at acting.
50 Cent
Yep.
Interviewer
So how important is it to you now for this movie to be financially successful?
50 Cent
Oh, man. It's important for me for the people to go out and enjoy the film. I actually took a pay cut making this film. If I was torn for the three and a half months that I was on a movie set in Toronto shooting it, I would have made more money. It's not even about that for me. It's an opportunity to draw my base closer to me, for them to understand some of my experiences. They learn more about my past. They'll understand why I'm making the decisions I'm making in the future, which will make me just more entertaining to them, period.
Interviewer
So the movie, really, you look at the movie more as a marketing tool to sell the music?
50 Cent
Yeah, yeah.
Guest or Additional Interviewer
And this is loosely based on your life?
50 Cent
Yes.
Guest or Additional Interviewer
Okay.
Interviewer
How loose?
50 Cent
It's about 75% factual.
Co-host
Okay.
50 Cent
And then, you know, they use the tools in growth. In some situations, they expand, and others they minimize it.
Guest or Additional Interviewer
Does it reflect any of your childhood? We know your mom passed when you were fairly young. Is that addressed in the film?
50 Cent
Yeah.
Guest or Additional Interviewer
Do you have memories of her?
50 Cent
Yeah. When I was 8, my mom used to come around.
Interviewer
Is there anything that you wanted to put in this movie that the movie company said? Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no. That's never gonna fly.
50 Cent
You know what? They. They let me make the changes. I made a lot of changes early with the actual. With Terry Winters, the guy who came out to compile information and create the screenplay for Get Ready to Die Trying. So I kind of got what I wanted early, and then I stopped asking for everything else. I just relaxed because I got the overall story. I was comfortable with it. And then I was able to get with Jim Sheridan. I had a great director on this film, you know, and as me and him linked up, I just sat in the back seat. I let him take control, you know, I mean, it's my first experience being on a film set, and I wanted to learn as much as possible, so I was paying really close attention to everything that was going on. Wow. What'd you learn while you were following the structure?
Interviewer
What'd you learn while you were on that movie set? You said you were learning a whole Bunch of stuff.
50 Cent
Oh, man. My comfortability with being in front of the camera is probably 100 times more than you than before. See, when you're in front of the camera doing music videos, you're usually performing into camera, and that's exactly the opposite of what you're supposed to be doing in front. Okay.
Co-host
That'S a good point.
Interviewer
Movie comes out. Is it this week?
50 Cent
The movie will be out November 9th.
Interviewer
November 9th. And soundtrack.
50 Cent
Soundtrack, November 8th. I'm excited about that. I got a chance to write the soundtrack while I was making the film in between. And there's a scene in the film where the young version of my character Marcus, is looking in the store at a pair of sneakers. That's where I created the concept for the song Window Shopping. I just wrote it from a 50 cent perspective opposed to the actual character.
Interviewer
So you. I'm guessing that helped in the writing of the soundtrack. I mean, if you're shooting this movie and you're writing music for it at the same time, that's gotta help.
50 Cent
Well, you know what? It. At some points, it did. Some points it got confusing because it's difficult to write for scenes in the film because you have all of the information about the film in your head because you read the entire script. So you start giving up the things that are gonna happen next before they actually happen. So you gotta go back and rewrite it.
Interviewer
That does make sense. That could be all confusing. And again, the movie coming out November 9th. Soundtrack, November 8th. Correct.
50 Cent
Yep. And I got my new sneaker through RBK. The G63 will be in stores November 10th. My video game Bulletproof through Universal Indie comes out November 15th. G unit watches his stores November 22nd. Got a lot of things going on.
Interviewer
I always wonder, like, how much, like, how much input do you really have in a shoe? Like, you can't know much about shoes.
50 Cent
I know what I like. I keep telling them what they keep going back until I'm happy with the shoe. See, my shoes have a more classic vibe. You see the new shoes that kind of look like space shoes. They going towards, like, all the new basketball shoes. They use patent leather and these silvers and all this other stuff. I'm really with all of that, you know? So I have them tone my shoes all the way down. I go back to something that will have a kind of classic vibe but a new twist to it.
Interviewer
We're gonna come out with the same thing. We gotta learn a little bit of marketing from 50 here. We're coming out with Bert show shoe.
Guest or Additional Interviewer
I like it.
Interviewer
You wait for that?
50 Cent
Bert show shoe.
Interviewer
Yeah, Bert show shoe, man. Over the next couple of weeks, I'm gonna start designing this thing. All right, dude. All right, 50. Good talking to you, man. Good luck with everything. Good luck with the soundtrack, good luck with the movie, and good luck with the other 914 projects you got your hands in, man. All right, talk to you later.
50 Cent
All right, peace. Bye.
Interviewer
Bye. The third show.
Date: January 21, 2026
Podcast: The Bert Show
Host: Pionaire Podcasting
Featured Guest: 50 Cent
In this vault episode, the Bert Show welcomes rapper, entrepreneur, and actor 50 Cent for a candid conversation. The show dives into his film debut with "Get Rich or Die Tryin’," creative insights, the pressures of fame, industry politics, and how he manages branding across music, movies, merchandise, and more. 50 speaks openly about criticism, maintaining focus, his transition from music to film, and his feelings about success, awards, and personal responsibility.
On threats to his “empire,” 50 reveals his greatest fear:
He highlights his work ethic and consistency, referencing album sales and the persistent public and industry skepticism after early success. (08:16–09:58)
50 shares his preference for international audiences, who “enjoy hip hop as an art form” rather than from a critic’s lens:
In America, he sees more cynicism due to the ease of making and pursuing music. (10:31–11:35)
50 distinguishes between industry awards:
For him, happiness comes from setting and reaching new goals, not external validation. (14:23–15:02)
50 talks about acting, financial tradeoffs, and viewing the film as a tool to connect fans to his story:
The movie is about “75% factual,” focusing on authenticity but including dramatic changes for storytelling. (16:29–16:33)
50 had significant creative input during the scripting phase and trusted director Jim Sheridan with the film. (17:02–17:53)
Release dates plug fest:
On sneaker design:
Joking banter about launching the “Bert Show shoe.” (20:27–20:33)
| Timestamp | Speaker | Quote | |-----------|-----------|-------| | 03:09 | 50 Cent | “Sounds like a great record. It sounds like a regular party record, though. Doesn’t sound like an anthem.” | | 04:45 | 50 Cent | “It’s a gun on the poster. How often have you seen a gun used for marketing for a film?...These are standards that are placed on music as an art form that aren’t placed on any other form of entertainment.” | | 06:06 | 50 Cent | “My responsibility is to write the true perspective of what goes on there.” | | 08:16 | 50 Cent | “Losing focus, that’s all… Can’t nobody do nothing to me that hurts my situation outside of myself.” | | 09:58 | 50 Cent | “At the end of the day… they only doubted me because generally people in the public don’t believe in themselves.” | | 10:31 | 50 Cent | “I do 30,000 people a night while I’m overseas…they come out and the energy level is higher. They still can view things from a fan perspective because they’re not that personal with it.” | | 13:54 | 50 Cent | “My trophies come, they usually have signatures under them. They check. All right, you see what I’m saying? And these people make decisions on… That’s politics.” | | 15:08 | 50 Cent | “Billboard Awards are based on the actual performance of the music.” | | 15:02 | 50 Cent | “Ambition is not a learned behavior. I think it’s a part of a person’s character.” | | 17:57 | 50 Cent | “My comfortability with being in front of the camera is probably 100 times more than before.” | | 19:54 | 50 Cent | “I know what I like. I keep telling them what they keep going back until I’m happy with the shoe... My shoes have a more classic vibe.” |
The episode maintains The Bert Show’s signature style: conversational, humorous, engaging, and candid. 50 Cent’s responses are authentic, insightful, and often laced with humor and perspective—a window into the mindset behind his relentless drive and ability to thrive amid scrutiny and expectation.
This episode is particularly insightful for: