00:00Don't trust nobody, in Hollywood specifically when you get there, a lot of people don't know
00:04how to say no. That's the difference between New York City and California. New Yorkers will tell
00:09you no and in California they don't know how to tell you no. So you'll talk to the person and say
00:14yeah let's work on this project together it'd be fucking great guy and the next thing you know
00:18the movie is actually shooting. Nobody called to tell you that you're not in the movie.
00:23Hey what's up this is 50 Cent hanging with The Hollywood Reporter
00:26and you're about to hear my Hollywood first.
00:30Well the first movie I saw that made me want to make movies was Scarface. I watched the movie,
00:35it was exciting, it's like it's one of those things where in urban culture they would look
00:40at it and say insert me here in the role that Pacino was playing in the film but it's really
00:44about trust issues but he developed trust issues through his whole journey and it was like it's
00:50one of those cool films because it was real human activity and behaviors and imperfections in it
00:55that made me relate to it. The first song soundtrack I listened to was Superfly. It was
01:00Curtis Mayfield's soundtrack for Superfly. That was probably the best soundtrack made to a film.
01:06The first television show I watched over and over was Dukes of Hazzard. That was what Fast
01:11and Furious is now for these kids. That was my Fast and Furious back then. First time I acted
01:18oh I was getting ready to get my ass whooped for my grandmother and I was acting like I didn't do
01:23what she said I did. That was the first time I gave a great performance and it spared me.
01:32The first time I stepped on the set was, it wasn't my video, it was someone else's music video.
01:37I was just there to see what was going on. It was React, it was with Onyx.
01:43The first time Curtis became 50 Cent was when, it's in the music, it's in the process of
01:50because you start to put your best foot forward first. Like when we meet people,
01:55they don't see your imperfections. They see what you're presenting, the best part of you. And
02:01through the music, I was doing that. Instinctively, we do it, all of us.
02:05The first time I attended a red carpet was, that was after Get Rich or Die Tryin'. It was actually
02:11the award shows for that album. Get Rich or Die Tryin' was that. That was my story.
02:17And it was easy for me to put it together because I was in a camp that had already had the success
02:23of 8 Mile. I had Terry Winters, he went on to write the Sopranos and Wolf on Wall Street,
02:29like Jim Sheridan. You know, my left foot only in America. The first collaborator I worked with
02:34that I was most in sync with, it was easily for me to sync up with Mobb Deep. We could take the
02:41same track, go in two different rooms and we would be writing things that fit if we put them onto a
02:46song. Because their music was Queens-based, we could not even hear what each other did,
02:52take it and put it together on a song and it would match. The first person I met that left
02:57me starstruck was, I've been starstruck a lot of times because there's certain people that was
03:04big to me that didn't matter to other people, like Roger from What's Happening. I remember I
03:09ran into him, it was me, Wester Snipes, Don Cheadle, and Roger from What's Happening.
03:15First time I spent a lot of money on something was my grandmother. When I got, when I did the
03:20deal with Em this time, I had money before and it kind of got away from me. So as soon as I did
03:28the deal this time, the first thing I did was buy her a car. And then my grandfather said,
03:33he went to work, he worked hard, and your mama brainwashed my kids. Because I got her a car and
03:40I didn't get him a car, so I ended up going to get him a car. I took care of people who took care of
03:44me when I couldn't take care of myself. And it was more valuable to me to be able to do that.
03:50Well, the first time I realized I could pursue things outside of music, you couldn't pursue
03:56things outside. The first time I realized that you couldn't pursue things outside of music,
04:02for there's a point that you have a, your career works in that way and entertainment looks at you
04:09that way. So you kind of got to stay in that box for a little while. And then it took time,
04:14it took for me not to release music for a while for people to even take the things that I was
04:18doing behind the camera seriously. The first project that I took on to surprise everyone was
04:24Power. And it's because, you know, it's number one in African American and Latino households for 10
04:29years now, the series isn't losing any momentum. I was looking for a title that represented me
04:37overall. And it was for Fragrance. Later when it came time to name the series,
04:44I named it Power, but it could have been Choices. Like that was, it was the life choices.
04:49I've received bad reviews through my entire career. Like everything that I've done has
04:53received bad reviews. They wanted to be what they'd like it to be in pop culture. And
05:00the culture loves things that have been damaged or bruised by the experience.
05:04The first opportunity I turned down and I regret it.
05:10Man, it was a Spanish woman I met. I can't believe I did that. I am so stupid.
05:17I don't know what I was thinking.
05:21I don't know. I make a lot of mistakes. I just don't stick to them. I just don't
05:24carry them with me to feel like I regret them. Don't trust nobody. In Hollywood,
05:29specifically, when you get there, a lot of people don't know how to say no. That's the
05:32difference between New York City and California, specifically, because New Yorkers will tell you
05:38no. And so many people on top of people, they'll just avoid you. Like they don't even want your
05:43conversation. You know, like you go to Southern markets, they're like, Hey, how you doing? Like
05:48that hospitality thing. It doesn't exist in New York the same. In California, they don't know how
05:55to tell you no. So you'll talk to the person and say, yeah, let's work on this project together.
05:59Be fucking great guy. And the next thing you know, the movie is actually shooting. Nobody
06:03called to tell you that you're not in the movie. But this is the truth. They don't want you to
06:08remember them as the person that they said no to when you could potentially be the next person.
06:14And then you hold it against them because they told you no. I understand it, but I'll just say
06:20no when I'm not going to do it. I'm just going to say no. But I would say the first moment that
06:25you feel like you've accomplished something in Hollywood is a point that you haven't actually
06:31made it. You just got something going. So if you just have one, it's just one. You have to
06:39have consistency for it to mean something. All right. Thanks for listening to my Hollywood first.
06:45Catch you later. Hollywood Reporter.
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