00:00Don't trust nobody.
00:01In Hollywood, specifically, when you get there,
00:03a lot of people don't know how to say no.
00:05That's the difference between New York City and California.
00:08New Yorkers, they tell you no.
00:10And in California, they don't know how to tell you no.
00:12So you talk to the person and say,
00:14yeah, let's work on this project together.
00:16It'd be a fucking great guy.
00:17And then next thing you know, the movie is actually shooting.
00:20Nobody called to tell you that you're not in the movie.
00:23Hey, what's up?
00:24This 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.
00:34I watched the movie. It was exciting.
00:36It's like, it's one of those things where in urban culture,
00:39they would look at it and say, insert me here in the role that Pacino was playing in the film.
00:44But it's really about trust issues.
00:46But he developed trust issues through his whole journey.
00:49And it was like, it's one of those cool films
00:51because it was real human activity and behaviors and imperfections in it that made me relate to it.
00:57The first song soundtrack I listened to was Superfly.
01:00It was Curtis Mayfield's soundtrack for Superfly.
01:03It was probably the best soundtrack made to a film period.
01:06The first television show I watched over and over was Dukes of Hazards.
01:10That was what Fast and Furious is now for these kids.
01:14That was my Fast and Furious back then.
01:16First time I acted, oh, I was getting ready to get my ass whooped for my grandmother.
01:21And I was acting like I didn't do what she said I did.
01:25That was the first time.
01:26And I gave a great performance.
01:28And it spared me.
01:32The first time I stepped on the set was, it wasn't my video.
01:36It was someone else's music video.
01:37I was just there to see what was going on.
01:40It was React. It was with Onyx.
01:42The first time Curtis began 50 Cent was when, it's in the music.
01:48It's in the process of, because you start to put your best foot forward first.
01:53Like when we meet people, they don't see your imperfections.
01:56They see what you're presenting, the best part of you.
01:59And through the music, I was doing that.
02:02Instinctively, we do it, all of us.
02:04The first time I attended the red carpet was, that was after Get Rich or Die Tryin'.
02:10It was actually the award shows for that album.
02:14Well, Get Rich or Die Tryin' was that.
02:16Like 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 of 8 Mile.
02:24I had Terry Winters.
02:25He went on to write the Sopranos and Wolf on Wall Street, like Jim Sheridan.
02:30You know, my left foot, only in America.
02:33The first collaborator I worked with that I was most in sync with, it was easily for me to sync up with Mobb D.
02:39It was like, we could take the same track, go in two different rooms and we would be writing things that fit.
02:45If we put them onto a song and it was because they had that, their music was Queens based.
02:50We could be, not even hear what each other did, take it and put it together on a song and it would match.
02:56The first person I met that left me starstruck was, I've been starstruck a lot of times.
03:02There was certain people that was like big to me that didn't matter to other people, like Roger from What's Happening.
03:08I remember I ran into him, it was me, Wesley Snipes, Don Cheeto and Roger from What's Happening.
03:15The first time I spent a lot of money on something was my grandmother.
03:18When I got, when I did the deal with Em this time, I had money before and it kind of got away from me.
03:25So as soon as I did the deal this time, the first thing I did was buy a hard car.
03:31And then my grandfather said he went to work, he worked hard and your mama brainwashed my kids.
03:38Because I got a hard car and I didn't get him a car so I ended up going to get him a car.
03:43I took care of people who took care of me when I couldn't take care of myself.
03:46And 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 things outside.
03:57The first time I realized that you couldn't pursue things outside of music,
04:02but there's a point that you have a, your career works in that way and entertainment looks at you that way.
04:10So 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 doing behind the camera.
04:20The first project that I took on that surprised everyone was Power.
04:25And it's because, you know, it's number one in African-American and Latino households for 10 years now, the series.
04:31It isn't losing any momentum.
04:34I was looking for a title that represented me overall, and it was for fragrance.
04:41Later, when it came time to name the series, I named it Power, but it could have been Choices.
04:47Like that was, it was the life choices.
04:50I've received bad reviews through my entire career.
04:52Like everything that I've done has received bad reviews.
04:55They wanted to be what they'd like it to be in pop culture.
04:59And the culture loves things that have been damaged or bruised by the experience.
05:04The first opportunity I turned down and I regret it, man.
05:11It was a Spanish woman I met.
05:13I can't believe I did that.
05:15I am so stupid.
05:16I don't know what I was thinking.
05:18I don't know. I make a lot of mistakes.
05:22I just don't stick to them.
05:24I just don't carry them with me to feel like I regret them.
05:27Don't trust nobody.
05:28In Hollywood, specifically, when you get there, a lot of people don't know how to say no.
05:32That's the difference between New York City and California, specifically.
05:37Because New Yorkers that tell you no, and so many people on top of people, they'll just avoid you.
05:42Like they don't even want your conversation and get away from you.
05:45You know, like you go to Southern markets, they're like, hey, how you doing?
05:48Like that hospitality thing.
05:50It doesn't exist in New York the same.
05:52In California, they don't know how to tell you no.
05:55So you'll talk to the person and say, yeah, let's work on this project together.
05:59It'd be a fucking great guy.
06:00And the next thing you know, the movie is actually shooting.
06:03Nobody called to tell you that you're not in the movie.
06:06But it's the truth.
06:07They don't want you to remember 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.
06:17I understand it, but I'll just say no when I'm not going to do it.
06:21I'm just going to say no.
06:23I would say the first moment that you feel like you've accomplished something in Hollywood is a point that you haven't actually made it.
06:33You just got something going.
06:36So if you just have one, it's just one.
06:38You have to have consistency for it to mean something.
06:42All right.
06:43Thanks for listening to my Hollywood First.
06:45Catch you later.
06:46Hollywood Reporter.
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