50 Cent
Photo: MTV

For a man who has talked big about sales figures for much of his career, 50 Cent seems to have had a change of heart when it comes to his latest, Before I Self-Destruct. The rapper's fourth solo album had the lowest opening week of his career, bowing at #5 on 160,000 sales, trailing his next-smallest debut, 2007's Curtis, by more than 500,000 copies.

Self-Destruct did leak weeks before its release, causing a one-week push-up for the physical release and an even earlier release for the album's digital incarnation. And 50 doesn't appear to be sweating the sales dip.

"For myself, I'm asking myself, 'What did you expect, bro? Your fans got it when it was available, at the first available opportunity,' " he said in an interview on DJ Green Lantern's Sirius Satellite radio show earlier this week, before the numbers were official. "For me this album is a prequel — it's full circle. When the energy around a project is the way this is, you can't really feel like it's a failure. Like, I look at the numbers and am like, 'What is this?' I've already assessed that the album has been out a month before its actual release period [due to an online leak, and the album's early digital release due to the leak]. So when you got that, you go, 'Well, what did you actually expect?' "

In July of 2008, 50 predicted that Self-Destruct, then slated for a late 2008 release, would sell 1 million copies in its first week.

He has recently been in the midst of a publicity blitz that has included a rash of promotional appearances and attempts to start one of his traditional pre-release beefs with a major rap figure, in this case Jay-Z. Considering that his 2003 debut, Get Rich or Die Tryin' sold 872,000 and nabbed the #1 spot in its first week and the 2005 sequel, The Massacre smashed the charts with 1.5 million in sales for a second consecutive top debut, in a season filled with major releases from the likes of Lady Gaga, Adam Lambert, Rihanna, Lil Wayne, Susan Boyle and Beyoncé, Self-Destruct faces a tough market.

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50 Cent's <i>Before I Self Destruct</i>
Photo: Interscope

In a stunning turnabout, 50 Cent will notch the lowest chart debut of his career next week when his long-delayed Before I Self Destruct lands at #5 on comparatively soft sales of 160,000. After his first two albums hit #1, selling 872,000 (Get Rich or Die Tryin') and 1.15 million (The Massacre), and 2007's Curtis sold 691,000 following an infamous chart battle with Kanye West, this fifth-place finish is a major comedown.

Who bested the once-dominant G-Unit General? According to figures provided by Nielsen SoundScan, Twitter-lover John Mayer's Battle Studies took the top spot with sales of 286,000, followed by My Christmas by tenor Andrea Bocelli (185,000), the debut of Norah Jones' rock-tinged Fall (180,000) and Christian rock group Casting Crowns' Until the Whole World Hears (167,000).

The only other debut in the top 10 is from currently hobbled Canadian cutie Justin Bieber, whose My World comes in at #6 (137,000). The rest of the top 10 are: Michael Jackson's This Is It (#7, 96,000), the "New Moon" soundtrack (#8, 93,000 on a 77 percent uptick in business thanks to the opening of the movie), Carrie Underwood's Play On (86,000) and Taylor Swift's Fearless (84,000).

Just barely aced out of next week's top 10 is "American Idol" winner Kris Allen, whose self-titled debut lands softly at #11, giving him the dubious distinction of having the lowest-charting first week for an "Idol" winner in the show's history. Allen is also likely to get pushed down further next week when headline-grabbing runner-up Adam Lambert's debut, For Your Entertainment, makes its chart bow.

Further down the line, rock supergroup Them Crooked Vultures fly into the #12 spot with their self-titled debut (70,000). Leona Lewis' second album, Echo, is right behind at #13 (67,000). People also appeared to sleep on OneRepublic's sophomore effort, Waking Up (#19, 39,000), and Janet Jackson's greatest-hits collection Number Ones is far from it at #20 (37,000). Way down at #68, Fall Out Boy also had few takers for their greatest-hits album, Believer's Never Die, which sold less than 11,000 copies.

It was a very short stay at the top for Jersey rockers Bon Jovi, whose The Circle shed 69 percent of its first week business to drop from #1 to #18 on sales of 50,000, which is just a bit steeper than the dive taken by Flyleaf, whose Memento Mori drops 28 spots to #36 in week two (20,000). Proving that couch-humping and girl-kissing will only get you so far, the self-titled latest from Pretty Ricky barely made a dent, debuting at #85 on sales just shy of 9,000. Meanwhile, Katy Perry's Katy Perry: MTV Unplugged whispers in at #134 (5,000).

Then again, most of that won't matter next week when the top 10 is sure to get a Black Friday-assisted makeover thanks to chart debuts by half a dozen biggies, including Lady Gaga, Shakira, Rihanna, Susan Boyle and Lambert. The competition for the top spots will also heat up thanks to a recent Billboard top 200 rule change that will now allow albums that have been out for more than 18 months and don't have a current single at radio to vie for a spot on the chart, spurred by strong sales this year from back-catalog albums from the Beatles and Michael Jackson.

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50 Cent
Photo: MTV News

50 Cent certainly can't be accused of not speaking his mind.

Late Monday, the G-Unit general phoned in to DJ Green Lantern's Sirius Satellite radio show and discussed the lukewarm early sales for his latest LP, Before I Self Destruct — and Jay-Z's possible dig at him during Sunday night's American Music Awards. During his acceptance speech, Jay said, "Men lie, women lie — numbers don't," and then burst out laughing, which many perceived as a response toward 50's recent baiting of Hov.

"He's said that before," 50 said. "I didn't really take that as disrespect. If you wanna be disrespectful, just be disrespectful. Once we start I'm not gonna stop. I'll make you aware of that, 'cause I'm not the type of guy that goes away. So if that's the kind of energy we getting ready to go into, then let's do it!"

50 also discussed his new LP, which looks poised for a lukewarm debut on the charts in its first week out — Hits Daily Double estimated that its debut-week sales will be in the range of 150-160,000. His three previous albums all easily surpassed 500,000 units sold in their first weeks, although in a much more robust album market than today's.

"For me this album is a prequel — it's full circle," 50 said. "When the energy around a project is the way this is, you can't really feel like it's a failure. Like, I look at the numbers and am like, 'What is this?' I've already assessed that the album has been out a month before its actual release period [due to an online leak, and the album's early digital release due to the leak]. So when you got that, you go, 'Well, what did you actually expect?'

"For myself, I'm asking myself, 'What did you expect, bro? Your fans got it when it was available, at the first available opportunity.' "

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• Jay-Z

Photo: MTV News

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50 Cent and Beanie Sigel perform on Monday night
Photo: MTV News

NEW YORK — 50 Cent has been on a high-octane promotional run for the past few weeks to support his latest effort Before I Self Destruct, and on Monday night, the hulking rapper ended his trek where it all began, on the streets of New York.

Flanked by his G-Unit family and hundreds of fans who waited outside in the cold to catch a glimpse of the entertainer, 50 Cent made good on his promise to deliver a good show at Manhattan's Highline Ballroom for MySpace's The 50th Release show.

G-Unit's Lloyd Banks and Tony Yayo were first up to bat, bouncing back and forth, exchanging raps as fans waited for the main event.

As he did on the previous night's American Music Awards performance with Eminem, 50 slyly made his entrance onto the stage to the sounds of yells and screams and launched right into his verse from "Crack a Bottle."

"It's bottle, after bottle/ The money ain't a thing when you party with me," 50 rapped as the crowd joined in. "It's what we into, it's simple/ We ball outta control like you wouldn't believe."

Clad in a black-and-tan leather vest, oatmeal Timberland boots and shiny jewelry, 50 went into some of his darkest rap tales.

"I done told you, boy, I'm a soldier boy/ I got no choice but to be a rider/ I approach you, boy, with the toaster boy/ Get to point-blank range and fire," Fif warned on the catchy song "G-Unit Rider, Part 2." 50 followed up the melodic track with more smash songs from his vault: "I Get Money," "What Up Gangsta" and "Crime Wave." The MC grinned from ear to ear, commanding the audience's attention with each lyric.

Next, 50 turned his attention to the many female patrons in the audience with the single "Baby by Me." The song's introduction excited one woman so much, she leaped a few feet from the adjacent V.I.P. area, just to get closer to the stage. Fif then launched into his new single, "Do You Think About Me," joined by guest crooner Governor.

Midway through the show, he turned things up a notch.

"Where my n---a at?" 50 shouted. As Jay-Z's "Do It Again" track sounded off, Beanie Sigel emerged from the bowels of the backstage area and dived head first into his verse off the record.

"You know how Mac come through on the club tip/ Everybody real deep on that thug sh--/ Cop Cris' spray the club on that thug sh--/ Cop frisks suits snub in the club quick," Beanie rapped.

Moments before his surprise appearance Beanie talked to MTV News about his newfound alliance with 50 Cent.

"It means a lot," he said of joining 50 for his hometown performance. "I'm here. I'm in New York."

	See 50 Cent and Beanie Sigel Onstage

Sigel, with some assistance from 50 Cent, has fired a number of pot shots at onetime mentor Jay-Z. But through it all, Beanie says that his music will remain pure. "I'mma continue to do my thing," he said. "And I'mma be in this music business, putting out good music, quality music. And I'mma stay grounded in relation with me and the people who I represent and speak for. The people in the streets who's doing they thing. That's what I'm here to do, and I'mma always do that.

Beans and 50 performed the Jay-Z dis record "I Go Off" for the first time on a public platform.

"I'll give you something to talk about/ Come 'round me frontin' I'll air you out, I go off," 50 rapped.

Following the brief set, 50 got back to reminding the crowd why he's still a force to be reckoned with, sprinting through more hits from his endless catalog, old and new, including "P.I.M.P.," "Just a Little Bit," "Magic Stick" and the open letter to ousted G-Unit members Young Buck and Game, "So Disrespectful."

Shortly before closing out his performance, in true bad-boy fashion, 50 joked on members of the New York Police Department, who were also in attendance.

"Every time I come to New York, you see the police right next to you," 50 said, pointing to the various plain-clothes cops in the crowd. "You gotta watch them. It's the hip-hop police. They make like I'm a terrorist or some sh--. I ain't do nothing to nobody. But you gotta watch them, 'cause they're watching you."

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Val Kilmer and 50 Cent walk the red carpet at the American Music Awards
Photo: Jason Merritt/ Getty Images

LOS ANGELES — 50 Cent is a busy man — he just released a new album, Before I Self Destruct, and film of the same name, and he's working on several other movies in various stages of development. He's also an unpredictable man — as evidenced by his double-take-inducing appearance at last week's "New Moon" premiere. So, it makes sense that the rapper/actor/mogul would show up at the American Music Awards with Val Kilmer as his "date," eager to tell everyone that he's even busier and more unpredictable than they think.

"It's exciting," he said of the 2009 AMAs, walking down the red carpet alongside a grinning Kilmer, who could best be described as being dressed like Truman Capote's evil twin. "We came out here to enjoy the festivities. Val and I are going to sit and see what's going on. Are you wondering why we're together?"

Well, yeah. And with that, 50 revealed that he had written a screenplay for a movie in which he and Kilmer are set to star.

"We're here because we've got a project that we're working on together," said 50, who took the stage later that night with Eminem. "It [starts] in December."

"It's called 'The Gun,' and it's about a gun," Kilmer added. "It's a really good title. He wrote it."

According to 50 Cent, who has written three feature-film scripts recently, the role Kilmer will be playing was transported from a different screenplay. "He's actually a character from a different project, but I got him to come out of there when he saw the value of what he was looking for."

Fitty explained that "The Gun" has a "socially conscious" theme. "It's about how a weapon goes from manufacturing to its distribution point, to being in a citizen's custody — and how it ends up in the wrong hands," he said. "We watch the actual gun travel through a few different people's hands."

"I'm a criminal," explained Kilmer, saying he gets the gun at one point. "And we're friends."

"Gun" would mark the second time 50 Cent and Kilmer have collaborated, following their recent straight-to-DVD release "Streets of Blood." And if all goes well, the rapper said, perhaps 50 will ask the veteran actor to collaborate in the medium that made him famous.

"I know [Val can sing]," grinned 50 Cent, thinking back to films like "Top Secret!" and "The Doors," in which Kilmer played Jim Morrison. "You think I don't know?

"Yeah, there's a possibility ... you could hear something from us on this next album, if I can work that into the situation," he promised. "But that's hard."

With a smile, the actor added that he'd be up for it if Fif would only ask. "I do whatever he says," Kilmer explained.

For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.

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Eminem performs at the American Music Awards on Sunday
Photo: ABC/ Dick Clark Productions

Emimen strode out onto the American Music Awards' stage on Sunday night (November 22), looking very much like a prizefighter ready to deliver a knockout.

"In this corner, weighing 175 pounds, with a record of 17 rapes, 400 assaults and four murders," Em shouted, channeling his inner Michael Buffer, "The most diabolical human in the world ... Slim Shady."

He then launched headlong into a hulking version of "Crack a Bottle," delivering lines like body blows, bobbing and weaving across the stage, his face covered by a hood. Em spit with fire and hunger, and the crowd nodded their heads with the beat and went nuts when Em welcomed a very special guest to the stage: none other than another heavyweight brawler, 50 Cent.

The two exchanged daps in the middle of the stage and then 50 got to work on his verse, looking lean and mean in a stocking cap and bubble vest.

50 disappeared just as quickly as he'd arrived, and Em's DJ cut "Bottle" short, flipping instead into the chorus of Drake's massive hit "Forever." The crowd threw their hands in the air and Eminem, now with his hood removed and his eyes scanning the audience, dove into his verse of the song.

The censors got on most of his lines, but there were sill jokes about macadamia nuts and fromunda cheese (we told you he was hungry). Then, at the end of his tight verse, he thrust his fist into the air as the crowd cheered wildly, further proving he's still the champ.

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The Game
Photo: Michael Tullberg/ Getty Images

The Game has thrown disses at both 50 Cent and Jay-Z, so who does the Compton rap fanatic think would win if Fif and Jay ever engaged in a war of words? In a recent interview with Complex.com, Game says he gives it to Jigga.

"Jay-Z will f--- 50 up in a battle!" Game predicted. "It would be so fast and over with. 50 is funny, but Jay is witty. Jay-Z is not to be toyed with. If he responds, if he feels like you're really pissing him off and he responds, he's gonna f--- you up! He would f--- me up, I'm just glad he didn't respond, so I didn't have to go dig in my bag and try to f--- him up.

"I definitely think that Jay-Z didn't come at me like he came at any other rappers because I definitely would have been more disrespectful," he continued. "Once you start a beef with me, you better be ready to go the whole 12 rounds. I will try to chew your f---in' ear off, like Mike Tyson. I'll do it and I think he knew that — I'm disrespectful! So Jay, he did the right thing and just kinda let it die down and I let it die down 'cause it wasn't anything, really. It was fun and I really admire Jay's career. I just really don't care too much for the man himself."

The onetime G-Unit member also said he's open to working with 50 Cent again — although 50 recently said he isn't — but he does think Fif is just following his footsteps by beefing with Young Hova.

"I already did that Jay-Z thing," Game said. "50's just doing what I'm doing. Nobody went at Jay; I went at Jay. Now everybody wants to get at Jay — not saying anything about Beanie Sigel, that's personal and I stay out of that. He's just a man and he's got all the right in the world, but I feel like I did something that people have been wanting to do, but everybody is scared because Jay-Z is so lyrically inclined to cut your throat and your career in half that nobody wanted to do it. But me? I just don't give a f--- sometimes."

Both Game and 50 Cent have been in the lab with Dr. Dre lately. The Doc was in New York on Thursday at Best Buy promoting his headphones. During a press conference, RapRadar.com asked him about his relationship with Game and 50 since they are on opposing sides.

"It's good, I'm working with both guys," Dre began to say before Interscope CEO Jimmy Iovine attempted to move onto the next question. "Everything is good. Both guys are gonna be on my record. I'm trying to put it back to where it is supposed to be: all love."

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50 Cent
Photo: MTV News

50 Cent gets very domesticated in his video for "Baby by Me." He has a wife (played by Kelly Rowland) and the three kids (triplet boys), and he flips burgers on the grill after a hard day at work.

Fif said the role wasn't too much of a stretch.

"I would actually yell at Kelly," Fif laughed. "I'd be like, 'You don't do nothing right. I told you to have one baby and you had three! You don't do nothing right!' "

Getting more serious, 50 said he seriously thinks about settling down.

"I think it could happen," he said. "You know, it has to be at the right time. I mean, you see Em make a decision to go home. He didn't want to wake up one morning and Hailie be grown. You know, your life in general, you gotta make choices at different points."

Fif is living the life of a bachelor for now. He said the last celebrity woman that made him say, "Damn!," because she looked so good, was his "Home of the Brave" co-star.

"Jessica Biel. Her body is like, 'Wooo-wooo,' " 50 said, making a bottle shape with his hands.

When asked to choose between Biel and Megan Fox, Fif was stumped for a few seconds. "That's a toss-up," he said. "Ummmm ... Megan Fox."

When it came to Fox or Halle Berry, 50 didn't have to think about it. "Halle Berry," he answered without hesitation.

Then came a tough question: Catwoman or Mrs. Smith? "Angelina Jolie?" 50 asked. "Angelina!"

Fif — who did say Halle was his all-time favorite beauty — could not decide between Jolie and Katy Perry.

" Angelina got all those kids from all those different countries," he laughed. "Got a lot to deal with."

• MTV News Extended Play: 50 Cent

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50 Cent, F. Gary Gray and Floyd Mayweather
Photo: Thisis50.com

50 Cent has been in full promo mode the past few weeks, pushing his album Before I Self Destruct. He did take some time off this past weekend, visiting the Las Vegas mansion of his friend Floyd "Money" Mayweather. Fif brought along Tia Kemp and her children, one of whom is the young son of 50 rival Rick Ross.

In footage that was released this week on ThisIs50.com, Fif is seen in the house taking pictures with Mayweather, and even Diddy pops up in the mix. Later, we see 50 and Floyd chop it up at a kitchen table with "Law Abiding Citizen" director F. Gary Gray.

Later, the boxing champ can't resist pulling out $100,000 in bills. Fif pulls out several hundred dollars but admits he doesn't carry as much cash as "Money" Mayweather — especially on Floyd's home turf.

"I gotta make a bet right quick," Mayweather says in the video. "I got a few dollars. I ain't f---in' with you right now."

Mayweather's young daughter holds 50's money and said, "That's not more than my dad."

50 then playfully takes his money from the child. "Give me my money, you little traitor. I thought you was down with me," he jokes, then kisses the little girl on her head. "He taught you to say that."

50 is back to work. He's performing at New York's Highline Ballroom on Monday to celebrate his album's release. 50 will also be making in-store record appearances at Best Buy stores in New York and New Jersey on Friday.

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50 Cent Promotes His New Fragrance "Power"

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Snoop Dogg, 50 Cent, Calle 13, More At Los Premios MTV

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50 Cent, The Diplomats, The LOX And More At Governor's Island, New York, 10.03.09

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50 Cent's 40 Day Community Celebration In Queens, New York

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50 Cent's "Family Day" At Great Adventure Amusement Park In NJ

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