Few people can claim to have had a year like 50 Cent ... in fact, few people can claim to have much of anything in common with him. From releasing a smash album and (sort of) penning a best-selling biography to dropping an over-the-top video game and movie based on his life, it was quite a platinum-encrusted year for Fiddy. He also managed to get involved in his share of beefs, hold a press conference dedicated to quashing those beefs and promise (threaten?) to unleash a line of 50-themed sex toys, all within 365 short days, which sort of proves that it's Curtis Jackson's world and we're just living in it.
In February he geared up for the release of his hotly anticipated The Massacre by casually dropping former running mate the Game from his G-Unit camp, which led to an incident outside the offices of New York hip-hop station Hot 97 in which both rappers' posses exchanged gunfire, injuring one person. A few days later, The Massacre bowed at #1 on the Billboard albums chart, selling an astonishing 1.1 million copies (it has subsequently soared past the 4 million mark). Fifty celebrated his chart dominance by feuding with Jadakiss and Fat Joe, then calling a press conference to announce a "truce" between himself and the Game, though neither rapper looked particularly psyched to be doing so.
Fifty's reign atop the albums chart lasted for an impressive six weeks (he finally was bumped off by Mariah Carey's The Emancipation of Mimi) though he couldn't care less — he was already hard at work on his first movie, "Get Rich or Die Tryin,' " directed by Academy Award winner Jim Sheridan. Shooting on the film wrapped in July, and soon after, 50 was shifting gears yet again, joining pals Eminem and Lil Jon on the Anger Management Tour and then dropping his autobiography, "From Pieces to Weight." He ripped into Fat Joe, the Game (so much for that truce) and Nas in the video for "Piggy Bank," which was included on the re-release of The Massacre, then he called Joe out during the 2005 Video Music Awards in Miami.
He chilled in September and October, then released both "Die Tryin' " and the ultra-violent "50 Cent: Bulletproof" video game in November. He capped off the year by telling GQ magazine that he planned to release a line of sex toys, including condoms and a motorized, waterproof version of his own G-Unit. "It would be blue," he told the mag, "but I don't know how big ... I don't know if bigger is better." For a guy who had such a monstrous year, it was a bit of unexpected modesty, but as 50 has proved time and time again, he always keeps you guessing.
|
