Is 50 Cent threatening to make like a long list of rappers before him -- from Jay-Z to Master P to Too Short -- and announce his retirement from the game?

Not quite. He's definitely not hanging up his mic, he recently told MTV News.

(Watch 50 discuss his possible retirement, working with Justin Timberlake and more, in this RAW interview.)

But if you ask Fif, after his next two projects -- both of which are almost done, by the way -- he won't feel the need to drop an album as often as he has so far in his career.

"For me, right now, I feel like I love music, so [fans] should expect me to make music afterwards," 50 explained. "But I'll make it organically, like [Dr.] Dre makes a record. It may take five or seven years. ... They'll be looking for my record, like, 'Yo, come on, when you making a record?' "

For now, however, we do know the answer to that question.

Next up, of course, is his recently pushed-back third album, Curtis, which is now due in September (see [article id="1560544"]"50 Cent's Curtis Release Pushed To September"[/article]).

But the G-Unit leader also told MTV News that he's just five songs away from completing his fourth album, Before I Self Destruct, which was originally going to be his follow-up to The Massacre (see [article id="1546818"]"50 Cent, Almost Ready To Self Destruct, Unloads On Critics First"[/article]). 50 shelved that idea to make way for Curtis after his recent rift with Cam'ron (see [article id="1560222"]"50 Cent Says 'Delusional' Cam'ron Is Hurting Diplomats Camp"[/article]).

"I recorded 10 records to the concept of Before I Self Destruct, but I put them aside when I started to create Curtis," Fif said. "Before I Self Destruct is scheduled to be released February 4, which is the anniversary of Get Rich or Die Tryin'. And it'll be my final studio recording for where I'm at, for my deal. I did a five-album deal, and the fifth album is a greatest-hits CD."

And after that? It's not clear whether he'll re-sign with Interscope or another label.

One of the songs that 50 recorded for Curtis, in fact, finds him alluding to his last album -- though it's not clear whether he's talking about his last album on Interscope Records, or his last album period. The song is called "Smile" and part of the chorus features the lyrics "Smile n---a, my next album might be my last/ ... Got what I came to get, the stacks and the stash."

Within the body of the record, 50 addresses some of the problems that he and Eminem have with Interscope -- with 50 saying that sometimes he feels like "I'm being pimped." -- and he also has some words for Al Sharpton, Spike Lee and Oprah Winfrey. "Even Oprah got 'In Da Club' on her iPod/ But she don't want me on her show/ I guess I'm too hard/ ... She sat with Kanye to talk about his crash, but she don't wanna talk about the bullets in my ass."

At the end of the track, 50 switches from rapping to talking, saying, "You should be happy. If I got to go away to make you feel better, I'll go away... Are you gonna miss me when I'm gone? Are you just gonna forget about me? I meant nothin'?"

Get ready for 50 to pull an Eminem and disappear from the scene for a while, in the hopes of getting even bigger by doing so.

"Em ain't put out an album in five years," 50 told MTV News. [Actually, Eminem's Encore was released in November of 2004.] "It builds anticipation because he's away. And he really doesn't enjoy what comes with the success. He likes to just be away a lot more, just be shy toward people. And then the less common you appear, the bigger your celebrity. So then he isolates himself, [and] he becomes more popular. People are more excited."

[article id="1561546"]Check out Mixtape Monday for 50 Cent's take on "Amusement Park" -- and its similarity to a Jim Jones track.[/article]