New 50 Cent music is on the way and he is explaining why he changed his mind on doing a Verzuz battle.
Even though many now associate veteran rapper 50 Cent with a successful television executive career, he’s still remembered for the classic rhymes that he dropped as an artist. He entered the game as one of those artists with the potential to change the genre. His return to a more gritty style of New York rap in his debut album Get Rich or Die Tryin has been immortalized, having received Diamond certification.
His follow-up album, The Massacre, is expected to be the same in time. He’s transitioned successfully into television, but many of his fans have called on him to produce more music. Eager fans thought this would happen when he hinted at dropping an album named Street King Immortal.
The promise of that began in 2011 and even had confirmed dates in 2012, 2013, and 2016, but it has never been released to this day. It was highly anticipated as well because the review from Jimmy Iovine described it as his best work since his debut.
Following an interview with The Independent, it seems some new music might be coming this September, even though it’s still not the above-mentioned album. While being interviewed about his new series Power Book III: Raising Kanan, 50 said, “That original version is not [being released], but I’m releasing new music in September.” He also confirmed that Eminem would not be joining him on that project even though they have an unreleased track called “Champions.”
“I didn’t finish the tracks with him… I’m not gonna tell who’s on it because I’m the most exciting person [on the album],” he added. That’s not to say that he still doesn’t have a lot of respect for Em.
“He’s still one of the best artists to me. He means more to the culture than a lot of other artists – a lot of people looked at him and saw themselves, and understood how they fit into hip-hop culture,” he continued.
His focus seems to really be on television now as he’s taken on several new projects, including his own celebrity battle rap show. That show is expected to be a competitive hip-hop reality series called Unwrapped. If the show is given the green light, it will be produced by his G-Unit Film & Television company and SFO Entertainment.
While he’s still very much into music, you also probably won’t see him on a Verzuz stage, where his gritty street rap would probably be a hit. At the premiere event of his latest work, he was asked if he would participate in the wildly popular Verzuz series. He answered in his typical trolling style and said, “A Verzuz battle? Probably not.”
His reasoning for the decision was pretty simple; things are opening back up around the world, and the Verzuz format was created to meet entertainment needs during the pandemic.
“We back outside. That was something that happened during the pandemic when we was stuck in the house. Now that we back outside, there’s other things to do. We supposed to be creating new history, not being back there,” he added.
hear what @50cent said when I asked him if he would do a @verzuzonline battle in the future! #VERZUZ #50cent pic.twitter.com/Kb4YkYhzBZ
— Julian Cannon, The Writer ?? @NY Auto Show 2021 (@julianexcalibur) July 16, 2021
Of, course he’s not the first artist to turn down the show. Legends Ice Cube and Mary J. Blige also said they had no interest in appearing. The show continues on full steam ahead in spite of the rejections and seems to be evolving to suit the new needs of its fans who are clamoring to be outside.
Two intensely popular rap groups, Dipset and The Lox, are set to battle next month, and it was recently announced that there will be a live installment of the series at the Madison Square Garden’s Hulu Theater in New York on August 3.
The organizers have already promised that the new version of the show will still be streamed on the Verzuz Instagram page.
