The Spin Interview: 50 Cent (Bigger, Longer, and Uncut)

What about the MCs -- Chamillionaire, Ghostface Killah, Master P -- who have said that they're not going to curse in their music anymore, in response to the post-Imus outcry?
None of those people sell records.

Chamillionaire sold more than a million records.
Let him go sell gospel records, if he's so fuckin' righteous. I can write around the curses if I want to, but you can't tell me to write around the curses. First of all, there's a clean version of the record available, anyway, if people don't want to hear that content. This is adult entertainment. Why is pornography legal? Wouldn't you say that the women who do pornography are hos? They get paid $1,000 to fuck on tape. You understand? And we can't say 'ho'? And who's the leading consumer for pussy on a tape? Middle-aged white men.

The peanut gallery: "White men, yeah. They buy all of it. They're spending way more."

These white men are buying the pussy from the hos because they aren't being sexually fulfilled by the women they have in their traditional lifestyle at home. And they go outside for the thrills without any attachment, so when they go home, there's no phone number or nobody calling who can ruin their fuckin' lives. So it's understandable why pornography is the way it is. But after all that, why is somebody worried about me saying 'ho'? I make up different terminology all the time. I made an effort to make a reference to a male organ without being disrespectful in a woman's presence on "Candy Shop." If you say "penis, cock, dick," whatever way you want to say it, that's going to be disrespectful in the presence of some women, so I said, "the magic stick" and "the candy shop" is the bedroom and the "amusement park" is the bedroom, trying to come up with a way to do it where you're not being disrespectful. But those efforts apparently don't mean very much.

So what do you really think about those guys who say they're not going to curse anymore?
They're just saying it. They're not going to really do it.

Yeah, it's hard to imagine Ghostface is going to stop cursing, especially considering his last couple of records.

The peanut gallery: "Nobody even cares what he does." "Who's listening to him, anyway?" "That was the '90s, B. Kids don't even know Ghostface anymore." "The streets are different now," says Yayo. "Guys like Ghostface don't matter. They don't. They had a run, but it's over."

But can't he just make a great record, even if it doesn't sell, and we can appreciate it as listeners, as hip-hop fans?
No, because a great record is embraced and enjoyed by the public. And it's played in cars and clubs.

What if it sells a couple hundred thousand copies, isn't that valid? Or does it have to sell millions for you to take it seriously?
In my camp, a couple hundred thousand records is a failure. From my perspective, if I sell 200,000 copies, after selling 12 million records, it's considered terrible.

But maybe he's trying to make a different kind of record?
What, the kind people don't buy?

No, one with incredible, detailed storytelling that's moving and powerful, and isn't dependent on some obvious hook.
Look, I understand all that. But if you're on a major record label, and he [Ghostface] is, and you sell a couple hundred thousand records, that was a failure. Your fuckin' photos and videos aren't recouped with 200,000 copies sold.

OK, but can you at least acknowledge that a commercial flop, like, say, [Ghostface's] Supreme Clientele, can still be an artistic achievement?