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LadyLilia · Anmeldedatum: 01.01.1970 Beiträge: 0

5 questions for Curtis '50 Cent' Jackson

GUnitWorld.com: By Cindy Perlman, New York Times Syndicate
January 3, 2007
What goes through your mind when you get shot? "The blood was flowing out of my stomach, out of my leg and out of my left cheek, where I was shot in the face," Curtis Jackson recalls. "I remember I was on that gurney being wheeled into an operating room. I was strapped down and I couldn't move. I didn't think I would make it."

But he did and, in retrospect, that night when he was shot nine times was the beginning of his rebirth: The drug-dealing high-school dropout Curtis Jackson was reborn as the multimillionaire rapper 50 Cent.

These days, however, the New York-based rapper has been reborn as, surprise, Curtis Jackson. He wants to be a movie star, and for his new film Home of the Brave, set to open Friday, he's billed as Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson. Home of the Brave is a sobering, no-holds-barred look at the plight of men and women of the U.S. military returning from the war in Iraq. Chicago freelance writer Cindy Perlman recently sat down with Jackson.

1. Do you think this film will change people's perceptions of you?

"I think, when people hear '50 Cent,' they associate it with aggressive music. I think they might be disappointed when they see my character and he doesn't have the same aggressive edge that they're familiar with from 50 Cent. So I told them to use my real name and put '50 Cent' in the middle."

2. Do you consider yourself an actor or a rapper?

"I always had to be two people. I'm my grandmother's baby in the house, or at times like this when I'm talking to you. That's Curtis Jackson. And then there is the other man who knows how to be aggressive enough to get by in the streets. . . . I spent a large portion of my life being the only person who believed in my ideas. Even my grandparents - and I love them to death - after I got shot, they looked at me like, 'Oh, man, he's still here?' Sometimes when I was a kid, I'd mumble lyrics and my grandparents would look at me like I was just bugging out. You just can't lose faith in yourself, because sometimes that's all you have in life."

3. Having grown up poor, how important is money to you now?

"My grandparents had the largest asset in our family, which was their home. It's worth about $220,000. When they bought it, it was $65,000. That's all my family had to show for our lives ahead of my recording career. I never imagined I would have much. I'd buy magazines and look at Lamborghinis and Ferraris. I was conditioned to like those cars before I could actually talk, but I never thought they would be in my driveway. (Today) I have homes in Farmington, Conn., Baltimore and Long Island. I even own over 1,000 pairs of sneakers, which is a big deal where I come from."

4. You have a son. What's your parenting style?

"I'll walk by and see him on the Internet. Then I'll say, 'What are you doing at Cuties.com?' He's a 10-year-old boy looking at Cuties! I tell him to turn off the computer. But mostly he's spoiled. I don't think there are enough spoiled black kids out there, if you ask me."

5. How has success changed you?

"I stay active as far as being on the circuit. I get around. I'm still saying the same things that got me started. I've been who I am for 28 years before any success. It's only been three or four years that I had anything different happen for me. So my mood isn't different. I still have the same feelings about what's right and wrong. . . . I guess my biggest nightmare would be to be right back where I started on the streets. I think that a lot of people who find success on a music level get to this place and their lifestyle becomes fabulous. Then the music starts to slow down, and they continue to be fabulous. It reaches low at that point, and they fall flat on their face. Face it, we build entertainers in order to destroy them . . . I won't let it happen to me."

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