S. Samuel
G-Unit head 50 Cent is still laughing straight to the bank after recently revealing he was paid over $20 million from former record label home Interscope upon his departure. #StraightToTheBank
According to the rap heavyweight, he banked around $23 million from the iconic company.
“My album, Get Rich Or Die Tryin’ is the largest debuting Hip Hop album and the way we sold ringtones at that point is exactly how we sell the single. So, the language in the contracts spoke to the same light and the way I would be paid off a ringtone — if that’s the way I was to be paid off the singles would mean that they owed me like another $23 million maybe. So we went through that process and it took–for four years actually. It took a while for us to get through it. … I was paid.” (Business News Network)
Back in March, Fif said too much emphasis on Interscope placing its focus on marketing around CEO Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre‘s Beats By Dre left a bad taste in his mouth.
“Not that there wasn’t a whole lot of support, but just an actual fear factor created from the aura of respect that Jimmy[Iovine] has within the Interscope system,” Fif began to explain. “When you see Interscope turn into Beats Records, where everyone that you see is actually marketing Beats headphones — you don’t even see a music video without Beats headphones in it.” (MTV)
A few days prior, 50 revealed Interscope hit him with various restrictions after the launch of his SMS Audio headphones line a few years ago.
“Interscope is Beats Records,” 50 Cent told FORBES. “There’s no artist that has a marketing budget supporting what they’re actually doing that doesn’t have Beats headphones in the actual visual to support that brand, that company. So when I invested in SMS Audio, it kind of made people afraid.” In particular, 50 Cent recalls not being allowed to display his own SMS headphones shooting the video for “My Life.” At one point, he wore a hat with the SMS logo on it; the letters were blurred out in the final edit. (Forbes)
Rap veteran Pharoahe Monch recently spoke to SOHH about the theory of going indie being the best option for every musician.
“The music sets the tone for the career that you want as well. It’s maybe talking about less exposure but a more loyal fan base,” Monche told SOHH’s Nikita Rathod. “To what degree if you are already a multi-millionaire do you need the middle man? What does 50 Cent need with them? What do they do? What relationship does he have that he doesn’t already have with contacts of his own? If you got your manager and your agent, at that level, you can make it work like a label.” (SOHH)
#StraightToTheBank
Check out 50 Cent’s interview:
