Among the songs featured on Queens rapper 50 Cent’s upcoming album, Animal Ambition is the Frank Dukes-produced record “Hold On.” Fifty took time to address both “Hold On” and his new LP during his Sirius XM Town Hall interview.
While addressing the newly-released “Hold On,” 50 Cent revealed that the Animal Ambition cut was inspired by EPMD’s 1988 record, “You Gots To Chill.” He also referred to Animal Ambition as a project about prosperity.
“Well, overall the project is about prosperity,” 50 Cent said. “You know what I mean? The first joint I put out was ‘Hold On.’ And it’s about the envy or jealousy connected to you doing too well in front of people. And the environment that I grew up in. It causes more negative energy than positive energy. I wrote it and I felt like—At the time, I’ll be honest with you, I was listening to ‘You Gots To Chill,’ EPMD. And that’s why the tempo on that record is the tempo. Cause it was a little bit—I was looking for something that matched [the] tempo and the energy that was there. Cause these were the things that I fell in love with when I’m actually falling in love with Hip Hop. And then later creating my version of these things. So, I’m looking for something that mirrors that. Cause it’s far away from what is actually going on right now in the culture.”
50 Cent also spoke on success and how an artist’s success can affect both fans and fellow musicians over time. According to the Jamaica, Queens lyricist, an artist’s success is typically welcomed at the start of their career, but later becomes downplayed once that success becomes repeated. He cited Young Money rapper Lil Wayne as an example of what happens to an artist when they have repeated success.
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“I think that people are attracted to that first time that you actually win because it gives confirmation,” he said. “It offers them confirmation that you can come from nothing or from the bottom to that actual top and they loved that. That concept. But when you win repeatedly, repeatedly in front of them. The artist community goes ‘God dammit, you keep winning in front of them. How I’mma have my chance?’ And then they start to say ‘Yo, you heard the new 50?’ ‘Yeah, it’s cool. But it’s not as good as when he first came [out]’…They doing it now to Wayne”
During his interview with Rob Markman, 50 Cent was asked if he ever stopped caring about music. He replied “no” and stated that he instead began to observe the genre from a fan’s perspective.
“No. I had an opportunity to view it from a fan’s perspective,” the rapper said. “And watch everyone else, what they’re doing and just look. And it’s interesting because over the last five years you’ve watched everything morph into a part of Hip Hop culture.”
Animal Ambition, 50 Cent’s fifth studio album, is currently scheduled for release on June 3. While appearing at South By Southwest earlier this month, Fifty revealed that Jadakiss, Styles P, Prodigy, and Kidd Kidd will be featured on the album.
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50 Cent’s Sirius XM Town Hall interview can be heard in its entirety beginning on March 31.
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