50 Cent has revealed he once turned down an incredibly lucrative record deal because of the label’s connection to former Murder Inc. executive Irv Gotti.
In a recent interview, the G-Unit head honcho revisited his decision to pass on a $1.3 million offer from Universal Music Group as a strategic business move to keep Gotti and Murder Inc. from sabotaging his camp. 50 Cent prefaced the statement by referencing Irv Gotti’s 2020 interview with B. High of Hot 107.9 where he claimed to have blocked multiple record labels from signing his rival
“Irv [Gotti] was talking in the interview and he was talking about he was blocking me,” 50 Cent said. “Like he was blocking everything. He said, ‘I blocked him into a good situation.’ And it just went off. And, I saw the situations I didn’t feel where he felt he was blocking me at that point. But I wouldn’t do business with anyone who had direct associations or any influence to the things that they had that was working.”
Fif continued: “So they offered me a million three to do a G-Unit and my solo album at Universal and I just turned the deal down. [Tony] Yayo didn’t understand he was like, ‘What? A million three you not gone do it, what? That’s like saying we hit the lottery and you not going to pick up the ticket.’ And I’m like, ‘Nah it’s not the right deal,’ because it’s in the Universal system. Def Jam and those guys was already making money from that system. Where they could influence and sabotage everything that I had going.”
Murder Inc. Records is a subsidiary of Def Jam, a division of Universal Music Group.
50 Cent previously addressed Irv Gotti’s statement that he “blocked the n-gga [50 Cent] until he fell into Em and Dre’s lap” in 2020, when the interview was originally released. “Now everybody knows why i act the way i act,” 50 captioned an Instagram post in which he shared the clip. “These sucka ass ni66a’s be out here working against you, instead of working on their own shit. now look at them, all fucked up. B!tch ass ni66as.”
Despite efforts to knock him off his path, 50 Cent has managed to maintain the trajectory of his career for more than two decades. On December 14 his 2003 Get Rich or Die Tryin’ album hit “In Da Club” surpassed one billion streams on Spotify (via Chart Data) just before the 20th anniversary of its release.
50 Cent has also become a major TV mogul, adding multiple scripted and unscripted projects to his growing G-Unit Film & Television empire in 2022
His latest Hollywood project will find 50 executive producing a drama series titled Fightland, currently in development at STARZ. The scripted show follows the story of a retired, world champion fighter that finds himself on the dark side of the sport after his childhood friend and training partner disappears.
The news of the show is huge given the fact it’s 50’s first project with STARZ since he announced he completed his exclusive contract deal with the network in September.
50 Cent has yet to reveal what this latest offering means in terms of his partnership with the premium network.
