props to my old friend and amazing writer Sacha Jenkins (Ego Trip fam) who did an incredible job with this interview. Love him or hate him, 50 is sharper and smarter than 99% of the people in all of hip hop. Of course, that’s not saying he’s a nice person or even a good person. But you can’t deny that he’s smart. And as much as I love Nas and MOP and anyone else he touches on in this story, 50 makes good points. Of course, 50 makes interesting points about Cam, Jim and Dipset too. Some things 50 says are a blunt reality that few people want to accept.

“What percentage of MCs in hip-hop do you think are actually intelligent?
You have different kinds of people. You have people that are extremely book smart that lack common sense so they don’t know what’s going to affect their audience. They have more information than me based on reading. For instance, Nas is a really smart guy. He reads books constantly. We were around him on the Nastradamus tour. He was almost weirder than me ’cause we would go to breakfast and he’d be there reading a book. Conceptually, I think that’s what made him drift away from what his initial audience enjoys from him and why he’s not hot right now.

Because he reads too much?
Yes. He’s feeding you too much information in the music and they don’t actually want it. He’s like a teacher. I was in love with KRS-One when he came with “Criminal Minded” and “The Bridge Is Over.” That was theme music to what was going on at that time. And when he started teaching, he lost them. ’Cause it was like, “What is he talkin’ about?”

But you’re obviously really intelligent.
Absolutely. Smart enough not to overwhelm people with information.”

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“When Cam called Hot 97 to talk to you about your Koch Records comments, you were being articulate, smart and you backed your argument up. But then he engaged you in a way that was a bit more belligerent.
My initial intention when we started that conversation wasn’t to cause an altercation. But after an altercation is caused, I have no intentions of resolving it. I don’t believe you can resolve a situation with someone you didn’t initiate. If they caused it, there’s nothing you can do on your end. You didn’t actually ask for it so it’s there. And you make it—you pound away at him with the consistency of releasing quality material ’til his ass is dust. He’s gone and everybody that surrounds him gets it in the end, too. This is why I tell him Jim Jones should be the boss of Dipset and now you see Jim Jones say he’s not fuckin’ with Cam.

Yeah, but you knew they weren’t really getting along.
I already knew the circumstances behind that ’cause I do my research. At the end of the day, [Jim Jones] is a more credible artist than Cam’ron is. You’re as hot as your last hit record. His last hit was fuckin’ “Horse & Carriage.” He’ll make comparisons to Lloyd Banks’ sales with Jimmy Jones’ sales. So what? Is my worst your best? Why are you not comparing yourself to me? Considering he’s supposed to be Dipset’s boss, while I’m supposed to be the headman for G-Unit. Maybe it’s because he sold 200,000 his last album and I sold 9.8 million.

Are you cool with Jim Jones?
I don’t have a problem with him. I think they got an idiot in the lead position. You gotta make the changes he’s making right now. I think they got some talent over there. Why would I want to destroy [Dipset] considering we have nothing going on from New York City? If it was up to me, Dipset would be hot. You just got an idiot in your frontline. You call him your leader? He just got punched in his eye. To be honest, that’s their responsibility to fix that—all of them.”

————

“With so much revenue coming in from other ventures, does rapping even make sense at this point?
Well, it makes great… the energy changes when you got good music out. That’s all it’s really for. I’m in a great financial space in [my] life. I’m proud of my decisions. While people were trying to make their own alcoholic beverage and do different things, I went towards Vitamin Water. I’m health conscious. I work out. I’m actually physically training now for a boxing film, so they’ll see the difference in my physical because I’m working harder. They asked a question on 106 & Park if I took any…

Steroids or something like that?
I guess that’s a question they see when you make a physical change on any level.

Who are you training with?
With a personal trainer. He just brought me a diet supplementary card and I have a regiment. They probably can’t afford to do what I’m doing right now.

Who are they?
Other artists. I couldn’t afford to do it prior to the success, like nobody in my camp is doing what I’m doing. Nobody else in my camp has a nutritionist and a trainer and has them follow you around. You pick up a cookie, “Okay, put it down.” You see what I’m saying? Like everything possible he’s watching you like you’re doing something wrong when you’re ready to go the refrigerator.

Weren’t you trying to hook M.O.P. with something like that?
Yeah, I had M.O.P. live at my house for six months.

Is it true you were offering them a G for every pound they lost?
Yeah, M.O.P., they just ain’t after the same thing. They are a great group. They got music I’d love to put out. I’m just not going to bet on a horse that got three legs in this climate. It won’t win a race.

Did your beef with Game cause any weirdness between you and Dr. Dre?
It always did, just in my head. I’m not even sure he knows. He might read this and be surprised that I said it. But Dre didn’t voice his opinion knowing I gave Game everything that made him what he is. And that didn’t matter. It shouldn’t matter that [Dre] gave me “In Da Club.” He brought something creatively to the table that helped spawn my entire career and I respect him for it. On a higher level, Em for me is like next to my grandmother. He did things for me when I couldn’t do them myself. I needed him at that point and he actually came through for me.”