Rhapsody: Seeing as how Young Buck will still be on the new G Unit album, it seems like the split was pretty amicable.
50 Cent: Yeah, he’s on the single. He’s on “I Like the Way She Do It” and “Rider Pt. 2.” It didn’t make sense for me to try and pull him off. I don’t have hatred towards him, because he’s like a younger brother to me. It’s just he made decisions that made me uncomfortable, and I had to make a decision before it got so bad that it turns into something else. It’s more productive if he’s moved away to focus on himself, because that’s his focus. And it’s been obvious from the things he’s been saying. I’m sure that [there will be] a point [of] some discomfort for him, because he’s gonna feel what it’s like to not have the G Unit support.

What was the final straw that made you kick Buck out?
50 Cent: The royalty thing was a part of it. We had a conversation and we kind of cleared up some of the things he was saying. And he expressed that he felt like he was confused, and went and said some things he didn’t actually have to say. But following that, more sh*t started to come out. And it’s not just what the public heard. It’s more his mentality and the conversations he’s been having with people in his inner circle. They finally said, “Yo Fif. It’s different. He’s feeling like this and he’s saying this.” We got the information because our circles intertwine. While we was actually working on the four songs that he did, he left the recording process to go be in a little video they were shooting for one of Jeezy’s artists. It didn’t even make sense. At the same time he went and did that, that’s when he missed his opportunity to be a part of [Blood in the Sand]. The same day that he left was the day he was supposed to shoot photos for them to create the images of him for the video game. He just was in a hurry to get there. Our first video game was a big success. It sold over two million copies. He’s not thinking from a financial perspective. He’s thinking based off what he wants. It’ a good thing. Him and Jeezy are good friends. So his interests are somewhere else and it’s cool. Just go focus on that.

Was there any truth to the rumor about you paying off an IRS debt for him?
50 Cent: It wasn’t actually $500,000. It was up to $330,000. But it wasn’t one shot. It was over time. That’s why it’s a bigger disrespect for [Buck] to say on a financial front that [he] didn’t receive [his] due when [Banks, Yayo and Buck] all made over $8 million. You don’t hear anybody kicking and screaming when the checks are comfortably rolling in.

When you said Buck was out of G Unit on Hot 97, was that the first time he knew he was out?
50 Cent: He already knew. But that was the first time he heard it publicly, if he heard it.

But you didn’t have a conversation before the Hot 97 to inform him he was out?
50 Cent: Nah.

Have you guys spoken to him since the Hot 97 interview?
Banks, Yayo and 50 Cent: No.

50 Cent: You know what it is? If you indicate to me that you want something different for yourself, it’s like, “Fine have it.” I’m not in the business of holding people against their will to do different things. F*ck it, get out of here. If that energy is there, move forward and I wish you the best. It’s like a relationship. You can damn near feel like you in love with someone, or you marry them, and then you realize this b*tch is absolutely crazy, I gotta get rid of her.

Have you had to pay off debts for other G Unit members?
50 Cent: Well, not IRS debts. Like Prodigy bought a better place for himself. In the process, he didn’t realize he would have to give a certain percent [down]. After he signed the contract, you gotta have another $175,000 in two days. And it doesn’t dawn on him until it’s actually time. I don’t wanna see him lose the $80,000, so I loan him the $175,000. But he’s a part of a group that existed 10 years before I came on. So he can go make $175,000 overseas in a week. And he did it. He’s one of the people that you don’t have to remind. Prodigy is the kind of n*gg* that will remind you like, “Yo, this is for this.” I got a different respect for him and we got a relationship that’s different based on that. There was a point where Olivia asked for a similar type of situation and I couldn’t give her $175,000 ‘cause she’s not Prodigy.

Did you have to bug Buck to get the money back?
50 Cent: There’s still some money owed. He didn’t adjust his lifestyle. He didn’t not do anything he would regularly do in order to make a sacrifice to give that back.

Like coppin’ the Bentley after you gave him the money?
50 Cent: When you made $8 million dollars, you’re earning on a level where the Bentley GT doesn’t put a big enough dent in your finances. It could be considered disrespectful because people look at it like, “Buck, you bought a f*ck*ng Bentley after he loaned you the money?” Someone on the street level is gonna look at it like, “Yo, I would’ve f*ck*ng hurt that n*gg*.” It’s more like he didn’t take care of it when it would’ve been convenient until it actually started to get difficult, because now his touring ain’t in the same space it was in.

All major labels now require new artists to sign 360 deals entitling them to a percentage of revenue streams from touring, merchandise and others things. What do you think of the 360 deal?
50 Cent: I think it’s cool. I think they gotta invent an infrastructure that allows them to capitalize on it because it’s turning the music into an advertising business.

A lot of established artists have opposed 360 deals.
50 Cent: Now. We made a deal before the structure [of 360 deals] changed. Jay-Z’s Live Nation deal is a 360 deal. It makes sense when that kind of revenue is involved.

A lot of analysts were saying Live Nation can’t make the money back.
50 Cent: They will. Are you kidding me? Off of the touring and the other commitments that he made within the deal. They’ll look at it from across the street, they’ll think there’s a competition [hip-hop-wise] that makes me and Jay-Z competitors. But the business portion makes us take notes from each other. So there is a competition without it being a beef. He’ll tell you that flat out. They’ll say Jay’s lyrical and [“I Know”] is a song I wrote three years ago with “Baltimore Love Thing.” It has a similar concept and I enjoy his. What’s ill is “Baltimore Love Thing” was my favorite record, but I never shot the single because I didn’t believe they would get it. What Jay did was put it out commercially. That was another move that I looked at and said, “That was some cool sh*t,” ‘cause I don’t think he really cared whether it increased his record sales.

What did you all think of the Ghostface video where he’s getting mad at the fans for not buying his album?
50 Cent: I understand where he’s coming from, but that was some funny sh*t. When I seen that sh*t, I was like, “Yo, that n*gg* Ghost is tight!” Know that they can have a passion for you, and not buy your f*ck*ng record. Those people are still his fans. That’s still gonna be the guy who has his hand up at the show. I would guess that a quarter of the people that were his friends purchased the actual CD. The rest were older fans that are still conditioned to buy music.

Did you read the new XXL where Game talked about having suicidal thoughts?
Lloyd Banks: Do like Nike, man, just do it.

Tony Yayo: Shoot yourself. Isn’t it dramatic when a guy gets a butterfly and then he covers it with an L.A. sign and then he covers it with a red five star?

Lloyd Banks: He puts a lot of thought into his tattoos, after he gets them.

50 Cent: I don’t got beef with him. I think something is really not right with him mentally.

Lloyd Banks: It’s the second time he thought about killing himself in two years. He’s obviously in a difficult space.

50 Cent: All of the interest in Game was really interest in 50 Cent. When he put out a record [“Big Dreams”] and it didn’t react, right after that he tried to put out a [50 Cent] diss record. He’s really just hitting a brick wall right now. The “You Got Beef With 50 Cent” thing is already exhausted. You need to move to something else. If you reach an 80 percent mark of your album and you don’t have the confusion of not knowing which single to pick, your album is b*llsh*t.

What did you think of Alicia Keys’ comments regarding gangsta rap in Blender?
50 cent: I don’t like Alicia Keys no more.

She clarified the comments, though.
50 cent: If she thinks what they consider [to be] gangsta music is [made] to bring black people down then I think my sh*t falls into that category. I don’t like people who don’t like me. I don’t like her then because that’s what provides the life for me. I think if you ask Ice Cube the same shit, he’ll tell you, “F*ck Alicia Keys” for even saying that. Because the success he’s had as an actor and a businessman, there was no opportunity for that sh*t without N.W.A. But I don’t think that [her] classical sh*t is cool. I don’t give a f*ck if you can classically play the piano. I haven’t been classically trained, because my upbringing, nobody put me in front of a piano at that time. If they did, I would know how to do it as well as she does. I could learn how to play the piano if I was passionate about it right now. That’s obviously my perspective evaluating what she does, and I could f*ck*ng care less about the sh*t. So she don’t like the music that embodies the harsh realities because they’re not her realities. She hasn’t been subjected to the same things.

Was there any truth to Fat Joe’s YouTube clip stating you lost $22.6 million lost on Curtis and that he made $50,674 on the first week sales for The Elephant in the Room?
50 Cent: No. That’s not accurate. Joe be frontin. First of all, there ain’t nobody making $7 a CD unless maybe they pressing up the CD themselves for a dollar and selling it for $8 out they car. [For “I Won’t Tell”] you got J. Holiday, female talent, Gil Green who actually shot the music video. $200,000. Then you got the Plies video. Let’s say that’s another $200,000. I don’t even know why he did it. That sh*t is wack. The whole sh*t is wack. $200,000 for the promo tour. That’s $600,000 already. Print advertisement and the viral campaign, and we at another $300,000. Then you had to get the production and mix the record. That’s putting you at let’s say $1.2 million. That’s actually low. If it was $7 a CD and 100,000 [albums sold] would mean you made $700,000. Which would only put you $500,000 in the hole. And he’s at 79,000. He’s gonna be off the Soundscan next week. You is a “$20,000 a Show” n*gg*. When they see Banks and Yayo with me on stage, they making more money than Fat Joe on his own tour when they don’t have a record out. So that’s the support that Buck decided he didn’t want.