50 Cent has elaborated on the upcoming 8 Mile TV series he’s working on, and said it will be just as popular as the iconic Eminem film.
The G-Unit mogul first announced the project in January, telling Big Boy’s Neighborhood that he hopes the series will help further Eminem’s already bulletproof “legacy.”
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“We in motion,” 50 said at the time. “It’s gonna be big. I’m working. I ain’t got no duds. I’m batting 100 … I think it should be there for [Eminem’s] legacy because it’s important to me that they understand it.”
While he’s remained tight-lipped on the show’s progress since then, Fif shed more light on it in an interview with Men’s Health this week, noting that his 8 Mile reboot is on track to be just as big as the 2002 film.
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“I’m developing the 8 Mile film into a series,” 50 began. “So this shit is expected to be just as big as the feature film, just huge. It’ll be huge. The interest in it is because the time period of 8 Mile was capturing per the bat, so as we move it into modern times you’ll see things about how we function now, how technology changed the way people enter the music business.”
He continued: “This is why you don’t see groups in the music business. You see so many individual artists because there’s no artist development. They used to take time, find Justin Timberlake over here, this guy from over here, bring this guy then we got NSYNC. Then we got Backstreet [Boys], then we got all of these cool boy bands because you put all of that talent into one show.”
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The Power creator went on to share a tidbit about how times have changed because of tools like social media and accessible recording equipment, with a lot of new artists able to find and reach their audience without having to worry about being discovered by a label.
“When you leave them out there and they reach the audience before they reach the record company? Because if you got a computer and you got a decent microphone in front of it,” he said. “You can buy the beat from YouTube, record your record…soon as you do that, you’re in the music business. It’s just how much interest are you generating.”
50 Cent’s comments come after the 8 Mile soundtrack celebrated its 20th anniversary with an “Expanded Edition” re-release, which arrived as the original album was certified 6x platinum. The new edition features all 12 original songs, along with instrumentals for each of the tracks.
All of the original cast members might not be game for an 8 Mile revamp, though. Mekhi Phifer, who starred as Rabbit’s friend Future (an homage to Em’s real-life childhood friend Proof) in the film, previously told TMZ Hip Hop that there will “never” be a sequel to the beloved rap film.
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“Sometimes it’s just best to leave it alone. Once you make it a classic, no reason to fool around with it,” he said. Phifer added that a sequel could be interesting, but he would never consider reprising his beloved role.
“It could be interesting, but I wouldn’t be in it and I’m sure Eminem wouldn’t be in it either,” he said.
50 Cent will likely make sure that if Marshall Mathers is involved, he’ll have a better experience than he did the first time around. In a 2021 interview with Jimmy Kimmel, the Queens legend recalled that Eminem had an agonizing time working on 8 Mile and that it soiled the Hollywood experience for Slim Shady.
“I think he had a terrible experience on the 8 Mile project because he didn’t want to go back ever again,” he said. “There was a period Hollywood would offer me things to get him. Then his agent would go, ‘Yeah, this is good. Give it to 50 and let 50 take it.’
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“Projects that are offering $8 million to do it and he’ll look at it and go, ‘I just think that we should do Warriors. I’m like, ‘Did you miss the $8 million?’ It didn’t move him at all and then he’d go, ‘Let’s just go record records.’”
