Shortly after announcing the launch of a new line of SMS Audio products helmed by a Carmelo Anthony endorsement, 50 Cent sat down with Sonic Eletronix to describe his plans for business and music alike in 2014.
While visiting the Consumer Electronics Show, an event that 50 Cent has frequented in recent years, the rapper described his motivation to release new music early in the year. “I’m so anxious to put out material,” he said. “It took me so long to get the business portion of music straight, because I had went through an auditing process because it was the last record required for Interscope Records. And now, I got Animal Ambition, I was inspired to write this. It really has to be current. If it’s not like right now, what I feel is like the hottest thing, I know it’s done right, but it’s not necessarily what I should be doing right now.”
In December, 50 reported plans to release the project in January in an interview with DJ Whoo Kid. “I’m going to drop it in January, it’s a full body of work,” 50 Cent said, “I wouldn’t call it a mixtape because it’s a higher grade than the material that I put out on mixtapes. I recorded so many album quality songs that I’m going to put the Animal project out as my viral marketing plan and then it will come out after, Street King Immortal.”
Clarifying his comments about Animal Ambition serving as a marketing tool for Street King Immortal, 50 told Sonic Electronix that he’s recording heavily in preparation of both releases. “I want to put Animal Ambition out in the first quarter,” he said. “And then it’ll lead up to Street King Immortal. So it’ll be twelve weeks. That’s why I’m working so hard, when I leave here I go straight back to record again.”
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50 Cent added that Animal Ambition carries a shared sound and theme throughout. “With Animal Ambition, the project is about prosperity,” he said. “I got an interesting way of writing it, ‘cause I wrote it from a distorted vision or viewpoint. When Biggie was doing ‘Damn, niggas wanna stick me for my paper, damn,’ that’s about when you get something, the effects of others responding to you doing better,” he said of The Notorious B.I.G.’s song “Warning.” “The jealousies connected to it, there’s so many different ways to write it, that the album has those facets to it. The overall theme is ambition and prosperity.”
Before describing his musical plans for 2014, 50 Cent distinguished himself from other musicians-turned-businessmen while explaining his motivation to appear frequently at CES. “It’s ‘cause I’m actually invested,” he said. “I actually own the company so I come. A lot of times you’ll see artists are—no matter how big the actual artist material is—on a smaller level of involvement in business. They’ll have just a licensing agreement for a person to utilize their licensing.”
50 Cent also confirmed that besides serving as a useful marketing face for the brand, Carmelo Anthony has also joined on as an equity partner. “This year’s announcement was the sports version of Street by 50 and Carmelo Anthony now becoming an equity owner and endorser of the actual product. Timbaland was a little different, it was really organic, it wasn’t even planned. I just sent a friend a package of the products and he looked through them.“
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The rapper also spoke to his commercial success as a vehicle to work on projects he’s interested in. “I don’t involve myself in projects that I’m not passionate about. When everything that you’re working on is genuinely a part of your lifestyle, it’s pretty tough to get tired of it. ‘Cause when I move away from it is to make music, to go through the process again kind of encouraged me to go in this direction.”
Earlier this week, 50 Cent released a new single titled “This Is Murder Not Music.” It’s unclear if his latest track will appear on Animal Ambition.
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