14 DAY TRIAL // I would never have thought it possible or even conceived thinking about it, but faced with the reality that's in my face I just have to admit it. 50 Cent is a thinker and a visionary. No, don't give me that smirk like you know something that I don't, I used to agree that he was shot once too many in the head and ever since he's been well? kind of behind on the thinking, to use an euphemism. I mean other way less popular genres talk about roughly the same subjects he's been approaching, money, women and cars and it doesn't take Mandark or Dexter's wits combined to rhyme on that.
But, here are a few of his thoughts that have surprised me, as posted by a user of torrentfreak.com, enigmax. Keep in mind that the question was about his label, G-Unit, and the way it was handling its business in the file sharing times of nowadays:
"The advances in technology impacts everyone, and we all must adapt. Most of all hip-hop, a style of music dependent upon a youthful audience. This market consists of individuals embracing innovations faster than the fans of classical and jazz music. [...] What is important for the music industry to understand is that this really doesn't hurt the artists. [?] The concerts are crowded and the industry must understand that they have to manage all the 360 degrees around an artist. They, (the industry), have to maximize their income from concerts and merchandise. It is the only way they can get their marketing money back".
Concepts like that I would have expected to hear from other rappers like KRS-One or the Mobb Deep, but not from 50 Cent. I might have been pulling your leg when I said that he was a "visionary", but he's not far from it, he actually understood what others didn't, that a fan is the music's most important item, not a track. Tracks can be made, fans are not as easily to conjure.