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	News Front Page Africa Americas Asia-Pacific Europe Middle East South Asia UK Business Entertainment Science/Nature Technology Health ------------- Talking Point ------------- Country Profiles In Depth ------------- Programmes ------------- SERVICES Daily E-mail News Ticker Mobile/PDAs ------------- Text Only Feedback Help EDITIONS Change to UK		50 Cent: The $1m rapper

He prides himself on being the real deal, someone who talks tough because he is tough, not because he is putting on an act.

He has accused a number of other rappers of being fakers - which has got him into big trouble in the past.

When asked what he has got that other rappers don't, he says it is "the trouble".

"They'd rather hear it from someone who's experienced it than someone who's just making it up," he says.

There are "a few people in my hood" who would like to see him dead, he says.

"If you come from it, you're going to have people who don't like you."

His new album, the first to be released on Eminem's record label, Shady, has the starkly honest title of Get Rich or Die Trying.

"When you listen to that title, it might feel a little negative, right?" he says.

"But if you're a working class person and you say 'get rich or die trying' then it means that you're determined."

'Not afraid'

He had a close brush with death when he was shot nine times in 2000 ("only nine"), but his philosophy is that "when your time comes, you go".

"I think that comes from God," he says.

Fame may make 50 Cent a bigger target for jealousy and trouble - but that is not something that worries him, he says.

"That would be like saying you're afraid of success," he says.

"Jay was cool, he taught me a lot," 50 Cent says.

"That was the first time I ever went in a studio. I learned how to count bars, write choruses, song structure."

50 Cent has his suspicions about who murdered his former mentor - but does not want to reveal them.

His next break came when his CD was passed to the biggest rapper in the world, and possibly the only person able to take a risk on such a controversial character - Eminem.

"I remember him saying something about being bored with the entire state of hip-hop, that it was just the same old names. He thought I was something fresh," 50 Cent says.

Eminem consulted star producer Dr Dre, and the pair signed him with a reported $1m (£625,000) joint deal to their record labels.

'Healthy competition'

Eminem and 50 Cent are now good friends who "kick it all the time", and two 50 Cent tracks were included on the soundtrack to Eminem's film, 8 Mile.

Eminem is "so talented it becomes annoying", 50 Cent says - and that led to a healthy competition when Eminem and Dr Dre were producing Get Rich or Die Trying.

"When I'm being creative and doing what I want to do, they don't interrupt me. But at the end of the day, they say what goes and what doesn't go."

With such big name backers and a buzz of excitement in the music industry, it is easy to see how 50 Cent could go all the way to the top.

That is if he does not die trying.

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