50 Wants To Bring Back Hardcore Hip-Hop

Polow Da Don and Timbaland were so excited about the project, they almost gave Fif tracks. But production from those two will more than likely pop up on Before I Self Destruct, due in September. The G-Unit General is warming the scene up before summer officially hits, dropping his new mixtape before the official product.

If you’re curious about the title, know that it’s not about a beef with one person in particular — this war angel is fed up with the watered-down music in hip-hop right now. It’s not what he adored growing up as a fan.

“What I fell in love with initially ain’t even in the muthafuckin’ art form anymore. It’s cool because there’s an opportunity for me to become [that] to a whole new generation … because of their age group, they’re not aware of it.

“Now I gotta shift the energy,” 50 added. “I gotta make them follow me. After they follow me, they’ll be able to make real hip-hop records and make them successful. I have to have a successful project with really good hip-hop music to make these people go, ‘OK, we can make [a real hip-hop album].’ I have to be successful to make the record companies go, ‘We can support this guy that wrote a rap album’ instead of feeling like ‘We need him to go on this record with Ne-Yo or Dream. Get somebody on there to do the hook.’ That’s the concept of what they feel they can present to the public and that’s not what the fuck I was going on when I started.”

50 is debuting the entire mixtape Tuesday (June 16) on Hot 97 with Funkmaster Flex then posting it on his Web site that night for free download. The Queens MC is also hiring new video directors — a different one for each clip — to come up with visuals for the mixtape.

“When I start writing music to my core, I’m talking about the way I came up, the way I was raised,” he explained. “That’s easy to me. Tell me to make a commercial pop record, a commercial hit record and that’s more difficult to me than to create concepts that people are excited about where I’m from.”

After War Angel, 50 says to look for Sincerely Southside, on which he’ll be rapping over some ’90s R&B hits, as well as a full G-Unit mixtape prior to the release of Before I Self Destruct.

“I write at a rapid pace,” he said. “I have binges. There’s points I’ll be in the studio … I’ve met moments when I’m there and unmotivated by production. Just there and unexcited about the whole sh–. Then there’s times when every beat that comes on, I have an idea.”