50 Cent looks back on being paid $17,000 an episode for a project

50 Cent says he doesn’t change who he is to please TV executives.

The 51-year-old rapper dropped the statement in a talk with Interview magazine, sharing, “I’m not bending or doing things they want me to do. I’m making the things I want to make.” 

He signed a multi-year development deal with Starz through his company, G-Unit Film and Television, in 2018. He has had success with shows like Black Mafia Family and Power.

Reflecting on Power, he dubbed it a passion project. He said he was paid $17,000 an episode while playing a recurring character, executive producing, doing the theme song and acting as head of marketing. He said that was because nobody knew its cast, including Omari Hardwick, Naturi Naughton and Joseph Sikora, at the start.

Success in music did not make TV easy, he said. “Until season three, they wouldn’t accept the cast if I wasn’t available.” He also recalled talking to Jimmy Kimmel off camera about the show. When he said it was on Starz, Kimmel replied, “That’s not a network.” “It was that new,” 50 Cent said.

He has also spoken about what money means to him. He told The Talks that small joys, like the innocence of a child, are “priceless.” 

He said money brings “freedom,” meaning the ability to act on ideas and come and go as you please. But he said it does not solve everything. “I used to think that money was the answer to everything because the big problem in front of me was financial.”