"I want the finer things in my life, so I hustle..." ~ 50 Cent
A look at 50 Cent's media takeover 🟢, Childish Gambino and Ludacris's cross-overs 🚀 and The Weeknd's ambition 🔝.
Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson is not supposed to be here. I’m not talking about being shot nine times.
I’m referring to the fact that he's still cooking 20 years after he set the world ablaze with Get Rich Or Die Tryin’.
It’s surprising to me that it’s not acknowledged more often.
He is a polarizing figure whose voice is loud, but his demonstration is even louder.
Omari Hardwick has talked about the sheer number of lives that Jackson has changed, including his own. On multiple occasions, he’s talked about how 50 would loan him money to help him through tough times.
Nipsey Hussle credited Fif with advising him not to go to retail with his mixtapes so that labels couldn’t use any sales numbers against him in a negotiation.
Fifty told the story of how he met with Pop Smoke and gave him some good intel, to which Pop sat there and took notes. Ultimately, 50 would executive produce his posthumous debut album, Shoot For The Stars Aim For The Moon, which has now moved just under 5M albums w/TEA w/SEA in the US (according to Luminate).
Or we could look at how Curtis encouraged and sent Demetrius “Lil Meech” Flenory Jr. to acting school so he could play his father in BMF.
In the same way, he broke artists in music, he’s doing the same with actors and actresses in television, and it’s working in a big way.
If you don’t believe me, check the ratings.
Power debuted with 462k viewers in 2014; by the time the series ended in 2020, it was at approximately 10M across all platforms.
From there, he doubled down on his wins, creating the Power cinematic universe with Courtney Kemp, taking popular IP, and building adjacent worlds around it with prequels and sequels.
This is the same formula we’ve seen with the widely popular Yellowstone, The Walking Dead, and Breaking Bad.
But 50’s plan is much grander. He’s produced 210+ episodes of television. That’s content that he will continue to be compensated for as it continuously gets watched in the years to come.
His success with BMF has proven he’s more than a one-hit-wonder.
In late 2022, his 4-year deal with Starz, which was rumored to be worth upwards of $150M, concluded.
This provided the opportunity to get a big bag from Fox, rumored to be $200M, while still not having to be tied to exclusivity.
Much like he did with the mixtape scene in the early 2000s, 50 is flooding networks with content.
There’s a reason his slogan is “Green Light Gang.” He’s sold over 25 shows across ten networks. And this has nothing to do with his work in film as a producer and an actor.
His slate is spread across a wide variety of content genres and networks.
So what’s the play here?
It’s the same play that we’ve been watching happen in the music industry.
Artists are building up their catalogs and selling their IP at significant multiples.
50 is building up his IP and is putting himself in a position to have a potentially astronomical exit someday.
In the meanwhile, he gets paid handsomely and collects mailbox money.
Also, the content game has many of the same funders and acquirers as on the music and film/television side.
Reese Witherspoon sold her production company, Hello Sunshine, for $900M in 2021.
Candle Media bought the company. Who supplied the money for the acquisition? Blackstone.
The same Blackstone who dumped $1B into a partnership with Hipgnosis, who got the music catalog boom going in 2018.
Macro recently announced a $90M cash injection. Who led the round? BlackRock.
The same BlackRock who invested in Influence Media Partners, home to Future’s publishing.
Larry Jackson just announced the launch of his new company, Gamma, which Eldridge backs.
Eldridge invested in A24 at the seed stage back in 2012.
Apollo Global acquired a $760M equity stake in Legendary—the same Apollo Global that supplied HarbourView with a $1B credit line to acquire music IP.
The list goes on and on.
Fifty is doing what he does best—outworking the competition.
But that doesn’t just apply to music, film, and television.
His portfolio of businesses and interests is vast.
He produced the hit podcast series Surviving El Chapo: The Twins Who Brought Down A Drug Lord.
He’s published a double-digit number of books.
Fif has moved apparel and put out video games.
He learned early with Vitamin Water what’s possible.
I’m not referring to his rumored $100M slice of the pie. I’m referencing the $4.1B for the whole pie. Nowadays, you see him building his own products where he has more equity than just doing endorsements.
Fifty went hand to hand and did photo ops and autograph signings to move Effen Vodka.
With Sire Spirits, he’s lined up partnerships with teams across the NBA, MLB, and NFL.
There’s no doubt that this mogul’s position of power will only increase.
More Dollars than Followers
Donald Glover is one of the most talented creatives of this generation.
He’s a 5x Grammy winner.
A 2x Primetime Emmy Award Winner.
A 2x Golden Globe Award Winner.
He’s the creator of Atlanta and the new Amazon series Swarm.
RollingStone ranked Atlanta as the ninth-best show of all time.
Yet his name hardly comes up when people talk about the best multi-hyphenates.
His accomplishments need to be more widely recognized.
Put Some Respect on his Name
That’s radio intern turned DJ, rapper, label owner, and actor Christopher “Ludacris” Bridges.
Luda has moved just under 20M albums in the US (according to Luminate), played a significant role in the Academy Award Winning Film, Crash, and is an integral part of the $6B franchise that is Fast & The Furious.
That range is awe-inspiring. Give him his due.
Blinding Lights
The Weeknd is going for it.
Statistically speaking, Abel might be at the height of his music career thus far.
The first 19 dates of the After Hours Til Dawn Tour reportedly grossed $131M, with a slew of dates forthcoming this summer.
Die For You recently hit #1 on the radio six years after it came out.
He became the first artist to have 100M monthly listeners on Spotify.
So what’s he decide to do? Try to take it up another notch.
By being a lead actor in a TV show, The Idol, on HBO, he’s putting it on the line.
We’ve seen plenty of talent cross over between the two worlds, but I don’t know that we’ve ever seen it at quite this level. It’s incredibly ambitious.
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