The 48-year-old rapper gets candid with 'Men's Health' for the outlet's new 'Hip-Hop Is Life' issue.
50 Cent is getting really candid about building his empire, keeping friendships in the ruthless entertainment industry, how he maintains his fitness and, most importantly, what women he finds sexy.
The 48-year-old rapper -- born Curtis Jackson -- speaks with Men's Health for the outlet's new Hip-Hop Is Life issue, which examines how the evolution of the health of Black and brown men can be traced through the genre in honor of hip-hop's 50th anniversary. After being shot nine times in 2000, 50 admits that the attempt on his life motivated him to get in near-superhuman shape.
"I'm ... working out to get myself stronger, 'cause who's to say you're not gonna get hit again?" the rapper says, recalling his thinking.
At the beginning of his career, after the success of his debut album, 50 shares that he thought he was a "bad b**ch," and he enjoyed the attention from women that came with it. But after a while, he found himself avoiding after-parties and second-thinking the attention he was receiving. "The girl's looking at you, and you're like, 'Oh, she thinks she's gonna get me.'"
Aside from one woman that the rapper says can get him any time she wants him: Oscar-winning actress Dame Helen Mirren, whom he met at the Monte-Carlo Television Festival.
"She's sexy. She'll look at you and you go 'Oh s**t.' I don't care how old she get. I don't give a f**k what nobody says. She's sexy," 50 tells Men's Health. "Her husband is just right there with her, and he just go, like 'Ah yeah, that's just what she does.' But he notices what you notice. That she's sexy. It's her confidence; it's everything she is for all of these years. She's gonna be sexy forever."
As the rapper sets out on the road for the Final Lap Tour alongside Busta Rhymes -- a journey that commemorates the 20th anniversary of Get Rich or Die Tryin' and marks his final tour as 50 Cent -- he says he's aiming to get back into performing shape.
"When I'm in top shape, I'm not sweating until song four," he says. "[Other rappers] sweatin' on the second verse. Like, 'You just got out there and you soaking wet!'"
"It's more important to get back in shape now than it was then," the rapper admits. "Simply because I'm getting older. It's harder."
So, as the Starz powerhouse prepares to put away his rapping moniker and focus on growing his empire as an actor and mega-producer, he says that his ultimate goal is "to make diversity seem the norm."
"I want to be able to create projects that command attention by being multicultural projects, not just Black projects," he says. "If you make a project [with an] all-white cast, you're up against the greatest cinematography of all time, because it's been done so well for so long... When you start to offer different cultures, different people's journeys and stuff like that, we can tap into something that hasn't been done. And it could be amazing. It could be a step forward."
The September 2023 issue of Men's Health, the Hip-Hop Is Life Issue, hits newsstands on Aug. 8.
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