50 Cent Compares The Streets To The Boardroom: 'It's The Same Tactics With A Different Approach'

If anyone knows a thing or two about business, it’s Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson.

The rap superstar turned media mogul explains that people are more ruthless in business than they are in the streets!

In his latest interview with Entrepreneur, the serial entrepreneur shares how the struggles he faced in the streets prepared him for his business success.

Most know his backstory: after landing his first major record deal with Columbia Records, 50 Cent was dropped after he was shot nine times. The move was intended to kill the rising superstar — but he refused to let it phase him, and instead released several tracks to diss the enemies who were out to get him and the rest is history. 

Through his relentless grind through mixtapes, the rapper garnered attention from Dr. Dre and Eminem. He eventually signed with Shady-Aftermath in 2002 and shortly released his debut album, “Get Rich or Die Tryin.” 

Today, 50 Cent is responsible for some of Starz’s biggest series. From “Power” to “Raising Kanan,” and now the new “BMF” series, he is on a mission to tell stories that reflect the reality of Black men who come from places where you had to learn street smarts to survive. Now, that same knowledge is helping him as a businessman.

“It’s the same tactics with a different approach,” he said. “They just have subtleties to their tactics. They’re not confrontational, but they’re doing it right in front of you with how they’re structuring deals,” said 50 Cent. “At least with a robbery they’ll give you the courtesy of showing you the gun, so you can have those anxieties and feel those feelings that you would feel when you’re being robbed. But [in business] they’ll do it on a piece of paper. They’ll do it in a way where you feel nothing — and just rob you right there.”

50 Cent says the only way to beat them at their game is to prepare for conflict.

“A lot of the people who do that comfortably, who will hand you that kind of contract, they’re not prepared for direct conflict,” he said. “And under the circumstances, I grew up in, I absolutely had to be prepared for it. Think of fighters: They look good after they have eight weeks of training and they have eight weeks to focus their mind — but you only got eight seconds in the street, you got eight seconds to adjust and do what you gotta do.”

It looks like we can add “business mentor” to the ever-growing list of titles held by 50 Cent!