50 Cent Continues His Sensitivity Tour On Conan

Becky Bain | November 18, 2009 11:09 am

50 Cent showed up at the New Moon premiere on Monday for what seems like absolutely no reason, but after seeing his unusually chipper Tonight Show appearance we think we see where he’s going.

Clad in Burberry and a surely comfy lack of self-awareness, Fiddy explained his befriending of Bette Midler, his attempts to create his own brand of condoms, and the sale of his “mandatory” stripper-pole equipped Connecticut estate. In other words, he projected the complete opposite of the persona his new album cover for Before I Self Destruct would have us buy into. It. Was. Bizarre.

Hanging with the Twi crew and acting like a happy-go-lucky fellow isn’t the only new behavior Fiddy’s throwing around. He’s releasing his own fragrance, Power, while giving pretty frank interviews, like this one where he says he got “fat” and “had to draw my muscles on” while promoting his second album, The Massacre (a big admission for someone who has cared for their pectorals like they’re children up most of his career).

And his production company Cheetah Vision just formed an alliance with Action Jackson Films to create three to five movies a year, starting with The Gun, which will co-star Val Kilmer. He even has his own 90-minute movie, and directorial debut Before I Self Destruct, an “inspired by” film (inspired by his own marketing?) screening in limited release now.

So what’s with this massive promotional tour and quest for total domination? Could it be that he never quite got over that whole SoundScan battle royale with Kanye, and now finally sees an opening to exact a little payback?

50-cent-vs-kanye-west

50 and Kanye have always been at odds with one another – remember that ridiculous album duel which everyone knew would swing in Kanye’s favor? But 50 kept the rivalry going, calling Kanye’s now defunct tour with Lady Gaga as “the gay tour” (which he apologized for later, but not really) and even took Taylor Swift’s side in the whole VMA debacle. Now that Kanye’s taking an indefinite break from performing and has nothing to promote and thus no reason to even step back into pop-culture for awhile, this is Fiddy’s time to shine.

Just one theory. It could also be that he simply doesn’t care about music anymore, and is just creating content to occupy his relentless marketing machinery.