With his own urban-fiction imprint—G-Unit Books— and now a second memoir, is 50 Cent aiming to be a literary figure? “Absolutely,” he said October 23 at a party for the new book, 50 x 50. “And I feel like I’m on my way. My first book, From Pieces to Weight, was on the best-seller lists for a nice long time, and this book I expect the same type of response.” From Pieces to Weight (“Cool, hard, and vivid,” said the Times Book Review) was written with a co-author; for the new one, a collection of personal essays and family photos, Fitty worked alone, he proudly says. (His publicist admits there was “help” from Noah Callahan-Bever.) He’s also a little frustrated that his new track “I’ll Still Kill” will be retitled “I Still Will” for television. “I don’t think they have a problem with the group the Killers being called the Killers,” he says. “I don’t think anyone’s protesting that Guns N’ Roses is called Guns N’ Roses. I just think that their perception of me is dark, so they’re going to ask for those things to be changed, you know what I mean?”

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• Archive: “Intelligencer”
• Articles by Bennett Marcus
• Table of Contents: Nov 5, 2007 issue of New York | Subscribe!