50 Cent Making "Before I Self-Destruct" Movie to Accompany Album's December Release

50 Cent's life is like a movie, so it makes sense that he's writing one. The rapper is working on a feature film, Before I Self-Destruct, which is based on his album of the same name. "It's not Purple Rain," 50 says of the flick, which he also directed and produced. "But it was inspired by the actual music." (His album is due out December 9th; 50 plans to release the movie simultaneously.)

The film — which isn't autobiographical — aims to show the complexities of what 50 refers to as "urban life" in a new way: "When [movies] portray certain lifestyles they don't show cause and effect," he says. "But I showed characters under pressure in scenarios where they felt like there were no other options, even though there were." He adds, "There are always options. People just usually start to see them while being incarcerated — for not seeing them in the first place."

As for a soundtrack, tracks from Before I Self-Destruct the album will be missing from the movie. "Then Interscope would automatically have the rights to it, when they had absolutely no ownership of the actual material," says 50, who penned a separate score for the film and recruited unsigned artists to record vocals. But that doesn't mean the tunes are sub-par. "I kept the music up to standards," says 50. "I worked with it until it was right."

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Song Stories

“Youth Knows No Pain”

Lykke Li | 2011

“Like on 'Youth Knows No Pain' — we are the ones that should demonstrate, because we can take it,” Likke Li said. “We can pierce ourselves, take Ecstasy, dance all night and still go to work at our McDonald's jobs.” Despite the hedonistic sentiment in the song, the Swedish singer also admitted in hindsight her youth had repercussions. “I remember when I was 18-19 and feeling that I know it all,” Li said. “I always feel that I know it all. But that song is about realizing you don’t, and reflecting, ‘Boy, if I only knew what would follow.’”

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