50 Cent Moves the Unit

50 Cent will team with Interscope to run G-Unit Records. The multi-platinum rapper -- himself a signee of Eminem's Shady Records -- released a ream of street-level mixtapes before his 2003 album Get Rich or Die Tryin' made him wealthy many times over, and he plans to use the new label to bring his legendary tapes to a larger audience.

"I put out two mixtapes since [Get Rich] came out, and I'm not going to stop," 50 says. "That's the largest form of promotion. I can put out some of the new artists that are signed to my label."

Among the first releases from G-Unit the label will be an album by G-Unit the group, which comprises 50, Lloyd Banks and Tony Yayo. The trio's first official record is due in September, after Yayo is released from Riker's Island Penitentiary, where he's serving a six-month sentence on gun charges. Letters from Eminem and Dr. Dre convinced prison officials to shorten Yayo's stay. "They said I'm a nice person, and they gave me an association with them," Yayo says from the jail. "They're also taking care of the legal bills -- everything."

"He has the opportunity to do something with his life," 50 says of Yayo, who recorded his contribution to the G-Unit album before he went to jail in January. "He should be home shortly, and we can drop the record."

For his part, 50 isn't worried about the extra work running a label takes. "I've never had a job before in my life, but I'm a lab rat," he says. "I stay in the studio."

Footage of the rapper at work is included on The New Breed a DVD due on April 15th. "We filmed the whole process of making the record," 50 says. "And live performances in Barcelona and Puerto Rico -- all over the place. You get to know who I am on this DVD. I had nothing to hide. I've had some experiences, y'know? We showed what we could before it turned into triple X."

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Song Stories

“Oh Sherrie”

Steve Perry | 1984

Steve Perry's girlfriend Sherrie Swafford was actually in the studio when Perry began writing this song--his lone Top Ten hit as a solo act--with two co-writers. The trio began at midnight one night with just "Oh, Sherrie!" and "hold on, hold on." Three hours later, they had a complete song. Swafford, however, had to wait until the next day to hear it. "Sherrie actually got tired and went to bed," Perry said. She also appeared in the video, but their relationship did not hold on for long.

More Song Stories entries »

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