Updated: Friday, 11 Dec 2009, 5:36 AM MST
Published : Friday, 11 Dec 2009, 5:35 AM MST

By CARLY CRAWFORD, The Daily Telegraph

(The Daily Telegraph) - He may have dedicated a mix tape to Michael Jackson but rapper 50 Cent says he was unsure about collaborating with the pop star.

"He [Jackson] asked for us to work together," the rapper, whose real name is Curtis Jackson, told The Daily Telegraph.

Despite talks between both their representatives the plan never progressed.

"I was a big Michael Jackson fan but I think all artists go through phases where they're no longer as interesting as they were," he said. "Michael had already transitioned to that point prior to him passing away."

After Jackson died in June this year, 50 Cent re-titled a mix tape offered as a free download on his website thisis50.com as a tribute to the singer. He called it Forever King.

The rapper has now launched his long-awaited fourth album Before I Self Destruct, with the release date delayed for a year to allow fellow rapper Eminem to release his first album in five years, Relapse.

"Because I've been active for the last six years in a consistent way, I said, 'Look, I might as well wait and let him go first'," 50 Cent said.

Due to the delay 50 Cent returned to the studio prior to his album's release to remix tracks he felt were stale from being shelved too long. He said the album reflected on the period just after he was shot nine times in 2000 and before the success of his No.1 album Get Rich Or Die Tryin' in 2005.

"It's pieces of my experience prior to the success of Get Rich Or Die Tryin'," he said.

"There was a mood on that record about everything I experienced at that point, after I got shot."

His new album, he said, may not be as slick, but it will be far more audacious.

"It was a therapeutic process for me to reflect on my past,'' he said.

"I think it's better than Get Rich Or Die Tryin', to be honest, because it has the imperfections the average artist isn't prepared to project.''

He said he plans to include Australia in his next major tour.

"The Gold Coast is like Miami with kangaroos," he said.

"I haven't set a date for a performance but I'll definitely be going to Australia.''

For more entertainment news: http://www.dailytelegraph...ertainment

I never understood why Michael was so eager to collaborate with every popular rapper I'm actually glad that this collaboration never happened.

Thank God for small blessings.

JackieBlue said:

That's what I'm sayin Sometimes I wonder if Michael even listened to hip-hop CDs.I can't believe that he would condone some of the stuff that they rap about.

SoulAlive said:

Michael wanted to work with people that weren't even on my radar. I could never guess who he wanted to collabo with. I feared Bey was somewhere down the line.

I think he wanted "Street Cred". Remember he had worked Run D MC and LL, back in the day. Yes, these tracks have yet to be released, but they do exist. It was part of his reinvention of himself, I guess.

i never understood this need to work with current rappers either. some of
it worked though. i still love the rapping on "jam" but for the most part
michael didn't need anyone else on his tracks. he had enough great ideas
to keep your attention for an entire album without any guests on it.

Maybe because he liked rap!

His whole dancing style after Thriller came from the hip hop pop-lock "Breakdance" movement. And I could see MJ really like the beats and basslines to move to and the whole stuttery singing/talking style.

^

BlaqueKnight said:

Translation:
"After I tried to use Michael's death as a vehicle to garner attention for myself with the release of my upcoming CD/DVD package by way of a tribute mixtape, I decided to wait until now to take a swipe at him because I don't really respect anyone's musical greatness because I am jealous of anyone who has sold more units than I have." "I thought he was already washed up before he died but I wasn't going to rule out anything because he did sell a lot of records and it might benefit me in some way to be on a record with him."

This dud is representation of everything that's wrong with the music business


Hey...U said it better than I could.....I thought the exact same thing....what a punk.

BklynBabe said:

After 'Thriller'?

You seen him popping and locking on the Jacksons variety show? there's a vid on youtube, heck that was what? 1976/77?

I never doubt that love of HipHop that MC and MJ had and still have, but i always doubt their choices of collabos. It always seemed SO commercialized and who can get me a hit because of their name. I mean one of the best collabos i think was LL and JLO on "Control Myself" at this point LL was not a "player" anymore and she was not in the publics eye anymore, but it worked as a collabo/song and was a hit and a good video. MC started on this route with ODB and even Snoop but now its just a commercial thing not a think of choice, i mean 99.9% of the time the two artists arent even together recording, so is it anything but a business venture

Thank God they never did. 50 Cent on an MJ record? Yeeeeesh.

ernestsewell said:

50 Cent on ANY record = Yeeeeesh.

Michael was trying to help Game and 50 end their public feud back in 2005/2006. He apparently never liked the stupid "beefs" talented rappers displayed with each other. And in the process, Mike wanted to get both of them in the studio to work on a collaboration to demonstrate peace, and probably to help himself retrieve their audience. Never happened. Too bad for Game and 50, lol.

uPtoWnNY said:

Please use sticky for posting, thanks. http://prince.org/msg/8/325288