50 Cent taking a back seat to Eminem

Updated Wed. Feb. 25 2009 1:50 PM ET

The Associated Press

NEW YORK -- 50 Cent is taking a back seat to Eminem.

The rapper says he won't release his "Before I Self Destruct" CD until
Eminem's album -- tentatively titled "Relapse" -- sees the light of day.

"Right now I'm on a train, and the Em-choo-choo- car goes first. I
think people forgot that I'm actually Eminem's artist because I've had
so much success on my own and moved away from it," the 32-year-old
multiplatinum rapper said in an interview Tuesday.

"Because Dre is mixing Em's album, Em will be completed entirely
before we get a chance to finish up the pieces that me and Dre did
together (for my album)," he added.

50 may have a long wait. While Eminem's CD is expected this year, no
release date has been set.

But it's not the first time 50 has pushed back his album. The CD was
expected to come out last December but was delayed. Back then, 50 said
because elements of it weren't complete, so he set a March release date.

Right now, Eminem's got the most buzz musically. His first single,
"Crack a Bottle," which features 50 Cent and Dr. Dre, hit No. 1 on
Billboard's Hot 100 singles chart earlier this month.

The trio recorded the song in Eminem's hometown, Detroit, and 50 said
the collaboration between the rappers is a reflection of their
camaraderie, and Dr. Dre's musical magic.

"(That's) what happens when I actually work with Dr. Dre. I make great
music away from him, but organically something happens when we're in
the same room, and it's like his influence in different ways and we
just make hit music together. 'In Da Club,' my biggest record to date,
was me and Dre. We have a great relationship so there's no reason for
us to not go back in and make more."

But 50 Cent fans can still hear new music from the entertainer. His
new video game, "50 Cent: Blood On the Sand," released this week,
features 18 exclusive tracks, including one with Swizz Beatz, who
composed the score. The rapper says the video game allowed him to tap
into his musical vault for previously unreleased material.

"It was an opportunity for me to get to the material that I missed
because on every album I over-write (the songs) on the album, and then
(there's) the song you wished you could have put on but you didn't,"
he said. "I had an opportunity to put like five or six of those songs
on there and then create the rest of the material for the actual video
game."

"Blood on the Sand" follows 50 and G-Unit as they hunt down a crime
gang whose stolen their diamond encrusted skull in a war-torn country.
50 said a visit to Iraq influenced some of the game's features.

"After performing for the soldiers, you look at the people there and
you use your imagination to say, 'What are they actually feeling? What
are they going through?'," he said. "It was an experience but the game
itself, I brought some of those experiences I had in to it and that's
why it looks the way it looks."

50 Cent's first video game, "50 Cent: Bulletproof, " was released in 2005.

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