'Building an Empire for My Son'

50 Cent could have stuck to rap and still ended up a multimillionaire. But he's become one of the canniest businessmen out there - and he's looking ahead.

- BRIAN J. ROBERTS

Curtis Jackson III, more famously known as 50 Cent, is rich. "Very, very rich," he says with a smile. That grin has been on his face since he first stepped into the lobby at Us Weekly on this punishing summer day.

Absolutely no one should be surprised at his wealth. His first album, Get Rich or Die Tryin', released 23 years ago, remains the highest-selling rap debut ever. (Turn the page for more on this and a big-picture view of his big bucks.) His Final Lap Tour last year sold more than $100 million in tickets, a rap milestone reached thus far by only one other act (Drake).

That's just music. There are equally staggering numbers to cite in the TV and film projects Jackson produces as well as the brands and products he's embraced. At age 49, 50 Cent does a lot and earns a lot more - but it wasn't always like that.

Born in South Jamaica, Queens, his mother died when he was only 8. When he was 12, he sold drugs. He never met his father.

Survival was uncertain.

Jackson's son Sire is now 12 himself. (Mom is 50's ex-girlfriend Daphne Joy Narvaez.) His life consists of video games, roughhousing with his dad ("I'll throw him onto the couch - he's having a ball") and getting schooled in the empire he'll one day inherit. After all, Jackson's Sire Spirits is named for, and will be for, his son.

In the entertainment realm, Netflix, Hulu, Peacock, Paramount+ and BET are among the networks working with Jackson's G-Unit Film and Television on dozens of shows. His new FAST channel with Lionsgate, 50 Cent Action, launches later this year with Starz' entire Power series (from G-Unit, of course), a sampling of 50's films and more. "I think having it be free television is a huge leap," he says. (Let the fan binges begin!) And G-Unit Studios, a production facility in Shreveport, La., is well under way.