50 Cent Talks Final Interscope Album

50 Cent discussed his ongoing grievances with his label Interscope. The rapper is still focused on his upcoming fifth album; but he further emphasizes that this will be his final release with the label. He is frustrated with the way they've handled his career lately.

"It’s actually my final requirement. My fifth album and the final requirement for Interscope," 50 said. "I had some difficulties with the actual system,” he said. “There are people there that are afraid to lose their job; they’ve seen other people get fired. I think they’re afraid to make some decisions that need to be made right away, they just sit and look. […] We’ve had some conversations communicated to develop plans for different things and it’s not actually executed in the time plan that we’ve created. And I get frustrated and I start doing things, like I put the record out."

50 Cent says he's doing things his way from here on out.

"I condition my core audience to hear me a lot, because I perform at least two albums worth of material before I actually release the album. And when they don’t hear aggressive content, they turn their nose up at material, unless it’s already worked on radio,” he continued. "It doesn’t actually mean that I don’t like the company because all the success I’ve had in my career has been with Interscope records. It’s just a frustration at different points - like I had a song just go out and it was in their position, they were moving around to actually make the music video for it and then they go ‘ok, I don’t want that song no more’ because it’s been presented in the wrong way to the public. […] Then people go 'I don’t like this, I like this, I don’t know!’ - there’s no event to it. It’s not difficult when you’ve recorded 40 songs, it’s like so what? If you only have one song, you should just go jump off the song. Go get it."

Dr. Dre Selling 51% of Beats Electronics

Legendary hip hop producer Dr. Dre and his company Beats Electronics are selling a 51% stake of the company to HTC, a Taiwanese telephone manufacturer, for $300 million dollars. Beats specializes in making headphones, customized for a number of pop stars, and is a joint venture between Dre, Interscope Records and Jimmy Iovine.

HTC wants to improve the sound quality on its products--which led to the acquiring of a percentage of Beats.

“This will give us opportunity to innovate,” HTC Chief Executive Officer Peter Chou said. “When Jimmy and Dre started this, they had a very specific vision of what Beats would be,” added Beats Electronics president Luke Williams. “It wasn't about headphones, it was about fixing the degradation of sound.”

Game On His Future

Game may still be under contract to Aftermath/Interscope, but the Compton-based rapper is talking louder and louder about what he's going to do once he's fulfilled his current contract. Game owes his label two more records (including the soon-to-be-released R.E.D. Album--but he's definitely looking to the future.

He said as much during a recent trip to "106 & Park."

"You know Interscope/Aftermath, that's my label and I'ma hold it down for them forever," Game said. "I've been there for four albums, and I've got one more album before I'm a free agent. We're gonna try and turn that one around real quick, then I'll make the executive decision on what I'll do with the rest of my career. I might get into acting, I might go over to Cash Money. You never know."

50 Cent Could Leave Interscope

50 Cent's relationship with his label, Interscope, appears to be growing more and more tenuous by the day. Following the rapper's vocal complaints about the label regarding his forthcoming project--now pushed back to November--50 told MTV that he hasn't decided if he will return to the label once his current five-album deal is done.

"I don't know," 50 told MTV News. "It will all be clear in the negotiations following me turning this actual album in. And, of course, the performance and how they actually treat the work will determine whether you still want to stay in that position or not...It's not like you're gonna be able to make a project bigger than the actual project is, but if the songs are right and you have full support and you feel that support, why would you want to go anywhere else? If not, if you don't have that support, why would you want to sign to another system? In the financial state that I'm in, you just do it yourself."

50 Cent's Interscope Frustration

50 Cent has explained his recent grievances with Interscope and the release of his new single, "Outlaw." According to 50, the few months of iciness between himself, Dr. Dre and Interscope head Jimmy Iovine hampered the single's release for months. 50 lashed out Interscope previously via his Twitter page. In a recent interview, He explained why things had gotten bogged down.

"So I had the record I was ready to launch, and we sat down and everybody talked," he said. "What happens is, there are a lot of people involved in my actual launch, because its three parties; it's Shady, then you got Aftermath, then you got Interscope, and then you got me on my end. So by the time we got to go sit down with [Interscope chairman] Jimmy [Iovine], we talked a little bit, and then I ended up having to go see Dre, because we had the little issue, the confusion about the Twitter stuff."

"It's not necessarily Dre or Jimmy [holding up the process]; it's more the guys that they pass the responsibilities onto," he added. "It takes longer for people, because they'll be like, 'OK, we're gonna do this and we're gonna do that,' and the building will start having those conversations, but they're not actually moving at that point."

50 announced that he would also be appearing on Dr. Dre's next single, "The Psycho." The two have ended their dispute over 50's custom headphones--a dispute which many speculated centered on Dre's belief that 50's audio equipment brand would directly conflict with his.

50 Cent Delays Album Again

50 Cent, after days of back-and-forths between himself and his label, Interscope, looks to be delaying his album yet again. The rapper's project has been shelved and/or delayed several times over the past two years, and the latest round of uneasiness between the two parties involved has resulted in the still-untitled LP being pushed back possibly to November 2011.

50 said as much on from his Twitter account this weekend.

"My headphones and my album coming in NOV," 50 tweeted to his fans, responding to a fans question about what he was going to do next. Given the amount of times his album has been delayed already, there is no certainty that this release announcement is official.

Soulja Boy In $1 Million Lawsuit

Soulja Boy is at the center of a million-dollar lawsuit, along with his record label Interscope Records and MySpace Music. The parties are being sued over a canceled concert in Harrisburg, PA. Joseph Brewster of TrinCity Entertainment filed the suit.

The lawsuit alleges that TrinCity booked Soulja Boy for a concert on December 10th, 2010 and paid an advance fee of $16,250. They also reportedly paid another $3,500 for bus transportation to the event and another $8,000 for television and radio commercials to promote the event. According to the lawsuit, reps for Interscope contacted TrinCity and asked the show be canceled, so that Soulja Boy could perform a show in Hawaii the following weekend.

TrinCity says that reps for Interscope and MySpace agreed to pay $10,000 to offset the advertising costs. The money was also supposed to help TrinCity promote Soulja Boy's rescheduled date. But according to the suit, MySpace never reimbursed TrinCity and Interscope paid $5,000, but it was too late to promote the rescheduled show.

The suit also claims Soulja Boy unjustly kept the $16,250 deposit. Brewster and TrinCity want $1,000,000 in damages for breach of contract.

Soulja Boy On Cash Money?

Soulja Boy's last album, DeAndre Way, may have gone glass, but the Atlanta pop-rapper claims that Cash Money CEO Brian "Birdman" Williams wants him on his label. He also revealed that if he could have any guest star on his mixtape, it would be a certain dreadlocked superstar from New Orleans.

"If I could get anybody, I would have probably put Lil Wayne on my mixtape," Soulja said. "Me and Wayne, man. I talk to him, but I'm cool with Birdman. When I'm in Miami, I be with Birdman. He's trying to get me to come over to Cash Money. I'm cool with Birdman. I feel like if I drop my mixtape and get Wayne on it, I'd really have the juice then [Laughs]. It is a possibility. When I was down in Miami for a couple of weeks recording with Sean Kingston, Birdman reached out to me. He said 'come and have a meeting with me' and he told me 'yo man you'd go perfect with everything we got going on. Whatever you want. I want to bring you over to this family, bring you to Cash Money.'"

Why would Birdman want to sign Soulja Boy in 2011? 2006, maybe. 2011? Nah.

Soulja Boy Was Sad Over Poor Sales

Nothing makes rappers sadder than when nobody buys their album. Soulja Boy revealed in a recent interview with Complex Magazine that the dismal sales of 2010's DeAndre Waymade him contemplated hanging up his microphone.

Then 50 Cent had to go and open his big mouth.

"[I stopped Twittering when my sales came back because] I just needed to take a break," Soulja Boy said. "I needed to think about things. I needed to evaluate my camp and what was going on in my circle. I had to talk to my family, the label, and my management. I had a big talk with the big bruh 50 Cent. I'm going to forever thank 50 because he guided me. When I was at my lowest point in my career and I just felt like I ain't really want to do this music no more. I was like, 'Man, I'm still young. I made enough money.' My head was on a whole different radar, but he was like, 'Man, you tripping little bro. You've got to keep it going.'"

Dr. Dre Partners WIth Chrysler

Dr. Dre, like his protege Eminem, has developed a new partnership with Chrysler. The legendary producer's Beats By Dre technology will be included in the 2012 300 Sedan, with Dre helping to design and tune the 10-speaker sound system that comes in the new vehicle.

Dre and Interscope CEO Jimmy Iovine will also be working on the sound for other models after the 300S rolls out.

"Our partnership with the Chrysler Group will set the bar for the way music should be heard in cars," said Iovine. "Beats By Dr. Dre has always been about restoring the emotional music connection between an artist and the listener, and Chrysler vehicles beginning with the Chrysler 300S will let drivers hear music the way the artists intended, replicating the feel and the sound that artists and producers work so hard to achieve."

It was also announced that Dre will be starring in a new Chrysler commercial.

50 Cent Promises New Single

50 Cent is promising to release a new single this week. The rapper tweeted the announcement and DJ Whoo Kid claims that he has heard several songs from the album 50's been working on for months.

“I heard like 22 records already,” Whoo Kid said. “He called me the other day, and said he needs 16 more songs,“ Whoo Kid says. “I’ve heard like nine definitely crazy [songs], and then he’s trying to collab with other people too. So it’s still up in the air. I’m assuming this will be the last album on Interscope. But he does a new deal every day. He’ll put it on ThisIs50.com either way, so you’ll know.”

Whoo Kid was with 50 in New Orleans on the set of the upcoming film Freelancers, to be released next year.

Vado Signs With Interscope

Cam'ron's protégé Vado will be joining the Diplomats on Interscope Records. Cam announced the signing yesterday (March 28) in an interview with Hot 97's Angie Martinez; the signing won't be official until the Diplomats and Vado finalize their deals with the label.

“[Vado] just signed a deal with Interscope,” Cam’ron said. “Shout out to DJ and Jimmy Iovine at Interscope; we appreciate that. I’m really excited that he’s getting the opportunity to do his thing on his own.”

Cam'ron also explained why the finalization has been delayed.

“We working with DJ and Jimmy Iovine to get the deal over there at Interscope done for us as well,” Cam added. “It’s just a little more intricate, being that everyone is signed to a deal already. Everything’s still going, but we all just had prior obligations. Me and Vado got this Gunz 'N' Butta album coming out. Jim [Jones] has a solo album coming out called Capo, and Juelz [Santana] is working on his mixtape.”

DJ Quik Disses AMG

The legendary DJ Quik blasted one of his former, and longest-running, partners in rhyme on Twitter yesterday (March 17.) Quik went off on fellow West Coast veteran AMG, slinging insults and his former running mate and blaming AMG for their collaborative album being shelved indefinitely.

"His life is a Tragedy. Jason Lewis aka Amg," Quik tweeted. "Amg is a grumpy old f*g. Amg doesn't even own his own name. I digress."

The former friends formed a group in 2006, The Fixxers, but their album was never released. Quik has implied that AMG's issues with Interscope Records led to the project's dissolution.