Every record label once wanted what he had (and was afraid of it).
Now all of Hollywood wants it too.
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But for Curtis Jackson, there is nothing to match up.
Thegripping storytellerandstrategic villainfigures out where money is made and he makes it.
His label unceremoniously dropped him, but his street legend approached superhero status.
And hes got a slate of projects in various stages of development that seems to expand by the week.
(Starz declined to comment on this story.)
He told me he sold 600,000 tickets in seven days.
I hear youre in Texas these days?Yeah, I stay out here.
I like it, man.
The night stuff, its got all the different places you could go out to eat.
I would go have a good time; now, I gotta get away from that.
Theyre going out, theyre partying as often as possible.
And youre hot with the music culture at that point; youre the theme music to their life.
Its so difficult to get people to agree on things.
Youve got Democrats, youve got Republicans.
Its very rare that you’ve got the option to get these people to agree on stuff.
Now, my core audience is grown.
Theyre at home, theyre not going out to the nightclub as often.
Theyre having that drink that they would have on premise in the privacy of their home.
They have wine cellars because they dont want to party with the kids.
Were in a different place in our life.
Have you always thought of yourself as making music that people would vibe to in that way?
Or was that something you learned over time?I hustled my way into the music business.
When I met Jam Master Jay,1 I already had a 400 SE Benz.
I was right at the peak point of what you could have in my neighborhood selling drugs.
I started telling him I wanted to rap.
Then he gave me a tape with beats, and I went and wrote to it.
He was like, Yo, where the hook?
Im like, Its right there.
Hes like, That aint a hook.
And he taught me how to count bars.
I was forced to write the chorus multiple times before I could rap.
Because in Jam Master Jays head, he was like,Anybody can rap.
Their music is so much better than everybody elses that nobody buys it.
But the money is in writing the right songs.
So that was way more important to me for my entire career.
The music is important.
But when you focus on the business instead of the music, you might actually keep the money.
you’re free to effectively live the way you want to live.
It was called JMJ Records.
And we would develop the artists and then he would sell them off to Def Jam or whatever.
Like Onyx or these other guys.
Now, when Im at Columbia Records, Im finally interacting with the structure.
People registered me as an artist.
I was basically an intern.
I was in publicity withYvette Gayle;I was in the art department with Julian Alexander.
I was with everybody in that building that was important to how a project comes together.
But after I got shot, Columbia Records stopped answering the phone.
Thats when you started releasingmixtapes.That was one photo shoot for a bunch of mixtapes.
That was one day we had a green throwback, a red, white, blue throwback.
Thats how it got through the neighborhood.
But if I hadnt spent time with Julian, I wouldnt have known to do that.
Thats amazing.If youre saying theres no plan B, then you got to say no stones unturned.
When did you first realize that trolling people who had audiences was a way for you to get on?
You always think you ready before youre ready.
You always feel like,I have it, this is it.
And its just about someone recognizing it.And youre not necessarily ready at that point.
In 2000, I performed on the Cash Money Ruff Ryders tour before they opened the curtain.
Before the show started, I was in front of the fucking curtain.
This has got to work.
It wasnt until that point that I made the relationship with Nas.
He heard it and was like, Yo, who isthat?
Next thing you know, I was on theNastradamustour in 1999.
And theyre kinda figuring out Who is he?
They was like, Oh, he ready to pop.
He dont care where he at.
But these are circumstances Im under in South Jamaica anyway.
Look, worst-case scenario, everything that happens to me happens to me anyway.
Its coming from my neighborhood.
I wouldve been subjected to that even if there was no music.
Thats where were at.
Thats what it is there.
I think thats what people find so fascinating.
Its a unique combination.
What makes you so successful at making television?
You didnt come out of USC; your dad wasnt a producer or whatever.
You just figured this out.
He offered probably more than the average person.
I appreciate and love him for it too.
Because obviously he helped me understand Hollywood.
And then we broke that money into ten pictures.
We sold domestic rights to Lionsgate; international territories we sold separately afterward.
And because of the way we kept the budgets, we made profits.
I got paid almost $10 million on each one of those films.
So I paid myself to learn how to participate on those projects.
You could see that for Lionsgate, theyre looking forChad Stahelskito deliver with whats the joint?
Its the biggest one theyve got over there.
Damn, I cant think of it.
Its with Keanu Reeves.
John Wick?Yep.
you could see the blockbusters on the schedule.
They count on those to make money.
The other things, thats found, or surprise, money for them.
And your stuff was making found money.Right.
Avi was sellingThe Expendableswithout a frame of film shot.
They were selling the territories off.
And theyve got a poster and that aint even his picture from his photo shoot.
And theyre selling the territory.
Was thatCourtney Kemp?The club-owner piece, thats from Courtney.
Thats the creative side of it.I would download things to her about the Southside and she would listen.
It got to a point where it didnt even feel like an interview.
Then she would say, Stop.
and write it down.
Initially, we pitchedPowerto everybody and they passed.
I had time to reapproach the script and the project.
I felt that way myself.
On the corner I was on, I was the biggest thing there.
When you saw people in the environment that Im from having nicer things, they was involved in something.
Its just the federal penitentiary.
You meanTommy?Yeah.
He is the realest dude in the show.
Im a complete monster and bad guy to them because I focus.
Whenever you focus, any extreme discipline is ruthless.
Like, the district attorneys office is fucking ruthless.
And its ruthless because of what it does to the person.
Because the talent is all in there.
She has what it takes to make hits all day.
But you still didnt have no announcement, so it means shes not identifying what direction to write in.
What do you think about the writers strike happening now?I hope it doesnt last.
What it did to me immediately was it made me focus on the non-scripted side of production.
I sold three unscripted projects as soon as people started hearing about the possibility of a strike.
The last time, it lasted for about a hundred days, a little over three months.
If it extends to that point now, I dont know.
I dont see it as a positive thing for the writers that I know that have established overall deals.
Courtneys in that position.
I believe those projects will get dropped.
Did you Look, I took a major pay cut, too.
You see what Im saying?
All those things for $17,000 per episode?
I get paid more to go to the nightclub and wave.
But I wanted to make the show.
I wanted to make it so bad.
You said everybody passed on it.
Starz was kind of the last house on the block.
Can you tell me who passed on it and why?
What kind of feedback did you get when people passed?All of them.
We went through all of the premium channels.
Youre talking HBO, Showtime?HBO, Showtime, Paramount, Hulu.
We went to all these organizations in the early stages.
They probably had something else they felt was similar, or it wasnt what they was looking for.
Im sure now they wish they didnt pass on it.
And then every two years, it felt like we was auditioning for a major carrier.
Its time to renegotiate, and it would be an issue.
So for me at that point, really what it is, is racism.
I dont care about them.
At that point, I turn into the rapper 50 Cent.
Sounds like you have to do a fair amount of code-switching, and everybodys code-switch plan is different.
This is really not a maybe.
When I got shot nine times, that was $5,000.
Because thats where Im from.
Do you feel people in the business are intimidated by you?
I think at points, theyd be afraid of me saying things exactly the way they are.
Because they say the right thing instead of exactly what theyre experiencing or whats going on.
New York City, you know what you learn right away to do?
Im not going to do that.
Im not fucking with you on that.
The project that youve been reading for and youre ready to perform?
I really wanted to work with you, but they made a different choice.
What sort of influence did that have on you?
Im wondering if you watched the way he moved and learned from it.Yeah.
I watch all of them.
These guys are a blueprint.
Theyve done it in film, which is even harder.
Television is not easy to crack, but when you do, youre the guy.
The success in music is music.
In film, youve got a hit film.
That doesnt mean anything for television.
You have to have more than a show that works.
You have to have consistency.
I didThe Oathin 2018.
Sony Crackle liked that, and I had the No.
1 show on Sony while I had the No.
1 show on Starz.
In our culture, how often is a guy a one-hit wonder?
When Im at a point in television where I have one hit, I just want another one.
I need another one.
You see the results of it in the news all the time.
You dont think of any triad organizations.
You dont think of any Russians.
You dont think of any other culture, African Americans, anything.
Because calling him organized would mean hes intelligent.
And its the time period also:Raising Kanan,thats the golden era.
I know that from the early 80s back into the 90s, it was hustlers!
And this is just in that period.
The drugs, of course.
That is the angle that was put on even the drug trade at that point.
So if you’re able to show how it operated, you saw success.
A portion of it that was captured the best was inThe Wire: I want my corners.
This is the lowest level of the business, fighting over the corners and territory.
The hustler in Marlo versus Avon.
But the average viewer loved that because they hadnt seen anything that represents what happens in the culture.
Then when you get to Ghost andPower,its bigger, broader.
Who did you know who was staying in a condo like that in downtown Manhattan?
The story we hear about your decisions is always that they pay off.
You bet on yourself withPower;Powerpays off big time.
In that time period, my instincts guided me toward water versus spirits.
At that point, I was zero alcohol involvement.
I always saw those things as a distraction, even smoking weed.
We dont have nothing, and you want me to just let the money go up in smoke?!
Id rathernotsmoke weed with you, and I still have the money in my pocket.
Maybe get something to eat later on.
It was simple for me to not involve that.
Growing up in the household that I was in, alcoholism was serious.
It starts casually, becomes extreme, and everybody is just kind of hit by it.
Just looking at things and not understanding why theyre the way they are sparked interest and ideas.
I want to sell water.This was before I knew Vitamin Water existed.
But I knew I could charge $1.50 extra per piece and it wouldnt even matter.
From where I was at?
Think about the transition.
I stopped feeling the financial transactions.
The money that was physically around me didnt even count.
The money that counts is at the accountants office.
When I say How much?
and Im looking at the monthly, its all black-and-white.
So if I do the deal with Vitamin Water, I dont really need the money up front.
Because until those stages, they were not looking to do deals like that.
Have you had investments that didnt work?Yeah, a lot of times.
I remember what was it called, Frigo, the underwear company?
You dont even remember.
They had cooling fabrics and stuff that they had got technology for.
And it was super-high end.
So everybody would be into it as premium because its in Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman.
But that company was just mismanaged.
Ill entertain the idea.
I think BET is Tyler Perrys connection.
Hes done enough work there to dominate that.
And not even only dominate I dont think theyve explored what it would be like not having a Tyler.
Starz is just that platform.
And Im only comfortable saying that because their board members have said it.
But BET, though, I do like.
Its something to explore.
I understand youre doing some unscripted stuff; youve got documentaries in the works.
Do you see yourself branching out into other genres?
Comedies?Out of the 30 pieces across ten different networks that I have, three are comedies.
But Im a drama guy.
I like the dramas and shit.
Thats fair of you to say.
So obviously, Starz couldnt actually handle how much Im producing.
I havent delivered one failure of a production to them.
Youll start to see me do all genres.
Its not whether I would write it because Im not going to write it.
Its whether I would identify with it being good and the right thing for that platform.
It wouldnt happen on other platforms.
The hottest one would just be there as a cameo.
When I was in that position, I wasnt ready to do that.
Its like,What the fuck am I doing this for?
The directors screaming at me, this guys telling me I got to read this.
Creatively, Im the boss.
Moving into another setting, there are so many moving parts, so many people involved.
It gets gossipy, it gets messy, all kinds of crazy.
Yeah, but all these shows, they really do help codify our culture.
It enters us into American history.
For them to come to me when they decide,Yeah, I want to do some acting.
I want to do this.Its a talent to see talent in people.
Not everyone has that.
They may be talented themselves in one way and even in multiple ways.
I like to be the person to position other people.
I like to give them a job.
I knew Omari Hardwick was Ghost.
I knewBMFs Lil Meech could be who he is now.
I got the animated show with Nicki Minaj on Amazon.
Like, these things happen.
Shes different because shes from the crib.
Its like its a female version of me.
When she go loopy, its a different version of the same loopy you see from me.
EvenKendrick Lamar,he said he wanted to do some acting.
It took me a year to get that right.
He was nominated for an NAACP Image Award for it.
That means it was done right.
It wasnt a show that we just put rappers in.
Now theres no place in television that doesnt have respect for his work.
Hes going to work wherever he wants following that.
So if there was any questions about him prior to this, theyre gone.
Theyll look at Mary like shes … Monet.
Because theyre seeing her inPower Book IIand they dont know why we love her.
They just know the performances.
They just know I saw that and She got some kids thatll kill me.
She got kids my age thats on the shit!
What do you think your true essence is?
What would be true about you no matter where you came up?
And then whichever path is to that would make sense to me.
Id join a gang right now if it was a successful gang.
I cant find one successful story of gangs.
Do you know what a successful gang is to me?
What?A sorority.
Go to fucking college.
Get in the sorority and let them be your family.
You know what Im saying?
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