From the halcyon days of the early 2000’s to the quiet times of the 2020’s, a lot seems to have changed for G-Unit frontman and rap superstar Curtis Jackson, better known as 50 Cent. You wouldn’t be blamed for thinking he had fallen off given that he hasn’t released an official studio album in over six years. Where has Mr. Jackson been, and what is he up to these days? As the old saying goes “Inquiring minds want to know.”

With an estimated net worth of $30 million, Jackson could certainly live a comfortable retirement far from the public eye. In fact with Benjamin stacks as large as that, he could gamble comfortable at home without ever needing to visit a casino using sites like these. As it turns out 50 Cent lives by his old motto “scared money don’t make money” though, which is quite apropos for a rapper whose nickname literally IS money. He’s got a wide range of pursuits which are keeping him busy even if they aren’t keeping him in the limelight, and there’s little doubt they will pay dividends for him now and in the future.

Jackson is the founder and top executive of no less than four different enterprises outside of his rap music career. One of his best known brands is SMS Audio, launched in 2011 to be a provider of high quality headphones and audio accessories. Rather than having to build an entire product line from scratch, 50 acquired KonoAudio and rebranded their existing audio goods as his own, then expanded their product range to include branded items and licensed properties from Carmelo Anthony to Star Wars. That’s some high power hustle.

Cashing in on his fans is not Jackson’s sole focus. He also established G-Unit Films and Television to create opportunities for aspiring and established actors in the entertainment industry, and has created wealth for others in the process with over a dozen movies and television shows combined. The biggest of them by far is the Starz original series Power, which not only ran for six consecutive season from 2014-2020 but built a franchise that is now turning into successful spinoff shows. Power sequel Book II: Ghost debuts on September 6th and Book III: Raising Kanan comes out in 2021. It’s not hard to see why he’d have little time to hit the recording studio with so many different entrepreneurial ventures to manage under his wings.

That’s not to say Curtis Jackson has retired from the music industry though — far from it. Even though his expected “Street King Immortal” album has been in the works for a decade, Jackson has never officially scrapped it or any of the music he already recorded for it. As recently as 2016, Jackson told Ellen DeGeneres that the album was nearing completion, so the only reason for him to hold onto it this long would be a relentless pursuit of perfection. 50 Cent is unwilling to drop a studio album this decade that doesn’t live up to the standards he set in the century’s first decade and you can hardly blame him for that. When the time is right and he’s curated all of the top producers and guest features that he wants, the album is sure to come out.

In summary it’s clear to see it’s the business of keeping so many other people gainfully employed that keeps Curtis Jackson from dropping hit after hit the way he used to. It’s not that he doesn’t have the “Animal Ambition” any more, it’s just that he has so many more people to take care of and enterprises to run these days. He also has two songs to provide for, Marquise and Sire, so responsibilities as a father also keep him from living the rap spotlight. It’s got to be hard out there for a player, having to deal with so many different things on his plate at one time, and I can’t say I envy the amount of constant grinding it has to take for Mr. Jackson to stay on top and not fall after so many years. Nevertheless if you’re watching Power or any of the spinoffs that will air on Starz, 50 Cent won’t be far from your mind’s eye, either as an executive producer or a theme song for the show in question. He may not be pumping weights and rapping about window shopping in music videos these days, but his star still shines as bright as ever. Stay tuned for the further adventures of Curtis Jackson and the G-G-G-G-G-Unit!