The album cover for 50 Cent‘s upcoming Animal Ambition includes the written credo “an untamed desire to win.” And if his latest single and video are any indication, the rapper plans to earn that victory by being both the hardest and the flyest out.
Late Monday night, the newly independent MC released his newest track, “Pilot,” on iTunes. Proving there’s no stopping his grind, 50 came right back Tuesday morning (March 25) with the official video for the song. In it, the mogul splits his time between a dimly lit club and holding court in the driver’s seat of an aircraft — dressed in a full-on pilot’s outfit to boot.
“Overall, the project is about prosperity,” the G-Unit frontman recently revealed to MTV News about his June 3 album. “The first joint I put out was ‘Hold On,’ and it’s about the envy or jealousy connected to doing too well in front of people in the environment I grew up in.”
As for his latest, it opens with the sound of a plane taking off, before 50 kicks his catchy chorus: “Me, I’m like a pilot, G5 Jet I’m fly as sh–/ You cannot deny it, oh no, no-no, no-no.”
Before long, though, he reminds you why he first earned a rep more than a decade ago as one of the grittiest out. Chomping at detractors with sizeable threats, he warns in the first verse, “From N.O. to N.Y., I got shooters bitch, don’t act cute and sh–.” He follows up in similar fashion in the second: “Your f–kin’ head, I crack that/ You wanna test me? Don’t test me.”
The beat for “Pilot,” which is both smooth and rowdy enough to provide a playground for 50’s energetic approach, was produced by Shamtrax of the Sound Killers. Meanwhile, the single art follows the animal theme established on previous Ambition releases, with a fierce-looking bird in flight gracing the cover.
The audio and visual continue a rollout for the album that began in full force two weeks ago, when Fif delivered the Animal Ambition album art, as well as the project’s release date. The musical push kicked into gear last Tuesday with the rapper dropping two new songs: “Hold On” and “Don’t Worry ‘Bout It,” featuring Yo Gotti. The MC will treat fans to one new song every week for the next two months leading up to the album’s official release.
The relentless approach seems to indicate a reinvigorated 50. After parting with Interscope Records, the rapper reflected on how his longtime label had changed. “You see Interscope turn into ‘Beats Records’, where everyone that you see is actually marketing Beats [by Dr. Dre] headphones,” he told MTV News. “You don’t even see a music video without Beats headphones in it.”
Animal Ambition, 50’s first independent release since leaving Interscope, will be distributed by Caroline/Capitol/UMG.
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