After five years, 50 Cent will finally release his fifth album in June, but that doesn’t mean the businessman has put his other ventures on hold. In fact, he’s continuing to branch out, with plans for his anti-bullying book, “Playground,” to become a show on FOX.
“I realized that the animated stars are bullies — like Bart Simpson, Dennis the Menace, and those different things,” Fif said during an interview on Atlanta’s V103. “I went and met with [film producer] Brian Grazer, and Brian Loucks over at CAA, he helped me create the actual meeting and put me with the right people. And I got the show picked up on FOX. So, I got an animated show coming there.”
This isn’t his first foray into producing. In 2010, 50 landed a 10-film, $200 million deal with Lionsgate and Grindstone for his production company, Cheetah Vision. In 2012, he scored another — this one for $250 million and 10 films. On the TV side, he’s executive-producing “Power,” which began filming last year and is set to air on Starz.
“Playground,” first published in November 2012, tells the story of a teenage bully who ultimately questions his actions and sees the errors in his ways. The Queens rapper said it was inspired by his now-17-year-old son.
“He was telling me a scenario one time about something that was going on in his school, and I found myself trying to explain it,” 50 recalled. “We understand the difference in right and wrong as adults. So, while I’m explaining it to him, I’m like, ‘Oh.’ This is when I acknowledged that I was actually the bully in the school at that point. So, I wrote it from a more responsible perspective. I want you to like the bully like you liked him in the past in those actual shows, like Dennis the Menace and Bart Simpson, those other characters. And then have him acknowledge his mistakes.”
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