Queens and New York are completely responsible for me. You're a product of your environment and your experience.
My mom was the most influential person in my life, initially... After my mom died, I went to live with my grandparents. There were nine of us living on my grandfather's salary, and you've got to pay the bills, so there ain't much there for you.
At school I had a way of acting up, which was my response to the loss of my mom. When she went away, everything that was good went away.
Have you ever seen the movie The Butterfly Effect? If you go back and change one thing, you end up with a different end result. I wouldn't want to change who I am now, the end result.
My son was the real turning point in my life. He was my motivation to start writing music. I'd always liked music, but he made me focus.
The biggest misconception about me is that I have bad intentions. I do what I have to do to get by. I don't wake up and decide I'm gonna do something to hurt someone. But if that's the only option for me to move forward then I will.
My core fanbase just wants aggression. The things that everyone thinks are wrong with hip-hop, that's wrong socially with those environments… There's expectation for material that matches the vibe of the inner cities. If they don't hear that from me they're disappointed.
I'll always be a rapper first and foremost. I generate more money from my business deals away from rap, but without the finances acquired from being successful as a rap artist, what money would I have to invest?
I really like war films – it's the most intense, life-threatening situation you can be in, and it's amazing, because people willingly go. Those are the real war heroes, the people who volunteer.
When I worked with the author Robert Greene on The 50th Law we were exact opposites in terms of appearance, but we have so much in common when it comes to how you should conduct business.
I will be the person with the least amount of fear in the room when we're negotiating business, because I'll weigh it up against situations far more dramatic than a deal going bad – like the loss of my mom, or the confusion after being shot. Not knowing what I was going to do with my life after being shot hurt more than being physically shot.
People who study business and get their Masters are deemed intelligent. I think they just have great short-term memories and retain information long enough to pass exams. If they actually applied that information then we'd have a problem, we'd have an over-population of successful people.
My new album has more insecurities and more imperfections on it. Because I'm now in a more secure place, I can write these things.
I spend more time in competition with myself than with other artists. It's difficult to duplicate how you felt in the very beginning, to compare yourself to when you sold 12m copies of your first record.
My son doesn't know what it's like not to have. The times when there wasn't much money around he was too small to understand.
I'd like to be remembered as a great artist. As an artist you're greater in your absence than in your presence. They liked Michael Jackson more the week after he passed away than the week before. Maybe they'll like me more when I'm gone.
50 Cent's latest album, Before I Self-Destruct, is out now