Equally well concealed is his body armour. Even in rural England he is wearing it. There is talk he even wears it in bed. Protecting 50's assets employs a small army. The security detail at Rockingham, where a car has been running in 50 Cent colours, is almost presidential. Even his cars are bomb-proof.
"It's just a precaution that I take. The possibilities are there. If you look at where Biggy Smalls got killed, if you look at where Tupac got killed, if you look at where I got shot at - inside a car," says 50, rattling off the names of fallen hip hop comrades. "If they're shooting a person, they're shooting the car at that point. The glass breaks. If you're shooting a car you're not shooting a person. You don't see a person fall, you know, as you shoot him, so they feel more comfortable doing that. So if you bullet-proof the car you take that option away from them."
In the world of hip-hop, the bigger and more brash the car, the bigger the star. Massive cars, normally festooned to the hilt, epitomise the stars' emergence from the ghettos. That's why most hip hop music videos are teeming with gleaming automobiles.
When 50 and his posse of fellow singers like P Diddy (or Puffy, as 50 calls him) get together, the talk is of cars not rap. Almost without exception, all the major rappers are petrolheads. Wyclef Jean has over $2million-worth of cars. Fifty has spent almost $1million on hot metal... cars which he never gets to drive!
"(The last time I drove) was last year," he reveals. And it's not a security issue, either. "I'm usually commuting back and forth long distances, so I got a driver. Someone that I pay that is just there for that. I'll be in the back asleep while they're driving the car."
Time is up, but 50 wants to make one last point about his plans to behead his Phantom. He cannot see why it might upset the purists. He thinks it will create a trend amongst Rolls-Royce's celebrity owners.
"If I take the Phantom and cut the roof off it, it's gonna get so much publicity at all the car shows, it'll be helping Rolls-Royce," reckons 50. "People like the basketball players or the athletes, the people that got the money to just do it, are gonna go cut the roofs off their cars because 50 Cent cut the roof off his car!"
|
 Previous: Drop-top chop
|
 |
