NEW YORK - 50 Cent has a new show on MTV, where business-savvy contestants compete for a shot at fame and a huge cash prize. But the rapper says he's not following the path of that other famous reality show hosted by Donald Trump.
"Immediately when you say a reality show that has a business spin to it, they think 'The Apprentice,' and the difference is these people don't actually want to work for me," the 32-year-old said in a recent interview. "They have their own business ideas that they created and they're competing for $100,000 in seed money."
"50 Cent: The Money and the Power" debuts Thursday. It features 14 contestants competing to show that they are the best entrepreneurs. 50 Cent will chop down the number of contestants until the winner is crowned.
The rapper and mogul said the show is like a visual companion to his upcoming book, "The 50th Law," with Robert Greene, who wrote "The 48 Laws of Power."
"Ahead of my actual music taking off, I would have wanted to be on the show," he said. "$100,000 would have been great, and the MTV exposure."
People will be seeing a lot of 50 Cent in the next few months. Besides the MTV project, he is releasing his latest album, "Before I Self Destruct," on Dec. 9. The CD includes an accompanying feature-length film with the same title.
"I'm excited, it's the first project I wrote, produced and starred in," says 50 of the flick, which comes free with the CD.
The deluxe version of the album features yet another film -- this one a documentary on former mentor, Run-DMC's pioneering DJ, Jam Master Jay, who was slain in 2002.
