PROMO: 50 Cent Plays Well With Others

Image via Complex Original

With his movie Set Up about to drop, in which 50 Cent plays opposite Hollywood mainstays Bruce Willis and Ryan Phillippe, it finally started to dawn on us that he must be a great guy to work with. He's been involved in a myriad of successful business ventures, always seemingly from the ground up. Ok, sure, back in the day 50's business ventures might not have been exactly legal, but even so, he seems like a really good egg. We decided to make a list of the 10 best 50 Cent collabos in order to relive the rapper's great partnerships.

Project: "In Da Club"

Collaborator: Dr. Dre

Go, go, go… your head's already bopping, isn't it? This was the song that put 50 Cent on the map, and it happens to be one of the best "beats by Dre" in recent memory. While Eminem is the one credited with launching the rap career of a former crack dealer named Curtis Jackson, whose mixtapes under the name 50 Cent were the stuff of legend, it was mixing board maestro Dr. Dre who produced this all-time classic.

Project: Get Rich or Die Tryin' (the film)

Collaborator: Jim Sheridan

Anyone who knows 50 Cent knows that he takes his film career seriously, and that is no doubt a result of the fact that he debuted as an actor under the care of 6-time Oscar nominee Jim Sheridan, who directed Get Rich or Die Tryin', the film based on the rapper's early life. Presumably Sheridan shared with Fif his vast knowledge of the art and craft of filmmaking, because we sure as hell don't know what else they had to talk about.

Project: Beg for Mercy (album)

Collaborators: G-Unit

50 Cent and Lloyd Banks (one of the all-time great not-rap-name rap names) recorded the first G-Unit record while third member Tony Yayo was in prison. Granted, Yayo's appearances on the album were laid down before he went inside, but that's still a gangsta move of epic proportions. For those who want to reminisce, go listen to the signature track, "Stunt 101."

Project: "Candy Shop"

Collaborator: Scott Storch

This one is a guilty pleasure when it comes on the radio, and a REALLY guilty pleasure when it comes on at the shake junt. With full Scott Storch melodrama provided by strings and pounding bass, 50 gave us his version of a love song… or at least a great song to do it to.

Project: G-Unit Records

Collaborator: Sha Money XL

50 Cent must not have gotten much sleep in the early 2000s, but it sure paid off. Following in the footsteps of mentors Eminem and Dr. Dre, and a host of other hugely successful hip-hop artists, 50 launched G-Unit Records in 2003 with then-manager Sha Money XL (surprisingly not his birth name). The label put out albums by Mobb Deep, The Game, Young Buck and G-Unit itself, minting 50 another small fortune.

Project: G-Unit Apparel

Collaborators: Marc Ecko, Reebok

Seriously, 50 Cent was busy in 2003. Not only did he launch his record label that year, but he also teamed up with fashion pioneer Marc Ecko to create the "G-Unit Clothing Company" brand of street wear. The brand was an instant success, and featured the $.50 price point, which meant, for example, a t-shirt might cost $20.50, just for that extra tie-in. Reebok also got in on the act in '03, releasing a "G-Unit Collection by Rbk," which included the extremely popular G6 sneaker.

Project: Formula 50

Collaborator: Glaceau

Beverage company Glaceau, best known for their products Smart Water and Vitamin Water, knew they had something when they discovered Fif was a fan. They signed 50 Cent to endorse Vitamin Water, offering him a minority stake in the company. Going one step further, they developed the Vitamin Water flavor, Formula 50, which may not give you rock-hard, shot-nine-times abs, but is still pretty good. When Coca-Cola bought Glaceau for $4.1 billion, 50 received the single largest lump sum any rapper has been paid for grape drink.

Project: Mayweather Films

Collaborator: Floyd Mayweather

Like we said, 50 Cent doesn't play when it comes to filmmaking. As further proof, he and boxing champ Floyd Mayweather Jr. (who also doesn't play when it comes to filmmaking?) have teamed up to create a production company, Mayweather Films. While the fledgling company has yet to get a project off the ground, 50 has acted in nearly 20 films, has seen three of his own screenplays produced, and even directed the straight-to-DVD thriller Before I Self Destruct. It seems likely this will prove more fruitful than that time Floyd lit a stack of money on fire.

Project: Beef

Collaborators: Ja Rule, Cam'ron, Rick Ross, The Game, etc.

Why do beefs start? One rapper says a not nice thing about another, and then the second rapper makes reference to having slept with the first rapper's girl, and it escalates from there.Thankfully, all involved are still alive, so this one we can chalk up to the good ol' hip-hop tradition of the diss rap. Not that you would feel easy with any of the parties invovled publicly threatening your life, but no harm no foul.

Project: G-Unit Books

Collaborators: MTV and Pocketbooks

After publishing the memoir From Pieces to Weight, co-authored with Kris Ex, 50 caught the writing bug in a big way. Partnering with MTV Books and Pocket Books, he launched G-Unit Books, an Urban Fiction imprint for Simon & Schuster, in 2007. As an author, Fif always has a collaborator, but he must like seeing his name in print because the titles keep coming: Death Before Dishonor, Blow, The Ski Mask Way, The Diamond District, and he is far from done. 50 also published the non-fiction The 50th Law, written with Robert Greene, which is a philosophical work devoted to teaching readers how to be a bad motherf#$ker in all situations.

In the Photo: Nikki Turner and K. Elliott the (co) authors of Death Before Dishonor and The Ski Mask Way.