Street King Immortal is a scrapped studio album by American rapper 50 Cent, originally meant to be his sixth album.
Initially reported to be released during the summer of 2011, the release date of Street King Immortal has since been revised on several occasions. Officially announced release dates of November 13, 2012; February 26, 2013; and August 18, 2016, were set in the past. In July 2017, 50 Cent stated that the album would be released at the end of the year though this did not occur. 50 Cent said in an Instagram post that "Still Think I'm Nothing" was the first single off of Street King Immortal. After nearly a decade in development hell, 50 Cent officially cancelled the project in July 2021.
Background
Originally, 50 Cent's fifth studio album was set to be Black Magic, an album influenced by several genres including rock and dance music. However, its release was postponed as 50 Cent began to write more material based on a different concept. As a result, recording sessions for a brand new album began from scratch, and material recorded for Street King Immortal is reportedly of a traditional hip hop nature, involving producers such as Alex da Kid, Bangladesh, Cardiak, Dr. Dre, Hit-Boy, Jake One, Jim Jonsin, and Just Blaze among others. It was later reported that the album would be titled 5 (Murder by Numbers), and would be released on July 3, 2012. 50 Cent instead decided to make 5 (Murder by Numbers) a separate album, to be released as a free download on July 6, 2012, and release a new collection of material as his sixth studio album, titled Street King Immortal:
In November 2009, 50 Cent released his fourth studio album, titled Before I Self Destruct. The album did not match the previous commercial success of his first three studio albums, only selling 180,000 copies in its first week of release in the United States, peaking at number three on the Billboard 200. To help promote the album, 50 Cent went on The Invitation Tour; while on the European leg of the tour, he visited nightclubs and was impressed with the vastly changing styles of music played. Because of this, 50 Cent began to write and record material for an album called Black Magic while still on tour. This new album's music would be influenced by number of genres, including dance, rock and pop music; it would have a "higher tempo" than his previous work, although he claimed that the predominant genre of the music would still be hip hop.
However, 50 Cent later revealed to the Brazilian edition of music magazine Rolling Stone that he was unsure whether to continue with the recording of the album, which he had begun while in the European venues of the tour, as he had begun to write material that he claimed "didn't quite fit the concept" of the album. He later revealed the release of Black Magic had been postponed indefinitely, although he stated the album may be released in the future. Street King Immortal will be more hip hop-influenced than the material recorded for Black Magic, which was inspired and influenced by a number of genres. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, 50 Cent announced that he would never release the album Black Magic, as it no longer makes sense to do so:
In an interview with MTV, 50 Cent discouraged fans from comparing Street King Immortal to his debut studio album Get Rich or Die Tryin'. In the same interview, 50 Cent revealed the album's release date and said it would not be changed again, as it will serve as a commemoration of the tenth anniversary of Get Rich or Die Tryin':
50 Cent confirmed in an interview with British hip-hop music television channel Flava, aired on January 3, 2012, that he had recorded seventy songs for the album, and only fourteen would make the final cut. In early January 2013 Street King Immortal was included on multiple "Most Anticipated albums of 2013" lists including E!, MTV and being eleventh on a list by XXL Magazine. On January 25, 2013, 50 Cent announced that he is still recording material for the album in an interview with Fuse.
In January 2014, 50 Cent said he plans on a releasing a project called Animal Ambition in the first quarter of 2014 before the album comes out. He wanted to release the project as his "viral marketing plan" in order to hype up Street King Immortal. However a month later it was announced that the Animal Ambition LP would instead be released on June 3, 2014. In June 2014, 50 Cent announced the album would be released on September 16, 2014.
Cancellation In July 2021, 50 Cent confirmed in an interview with The Independent that the album will not be released and that he had decided to scrap the project, stating "That original version is not being released, but I’m releasing new music in September". Although he aimed to release new music in September 2021, this did not occur.
Development
Recording and production In November 2010, in an interview with MTV News, Surf Club producers Hit-Boy and Chase N. Cashe revealed that they had contributed production work for Street King Immortal. Hit-Boy revealed that they had visited 50 Cent to play him a selection of their productions and hear "where he was going with it". He went on to talk positively about the album's material and its musical variation:
Whilst attending the Sundance Film Festival on January 25, 2011, 50 Cent revealed to MTV News that "80 percent" of the album had been recorded, and also revealed that he had recorded material for the album with record producers Boi-1da, Alex da Kid and Symbolyc One. In an interview in March 2011 with online blogger DDotOmen, record producer Cardiak revealed that he had produced a song for the album called "Outlaw", which was later released to several digital outlets to promote the album.
On April 8, 2011, MTV Mixtape Daily reported that producer Jim Jonsin had been involved in the album's recording sessions. In an interview with Rap-Up on May 13, 2011, American rapper Soulja Boy revealed that 50 Cent had requested several productions from him for the album whilst the pair were in California the previous month, and that he had given him roughly five of these productions to record over. He also claimed that 50 Cent had played him all of the material recorded for the album at the time, and was impressed with the material, stating that "His album was dope That's my big bro and all that. I got love for him. He's got some great stuff on there". In an appearance with singer Nicole Scherzinger on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, hosted by comedian and actress Ellen DeGeneres, on May 24, 2011, 50 Cent and Scherzinger performed their single "Right There", and 50 Cent revealed that the album was only a single song away from completion. He also confirmed that the mixing process for the album had already begun.
50 Cent later elaborated on Boi-1da's contribution in an interview with DJ Whoo Kid on the hip-hop radio station Shade 45, when he revealed that Boi-1da had produced two potential songs for the album. In the same interview, he revealed that producer Just Blaze had contributed two song productions for the album.
In September 2011, 50 Cent revealed that he had finished recording material for the album, although it still had to be mixed. He later confirmed Dr. Dre's involvement with Street King Immortal, claiming that he had produced two of the songs on the album. Hip hop producer DJ Felli Fel also revealed that he had produced a song for the album called "Lighters", featuring Chris Brown. He stated that he had wanted the collaboration to occur as 50 Cent and Brown had not previously appeared together on a song. 50 Cent confirmed in a radio interview with Power 92.3, that J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League and Drumma Boy produced songs for the album 5 (Murder by Numbers). However the tracks didn't appear on the free album and were saved for Street King Immortal. 50 Cent confirmed some more producers for the album, who include Jake One, Bangladesh, Dr Dre – who had already produced the first single for the album – and several more. On December 4, 2012, with magazine Billboard, 50 revealed that another producer on the album is Frank Dukes.
While promoting his Animal Ambition LP 50 spoke on SKI coming out later in the year, "It's gonna ride right into it. Street King Immortal is more personal. It's way more personal than this record. Of course this one is about a portion of my actual experience, but that one is...I talk about things that I haven't talked about."
Guest appearances Although a confirmed track listing for the album never emerged, several other recording artists were reported to be appearing on the album. On January 24, 2011, Rap-Up reported that fellow rapper and longtime collaborator Eminem would appear on the album, along with Lil' Kim, Akon, Swizz Beatz, Busta Rhymes, and former G-Unit member Lloyd Banks. In the aforementioned interview on Shade 45, 50 Cent elaborated on Eminem's contributions to the album, revealing that he would appear on four songs. He also stated that the songs were designed to appear to various audiences: two of the songs were referred to as "definite singles", and the other two were described as created to appeal to his "core audience", as well as being "more aggressive" and having a "different kind of energy".
On July 11, 2011, while on the set of the video for the Tony Yayo song "Haters", 50 Cent revealed that New Orleans rapper Kidd Kidd, formerly of Young Money Entertainment but now of G-Unit Records, would appear on the album's title track. Chris Brown's contribution to the album was elaborated upon when DJ Felli Fel revealed that he would be on a song titled "Lighters". Black Hippy member Schoolboy Q stated that in addition to having a good rapport with 50 Cent, the two had done multiple collaborations, which could be featured on the album.
On June 29, 2012, the G-Unit Philly rapper Mike Knox tweeted that he was in the studio with 50 Cent and Alicia Keys. Later the lead single featuring her and Dr. Dre was released . In an interview with DJ Whoo Kid on Shade 45 for his birthday, 50 Cent confirmed an upcoming song with Young Jeezy. 50 also stated that he wished to work with Kanye West, adding him to the list of possible featured guests. Drake shouted out 50 Cent while performing at a concert on the latter's birthday. He also talked about his work plans with 50 Cent, making a collaboration between the two rappers possible. 50 Cent stated that he wanted to work with Rihanna and Frank Ocean, in an interview with Digital Spy, making two more appearances possible.
On August 2, 2012, the website of magazine Complex confirmed that there would be appearances from Adam Levine, Chris Brown and Eminem. 50 Cent confirmed in an interview with Global Grind, that he had selected one track of the four he had recorded with Eminem for inclusion on the album. He also stated that another collaboration between them for a bonus track was possible, with Eminem later saying there are multiple tracks on the album that feature both of them.
50 Cent, on September 21, 2012, in an interview with the radio station KDON-FM, confirmed appearances by Eminem, Chris Brown, Ne-Yo and Trey Songz among a list of other guest appearances. In the interview 50 Cent also commented about his new business ventures, the Street King Energy Drink, SMS Audio headphones line and his new upcoming fitness book, Formula 50:
On December 4, 2012, 50 Cent's official news website listed more guests for the album, including Wiz Khalifa and the already announced Eminem, Alicia Keys, Ne-Yo and Trey Songz. In an interview with Fuse he announced a guest appearance from GOOD Music artist John Legend. 50 Cent also used Twitter to reveal a collaboration with Kendrick Lamar for the album.
On February 16, 2015, 50 Cent on a Shade 45 radio interview with G-Unit said that he recorded more tracks with Chris Brown for his album. 50 Cent also featured on Chris Brown and Tyga's album Fan of a Fan: The Album which was recorded earlier in the year.
Composition