50 Cent says “Psycho,” from his new Before I Self Destruct album, is totally different from “Patiently Waiting,” even though the tracks feature the same collaborator, more or less.
The difference, according to the rapper, is attributable to which version, so to speak, of Eminem appears on the track.
“Well, ‘Patiently Waiting’ I perform with Eminem. On ‘Psycho’, off of Before I Self Destruct, is 50 Cent and Slim Shady,” he explained. “He has an alter ego, and he has a comfort with doing things that are the craziest things possible. That’s when the chainsaw comes out. He starts going nuts on you. I wanted him to be able to go to that space, so I worked the chorus and he heard the chorus and he’s like, ‘Yo, I like that.'”
According to the hip hop artist, the track came about almost immediately when he began collaborating with Eminem. Once the two rappers got together, the lyrics came forth almost effortlessly.
“I actually recorded ‘Psycho’ in Las Vegas. Dre produced the track, we had a bunch of producers out there, and I went and laid the first verse. Em came and he heard it and he was like, ‘Yo, I’m ready.’ Wrote his verse, laid it. And then he started the next verse without me, I was like, ‘Whoa, I really only wanted one verse. I was going to rap again on the third.’ And then he just came in on that, so we went back and forth on the last piece,” said 50 Cent.
The three-member team comprising 50 Cent, Eminem and Dr. Dre gets along so well because it has “a chain of command,” he said, adding that he has stands to learn from his two collaborators.
“I listen to Em, Em absolutely listens to Dre, and that keeps us together,” he said. “The opportunity that Dre offered Em is what Em did for me. There’s no confusion with where we stand or how we function. They’re both not easy to just do things. I’m the easiest one to work with because… I’m more active. It’s just their achievements and where they’re at in their career. I’m the baby, I’m the smallest one. How ’bout that? Isn’t that scary?”
50 already knows the answer to that question.
“Yeah!” he continued. “Because when they go away, I’m the biggest one in hip-hop, and I’m the smallest one in my circle, in my camp. This is what keeps me down to Earth and working, because I feel like there’s room for growth. You got artists around you that do 23 million records on The Marshall Mathers L before you come out. Yeah, I had the largest debuting hip-hop album, but it ain’t the largest album. And for Eminem to generate twice the interest? Says that there’s something to work to.”