'This is the perfect time for me to actually change my look,' MC says, gesturing to his suit.
If anybody thought 50 Cent's street standing was slipping, he has definitely refortified it this summer with the 'hood blazer "I Get Money." Now, he's aiming straight for the pop charts with "Ayo Technology." He went to London last month to shoot the video for the song - which appears on his forthcoming LP, Curtis - with Justin Timberlake and Timbaland.
"The technology portion of the song is definitely in the music video," 50 said on the set. "There's things that are going to be in it that you aren't actually seeing while we're shooting it right now. And so after they get it, they'll go in post and start adding effects to it, it'll turn into a whole other thing. But it's exciting.
"You can see this is not more normal uniform, or get-up, when I'm in a music video," he added, pointing to his suit. "But it's time for me to do something a little different, and this is the perfect time for me to actually change my look. You might see this on the red carpet, but not in an actual music video. The biggest challenges for the video are giving off a natural vibe and not seeming contrived at any moment. For you to actually be comfortable when you're actually doing it is a task. At some points you've got a room full of people looking at you at one time, just watching you to see what you're going to do. You've got to relax and just do it."
The suit isn't the only change: 50 said he switched up his vocal style for the record as well.
"I don't usually use that cadence," he explained. "The beat is a lot faster, so I changed up the way I traditionally rap on the record. The chorus just came to [Justin] and I was like, 'OK, OK, I got it.' Creatively, it all came together."
50 said he spent more time in the air getting to a studio with Justin than it actually took to make the song.
"We started this record in Miami," he recalled. "I flew to Miami from Los Angeles, I was working with Dr. Dre and Eminem in the studio. We failed to complete it the first night 'cause Justin and Timbaland were both on tour. We recorded the first version, the intro to the song, and then I flew back to L.A., caught up with them in Houston. So when I got to Houston we got back to the studio and it was like 1-2-3. Justin had it clear in his head. There was no paper: He just went and delivered his vocals and changed octaves all over the place. It came out great - you can't ask for better." The song's video also provided Timberlake with several opportunities to prove that he's one of today's premier showmen.
The clip is the latest from Curtis, which is due on September 11.