On the heels of strong sales of rap music in 2005, largely due to the quadruple platinum success of 50 Cent's "The Massacre" and its numerous charting singles, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has announced that every album and single released this year will contain 50 Cent. Music consumers have already seen the precursors to this trend in several singles already released during the past few years, including The Game featuring 50 Cent ("How We Do", "Hate It Or Love It"), Li'l Kim featuring 50 Cent ("Magic Stick"), Eminem featuring Dr. Dre and 50 Cent ("Encore"). However, his insertion into future recorded music will increase exponentially in the coming months, in hopes to increase holiday sales of both compact discs and downloadable digital media.
Earlier this year, 50 Cent turned heads in the music industry when he appeared on three singles simultaneously in the Top 10 ("Candy Shop" #1, "Disco Inferno" #5, "How We Do" #6, Billboard, April 7, 2005), something not achieved since the Beatles ruled the charts in the 1960s. Subsequent marketing studies lead by the RIAA in conjunction with the major record labels show that record sales across the board can be increased by spreading into untapped demographics, and have decided to insert 50 Cent in some way, shape or form into everyone's music library, regardless of genre.
A brief rundown of the titles to be released in the coming year:
* "Da Gang's All Herre" - Justin Timberlake featuring L'il Kim, Li'l Jon, (formerly L'il) Bow Wow, The Ying Yang Twins and 50 Cent;
* "Live On The Edge or Die Tryin'" - Aerosmith featuring 50 Cent;
* "Unforgettable: Special Edition" - Natalie Cole featuring 50 Cent and Nat King Cole (CD+DVD);
* "Under The Sea" - SpongeBob SquarePants & 50 Cent, featuring Chris Martin from Coldplay;
* "The Three Tenors featuring 50 Cent: Live In Brooklyn" - Carreras, Domingo, Pavarotti & 50 Cent;
* "Hoes Just Wanna Have Fun" - Cyndi Lauper featuring 50 Cent and Snoop Dogg;
* "Guilty n' Sentenced To 18 Months Probation" - Barbra Streisand & Barry Gibb featuring 50 Cent;
* Mozart's Symphony No. 41 in C Major, K. 551 ("Jupiter"), performed by The London Philharmonic Orchestra featuring 50 Cent on third violin.
These releases follow a "special edition" of "The Massacre" just released by Interscope Records, which is bundled with special remixes and a DVD. As a part of RIAA's ongoing effort to counteract music piracy, each employs special anti-piracy protection. Any attempts to rip more than one copy of each song will result in the user's system becoming infected by a Trojan horse virus (TROJ_MASSACRE.50C) which renders the operating system useless, unless 50 Cent is featured in the desktop wallpaper, browser, and all default system sounds.
However, it doesn't end there, as projects are in the works that will be felt beyond far beyond your subwoofers. To continue the cross-marketing of the hip-hop superstar, a new expansion pack for the popular video game "Medal of Honor" will be released in late 2005 entitled "Medal of Honor: The Massacre Featuring 50 Cent". In this extremely realistic war simulation, he will be a featured voice actor as the Allied forces wage battles against the Japanese in the Pacific theater during 1944-1945 (however, his character cannot be equipped with any weaponry during the course of the game, since he pleaded no contest to an assault charge in May 2005 and cannot carry a gun in some states).
Upcoming TV appearances are also planned, as 50 Cent joins the cast of "The O.C. featuring 50 Cent", where he portrays the southern California county's only African-American resident. Additionally, Denny's Restaurants have announced the release of a new sandwich called "In Da Club Sandwich, featuring Roasted Turkey, Lettuce, Tomatoes and 50 Cent", for the introductory price of $5.99 (not available on white bread).