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Rapper 50 Cent Urges You to Work Out During Quarantine

23 Mar 2020 | Wall Street Journal | by Myles Tanzer.
In our series My Monday Morning, self-motivated people tell WSJ. how they start off the week.

Like a lot of Americans, the multi-hyphenate businessman Curtis Jackson is stuck at home in New York right now. The 44-year-old, better known as rapper 50 Cent, is still keeping busy: For Life, the legal drama he produced and guest stars in, is airing now on ABC, and Jackson says he's currently working on several television projects plus gearing up to release a new book, a self-help guide called Hustle Harder , Hustle Smarter out in April.

The boredom of self-isolation, he says, is punctuated by slight annoyance at his girlfriend, 25-year-old law student Jamira Haines, who asks him to make frequent trips up and down the stairs to fetch things for her.

Here, he tells WSJ. about the important advice he's received from The 48 Laws of Power author Robert Greene, what he thinks of people who ignore health warnings and why he never looks at his full calendar.

What time do you usually get up on Mondays and what's the first thing you do?

For me, it's so different because I'll be moving. Right now I've got eight television shows [in various stages of development]. So, I'm working on that. When I'm not dealing with that, the first thing I do when I wake up is I go to the gym. I go work out if it's a day where I'm at home. I have my book, Hustle Harder, Hustle Smarter. I was going to the recording studio to record the audiobook for the last two weeks. I was going in and working on that. It's not a lot of fun. You think it's easy because you already have it right in front of you, but you've got to take direction.

You have lots of experience in the recording studio.

It's different when someone tells you how to say it. When you're trying to get through it, you're just like, "All right, so..." I get the book and sit there—I'm usually there for hours and hours. And then I'm like, "Let's take a 10-minute break." And the guy will be sitting there looking at me like, "Dude, what?"

I've also recently launched two brands, a Champagne and Cognac brand, and I was in Texas, right before all this corona stuff, I just flew back from the South. I was in stores and other stuff and going to all events, different activations for the brand. Each Monday is completely changed from the other one. The thing that is consistent is I try to get training in.

Do you stick to a certain workout on Mondays?

Usually chest. On Mondays I trained with a trainer for a very long time. I've been doing it by myself recently, but I'm going to start training out with these really fit girls.

Explain!

Yeah, on Instagram, stuff like that. For me, it's something like, I don't want to not be able to do it when it's a girl telling me to do it. When you're training legs, you should definitely train with women, because that's all they train. After a while you're like, "Yo, what is this?" You know what I'm saying? Like, "What the f—ck you all been doing in here?"

Is there a set breakfast you eat every day? Do you stick to the same thing?

No, I should probably eat breakfast more. What I do is, I train before I eat. And by the time I'm eating it's usually 12 o'clock.

With so many different things going on, do you set an intention for the week?

Yeah, well, I usually brace myself before I get involved. Even with TV shows. You've got eight different joints going on at one time? We've got to be conscious of where we're at on the project completely. But it's not difficult to multitask with television. Once you're involved in it and you immerse yourself in it, it's kind of easy to keep track of what's going on. It looks like it's happening fast, but it's not. It happens very slow, and then it wraps up. It feels like it's fast because it's actually out at that point. Even though I've got a show now on ABC, For Life, loosely based on [wrongfully convicted attorney] Isaac Wright Jr.'s life story. But that show is really two years old.

Is there anything you do specifically, maybe on Sunday night, to get ready for the week so you have a good week?

I have so much stuff, I don't bother myself with the whole schedule. I just take it a day at a time. Because a lot of times if you have a lot of stuff on your schedule and you look, you'll be exhausted before the week starts. You feel like, "Man it ain't going to stop, it's going to be all week like this."

Is there one piece of advice that someone has given you that you always keep at top of mind?

If you're the smartest person in the room, you're stupid. The first thing you know is you don't know everything. Even when you start to feel like you have it under control, there's always going to be new information and new things that pop out, adjustments for you to make.

Is there a person who gave that advice to you?

Robert Greene. We worked on [best-selling advice book] The 50th Law together. While we were spending time together, he said something like that. I was curious about him after reading some of the books he wrote. He's a researcher, a history buff. He can run comparisons between today's events and historical figures, you know what I'm saying? And that's what makes him significant. He's a really interesting guy. I'm working on a television show with him, going to put him on TV.

You've been known to call people out on Instagram for owing you money. Is there anyone who owes you money right now?

No, no I'm pretty squared away. I'm in a good space right now, nobody owes me.

How long have you been isolated in your house? How long do you intend to stay put?

This is day five, right here. I feel there are no safer options out here. There's not much. I guess when I want to go to the gym I'll go to a track and I'll just run outside. Still, you know what they say, keep your social distance. Being conscious of that. But a lot of people are not making adjustments, so they're just going to sit home and they're going to get fat. They'll get fat.

Has this experience shifted your perspective at all? Is anything freaking you out about this?

The news, you know what, the news is all corona. It's all coronavirus. People don't hear alarms, they only see fires. A lot of them on South Beach and stuff like that, when they go out they're only thinking about, "It's spring break. It's my time to have fun," instead of considering what's really going on right now.

And those kids on spring break—what advice would you give them?

Go home so you can have another spring break at some point! Do you want this to be your last spring break?! What the f—ck, bro? It's not safe, I don't understand. But some people in New York City? These people will not stop. When they said it doesn't sleep, it doesn't sleep. Really, they're not going to stop. They're going to be outside. Go in the house and chill out, man!

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Credit: By Myles Tanzer

Word count: 1278


last updated march 2020