Source: Jamie McCarthy / Getty
Power actor Rotimi revealed that the show’s “beef” with Empire was all thanks to 50 Cent’s “marketing genius.”
The singer-actor explained that the Starz executive producer’s marketing methods during the July 25 episode of the Earn Your Leisure podcast. Rotimi shared that 50 knew he couldn’t compete with Empire for viewership due to the Fox series’ bigger promotional budgets. With that in mind, the entertainment mogul opted to make his show, Power, equally as relevant by establishing drama between the shows.
“I realized [50] was a marketing genius, bro,” Rotimi recalled. “He sat the [Power] cast down, and this was when we were filming season two. He was like, ‘Yo, ‘Empire’ — they’re on Fox. They got the big bag. We can’t compete with them with their marketing, promotion and advertising. We’re on Starz — we cannot compete. But I’m going to start a beef with them so that they have to mention us every time they get interviewed.”
Rotimi noted that 50 went after Empire‘s lead stars, such as Taraji P. Henson, so interviewers had to bring up the hip-hop mogul and his Starz show. The singer-actor seemed in awe of how, through antics, 50 created and fueled conversations about whether Power or Empire was better.
“I saw him attach himself to [Empire‘s] 100 million promotion… You guys don’t understand that this man really just is playing you, strategically. And now we’re in competition with y’all.”
Rotimi recalled also being a victim of 50’s smart yet antagonistic “marketing genius.”
The “In My Bed” singer received the brunt of the mogul’s infamous financial trolling in 2019. As MADAMENOIRE has previously reported, 50 has been known to publicly humiliate those indebted to him.
Rotimi said 50 needed the $250,000 invested in the singer’s music career before the crooner was released from his record deal. The Nigerian-American musician recounted when 50 said he wanted to punch him in the face and break his nose — all in a ploy to muster up the funds.
“With him doing that, it made people be like, ‘Yo, [Rotimi] got a number one album? Lemme go check this out’ And it stayed number one for about another two weeks.”
“So I was able to pay that [$250,00] off through my mechanicals,” Rotimi explained. “[Mechanicals are] the money that you make from streams, the money that you make from Airplay, the money that you make from publishing. Everything that’s from Tidal, Pandora — every time you get a stream.”
Read more about the “Love Riddim” crooner below.
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