50 Cent recruits Kelly Rowland for video
Singer Kelly Rowland performs at the MTV Los Premios 09 awards in Los Angeles, California October 15, 2009.
Credit: Reuters/Mario Anzuoni
NEW YORK (Billboard) - Rapper 50 Cent says former Destiny's Child singer Kelly Rowland "never received the superstar treatment" that Beyonce got in the girl group. And he's doing his bit to fix that.
Rowland co-stars in his "Baby By Me" video, which premiered on the Internet Monday. The track appears on his "Before I Self Destruct" album, now due November 16 via Interscope. It marks his follow-up to 2007's "Curtis," which peaked at No. 2 on the U.S. charts.
"You can't forget all the work she did with Destiny's Child," he told Billboard.com. "The difference between Kelly and Beyonce is the extreme focus they put on Beyonce to make sure she was completely right. Kelly wasn't held in the same regard, so, in order for her to mean anything to America, they'd have to match the marketing dollars spent on Beyonce. She never received the superstar treatment."
The video finds 50 Cent meeting an around-the-way Rowland and day-dreaming about moving out of the 'hood and living a blissful life in the suburbs, where the happy couple resides with their three sons. But, after declaring his love and promises of sexing her up, 50 discovers the visions were all figments of his imagination, as Rowland is actually already married to another man, with whom she has a child.
Rowland isn't the only "Kelly" with whom 50 Cent worked on this project; he also collaborated on a total of three songs with R. Kelly, including one titled "Could've Been You," which made the final cut. But the album isn't all love, lust and sex, according to 50 Cent, who says there's a lot of "aggression" on this album as well.
"This album is the sequel to (his 2003 breakthrough) 'Get Rich Or Die Tryin' -- it has all the elements that I missed writing about on that first project," 50 Cent said. "That album translated the strongest and what I presented then was a lot of aggression. The actual album has lyrics about moments from my childhood, and I describe then from a child's perspective."
