Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson is pulling back the curtain on his strained relationship with Power creator Courtney A. Kemp.
The hip-hop mogul, who executive produced the hit Starz series and played ruthless gangster Kanan Stark, went public about behind-the-scenes tensions with Kemp in a video he posted to social media.
The video was from an interview he did with GQ about the Emmy-nominated Netflix docuseries Sean Combs: The Reckoning, and the new Starz boxing drama, Fightland. When the conversation turned to Power, 50 Cent did not hold back.
In a clip posted online July 30, the “Candy Shop” rapper claimed the issues with Kemp started because she thought he was getting too much credit for the show’s success due to his star status.
“When people have success for the first time in their career, sometimes they need it to be all theirs,” 50 Cent said. “The difficult thing is if they have their success for the first time and it’s a 50 Cent show… Publicly, people look at it like it’s presented by 50 Cent.”
Related: ‘Power’ Universe Set to Get Second Life on Netflix
While Kemp created, wrote and co-executive produced the crime drama, 50 Cent said he believes he was responsible for a lot of its success because of his knowledge of the streets and his musical contributions to the show.
“The story is from Southside Jamaica, Queens. Everything is 50 Cent tied to the show. The music that’s playing is 50 Cent,” he said before suggesting Kemp became jealous of the attention he was getting.
“It got awkward for the writer, for the showrunner, because she felt like it was registering as a 50 Cent show instead of her show,” he stated.
The rapper went on to say things got “weird” behind the scenes. He claimed Kemp also had a problem with Omari Hardwick, who played lead character James “Ghost” St. Patrick, and she considered killing off his character in early seasons.
“I’m like nah,” 50 Cent said in the interview.
According to the mogul, he came to Hardwick’s defense and pushed back against the idea of killing Ghost.
Power debuted on Starz in 2014 and ended after six seasons in 2020. Ghost eventually died in season 6 after being shot by his son Tariq St. Patrick.
“I wouldn’t have killed him. The s–t could still be running,” 50 Cent said. “It just was creatively a decision that she made because she was not feeling him no more. It turned into almost hatred toward him, feeling like that.”
Power ignited a juggernaut and was followed by the spinoffs Power Book II: Ghost, Power Book III: Raising Kanan, and Power Book IV: Force, with more shows in the works.
In the GQ interview, 50 Cent said Kemp declined to take part in prequel series Power Book III: Raising Kanan because she felt like fans already knew Kanan’s story.
“She was wrong about that ’cause that show, it just snapped,” 50 Cent said about the hit drama, which is now nearing its conclusion.
A rep for Kemp did not immediately respond to Urban Hollywood 411’s request for comment.
The writer-producer has since moved on and created the new crime series Nemesis, which recently debuted with strong viewership numbers on Netflix and was renewed for a second season.
In a 2017 interview with Refinery29, Kemp addressed reports of tension between her and 50 Cent. “It’s all bulls–t!” she said. “50 and I are extremely close, so all that social media drama? It’s just for the show.”
You can watch the full interview with 50 Cent here. He discusses Power at the 19:55 mark.
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