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50 Cent at the Lalique Townhouse in New York Adam Morganstern Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson and his brand Sire Spirits took over the Lalique townhouse in Manhattan recently to celebrate the release of the ‘505 Edition Branson Cognac.’ Limited to 505 bottles, the Cognac is made from 200 eaux-de-vie from Grande Champagne — some aged for over one hundred years —and housed in a hand-crafted crystal decanter from Lalique. The wood and marble case is designed to show off the collectible with embedded LED lighting to illuminate the bottle and two snifter glasses. Prospective buyers first need to make a $5K donation to 50 Cent’s G-Unity Foundation and will then receive an invitation to purchase the ‘505 Edition’ for an additional $20K. I spoke with 50 Cent about the collaboration, the Cognac and why he thinks it’s fun having a lot of money. How did the collaboration with Lalique come about? I started Sire Spirits in 2018 and in 2019 I reached out to Lalique. It’s been six years that we’ve been working on this project and the 505 Edition has been an amazing partnership. When I started talking with the designers — I didn’t realize how much artistic energy went into what they create. What was the process for the bottle design for the 505 Edition? They understood how I kind of like to borrow from things — we went and looked at what they’ve already created in the past and we borrowed from the perfume bottles just to have a ballpark to start from. That shape is amazing — we can do something from that and go from there. Everything is hand-crafted. The 505 looks like one of the smaller fragrance bottles they had except for the lion’s head — that was the first thing I wanted to bring into that. The 505 Edition Branson Cognac Courtesy of Sire Spirits Tell me about the Cognac inside the bottle. It's the real deal. Some of the Cognacs inside have been aged over one hundred years. All from Grande Champagne vineyards. When I got to France they quickly showed me the things they thought were really exciting — the good stuff. I wanted to be able to present that to the public in a different way. It’s only 505 bottles, so outside of the Cognac itself the craftsmanship is what makes it something special. Do you remember the first time you had Cognac? I was a late bloomer as far as drinking. I just had a drink. I didn't know exactly what it was in the first place. It was in the neighborhood I grew up in. My experience is totally different from what they do in France because they'll take it and they'll swirl it around and smell it. The U.S. consumes Cognac in cocktails and different forms. So it lightens it up because there's other things involved. In France — they want to have it be just Cognac. (Laughs) I’m from the U.S. —lightweight is a lot easier for me. The 505 Edition Branson Cognac Courtesy of Sire Spirits Have you ever shared a special drink with one of your idols? Once with Dre. It was in the recording studio. He's a lab rat. It was the end of when we completed the second album. You haven’t asked me about my money. I’m really rich. We’ve got to talk about the money. By any chance are you rich? Really rich. It's getting better now that I'm older. I got into the things that are just letting it go out. And it's staying in. The unveiling of the 505 Edition Branson Cognac What's the most fun thing about having a lot of money? The most fun thing about this period for me is being able to explore my ideas, that's all. All of the saving was for no reason (laughs). It was really for me to do what I want to do now. It's organic that a lot of music talents get involved in film and television later. Because when they're in the top ten — there's always nine other people getting played every hour on the hour. They want to create a separation by doing things that make them bigger and better. Television is the area where not too many people have success in it from music culture. I get involved and my first television project is like my first album — it’s the largest debut hip-hop album and then I have the largest debuting show on the network that I'm on. It turns into the ‘Yellowstone’ of their network. Multiple spin-offs come from there but currently I have 40 shows across 12 different networks. ‘Fightland’ is in production filming in the UK right now. ’50 Ways to Catch a Killer’ is streaming on Fox Nation right now. ‘Power Origins’ starts filming in November and I’ve got two films: one I produced, ‘Moses The Black,’ and another I performed in, ‘Street Fighter.’ Editorial StandardsReprints & Permissions
