It’s official. 50 Cent has landed on the Jersey Shore — or rather — Jersey Shore has landed on his record label. After it was reported earlier this year that DJ Pauly D, star of MTV’s reality series “Jersey Shore” was negotiating a record deal with 50 Cent, it’s now been confirmed that 50 has indeed signed the reality TV star to G-Unit imprint, G-Note Records.
In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, the G-Note head honcho explained how the deal with Pauly D came to be and what he expects to accomplish with the reality star.
“When Pauly came by to see me, they had options,” he said. “They had several places that they were going, and people that were interested in doing a deal with him. Obviously, the momentum from “Jersey Shore” was spun off into him being the first one to have his own independent series. They’re moving places and deejaying in front of bigger audiences, and getting ready to make moves internationally, where the DJ is the star, overseas. When I sat with him, I saw the opportunities we could have moving forward, with brand extension and packaging the music.”
50 Cent also referred to Pauly D as a mix of David Guetta and DJ Khaled and spoke about major record labels’ lack of interest in building stars.
“I don’t think they’re taking into account the marketing dollars it takes to be a superstar,” he said. “To be a recognizable talent as an artist, within a community of a whole lot of artists, sure, you can do that on your own. But when you move into different tiers, there’s still a benefit to majors. But this is from someone who’s already established themselves — the new guy might want to take a shot on his own and see what happens.”
While this new partnership between 50 Cent and Pauly D might seem strange, it’s not the first time a record label has chosen an odd artist. Here are five other out-of-the-box record label signings. –nicholas robinson
