50 Cent taps Rich Harrison for new album

By: Yves Erwin Salomon

Rapper 50 Cent is headed back to the studio to work on his next album and he reached out to producer Rich Harrison to helm the project. What's surprising about his choice is that Harrison is best known for his work on such R&B hits as Amerie's "1 Thing" and Beyonce's "Crazy In Love," not as a hip hop producer. Harrison told MTV.com, "I'd wanted to do some more hip-hop stuff, but someone's got to trust it. Someone's got to believe."

In addition to his upcoming work with 50 Cent, Harrison is also scheduled to work with Usher and Missy Elliott.

He's also in the process of launching his own Maryland-based label, Richcraft Records, in conjunction with Atlantic Records. Harrison explained, "There's been some really successful labels, but most of them are rap-based. I really want to bring back the LaFace model. Rap just took over the world, dude. It's so prevalent, and from a label standpoint so much cheaper to make. The business model is just easier. But R&B has been practically watered down by pop. There used to be black music, but that doesn't exist today like it used to do."

So far, the label's roster includes former Roc-A-Fella artist Young Steff and Jaiden James.