What If 50 Cent’s Before I Self Destruct Was Leaked On Purpose?

Disclaimer: This is total speculation, and we’re probably completely wrong. Carry on.

Today, the hip-hop e-world was abuzz over the sudden, and very premature, leak of 50 Cent’s latest album, Before I Self Destruct. While everyone’s first impulse was along the lines of “someone’s going to get fired,” we immediately wondered the opposite. One would think the Curtis Jackson machine would be secure enough to not allow this project to get out, and nearly a month early at that. What if BISD was leaked purposefully? What could the benefit be?

The only thing we can think of, is the movie. Interestingly, the day before the album leaked, the official trailer for Before I Self Destruct, the movie, was released. The trailer looks pretty good, for what it is, and was already gaining a buzz of its own before the album leak news broke. While it was once supposedly to come to theaters, BISD, the movie, was now reported to be packaged as a DVD to accompany the actual CD.

In either case, the benefit could outweigh the losses of a leaked album. Once the album is out and about, if the feedback is as overwhelmingly positive as the first couple of hours of twitter feedback has been showing, will people still buy the physical copy on Nov. 23, on principle? According to the iTunes pre-order, the “Deluxe Edition” of BISD, the album, has 3 more tracks than the leak. Well, that might not be enough to sway freeloaders, but for the CD + extra tracks + the DVD, even those who have downloaded the leaked CD may be so inclined.

Additionally, if the movie is released to theaters, backed by the strength of the leaked CD serving as a marketing push, box office tickets could be substantially higher than if the movie came out at the same time as the DVD. Wethinks movie profits >>> CD profits in this day and age.

Again, we could be totally off the mark here, but thinking outside the box is something 50 has become quite adept at. And based on his latest stunt of using the quick-to-spread-false-rumor ability of Twitter to his complete advantage, doing the same with what could be argued would be the inevitability of the album leaking anyway, we certainly wouldn’t put it past him.

What say you all?