50 Cent Is The Executive Producer Of Starz New Crime Series "Power"

If Fitty survived the drug game in real life, maybe Ghost can do it in Fitty’s new television drama.

Maybe.

“Power,” executive-produced by and co-starring Curtis (50 Cent) Jackson and premiering Saturday night at 9 on Starz, revolves around James (Ghost) St. Patrick, a drug distributor who wants to go legit.

Ghost, played with quiet intensity by Omari Hardwick, has a wife and family. He has achieved his lifelong dream of opening a high-end New York nightclub for the rich and beautiful.

Since the club isn’t dependent on drug proceeds, nor is his financial security, he decides he will cut his ties to the drug world.

“That would be the best way he could protect his family,” says Hardwick, and over the long term it would also give him the best chance to stay alive and free.

“There are no old folks’ homes for drug dealers,” says 50 Cent, “except the penitentiary.”

50 is experiencing a period of highs and lows: He humiliated himself throwing a wild ceremonial first pitch at a Mets game last week, but is now launching "Power."

He speaks with some credentials about the show's subject matter, since he began his business career as a street dealer. He eventually got out, though not before surviving a volley of gunfire.

It’s no secret, and probably part of the allure of “Power,” that parts of 50’s experience have been woven into the Ghost character.

But 50 says there’s at least one crucial difference.

“I hadn’t made it to the level Ghost had made it to,” he says. “He’s at the top of New York.”
That’s a testimony to Ghost’s business and people skills. But his stature also makes it harder for him to disengage from the game.

“People get addicted to that lifestyle,” says 50. “At that point the temptations are so great. I’ve known people who got to the point where they wanted to get out, but they got drawn back.

“The only way to get out is something like the 12 steps. You have to change the people, places and things in your life. It’s hard to know if Ghost can do that.”

Hardwick says Ghost’s dilemma is complicated on several levels.

“Ghost’s vision quest, if you will, was to open the club his father always dreamed of,” says Hardwick. “That’s his measure of succeeding. You see him at the end of the first episode talking to his father, who’s now gone. He says, ‘I did it.’

“But it’s not just that. It’s the way he did it. His father tried to do it the ‘right’ way, where you struggle to get to first base and maybe after a long time get to second.

“His father’s dream was short-lived. Ghost took a different path. He went for the gusto.”

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