50 Cent is taking a back seat to Eminem. The rapper says he won't release his "Before I Self Destruct" CD until Eminem's album - tentatively titled "Relapse" - sees the light of day.

"Right now I'm on a train, and the Em-choo-choo-car goes first. I think people forgot that I'm actually Eminem's artist because I've had so much success on my own and moved away from it," the 32-year-old multi-platinum rapper said in an interview.

"Because Dre is mixing Em's album, Em will be completed entirely before we get a chance to finish up the pieces that me and Dre did together (for my album)," he added.

50 Cent may have a long wait. While Eminem's CD is expected this year, no release date has been set.

But it's not the first time 50 has pushed back his album. The CD was expected to come out last December but was delayed. Back then, 50 Cent said because elements of it weren't complete, so he set a March release date.

Right now, Eminem's got the most buzz musically. His first single, "Crack a Bottle," which features 50 Cent and Dr Dre, hit No. 1 on Billboard's Hot 100 singles chart earlier this month.

The trio recorded the song in Eminem's hometown, Detroit, and 50 said the collaboration between the rappers is a reflection of their camaraderie, and Dr Dre's musical magic.

"(That's) what happens when I actually work with Dr Dre. I make great music away from him, but organically something happens when we're in the same room, and it's like his influence in different ways and we just make hit music together. 'In Da Club,' my biggest record to date, was me and Dre. We have a great relationship so there's no reason for us to not go back in and make more."

But 50 Cent fans can still hear new music from the entertainer. His new video game, "50 Cent: Blood On the Sand," released last week, features 18 exclusive tracks, including one with Swizz Beatz, who composed the score. The rapper says the video game allowed him to tap into his musical vault for previously unreleased material.

"It was an opportunity for me to get to the material that I missed because on every album I over-write (the songs) on the album, and then (there's) the song you wished you could have put on but you didn't," he said. "I had an opportunity to put like five or six of those songs on there and then create the rest of the material for the actual video game."

"Blood on the Sand" follows 50 Cent and G-Unit as they hunt down a crime gang which has stolen their diamond encrusted skull in a war-torn country. 50 said a visit to Iraq influenced some of the game's features.

"After performing for the soldiers, you look at the people there and you use your imagination to say, 'What are they actually feeling? What are they going through'?" he said. "It was an experience but the game itself, I brought some of those experiences I had in to it and that's why it looks the way it looks."

50 Cent's first video game, "50 Cent: Bulletproof," was released in 2005.

(Shanghai Daily March 5, 2009)