50 Cent Says Eminem Is Getting Close to His Next Album. That's Why He Left the Street Fighter Song.
On the red carpet at the Street Fighter premiere, 50 Cent told The Associated Press that Eminem stepped back from the movie's theme song because he is preparing his next album. No title, no date, and no word yet from Eminem's camp. Here is exactly what 50 said and what it does and does not confirm.
By @bradleymines ·
At the Los Angeles premiere of Street Fighter on Monday, 50 Cent explained why Eminem is not on the film's theme after all: Em is busy with his next album. First reported by The Associated Press and Billboard.
50 Cent has spent most of 2026 teasing a Street Fighter theme with Eminem and 2Pac on it. On Monday night, walking the red carpet at the film's premiere in Los Angeles, he finally said why that version never showed up. Eminem worked on it, then stepped away, because his own album is getting close.
50 Cent, to The Associated Press: "Em, he put a couple pieces together for it and decided because he got closer to his album... he kinda fell back on that because he's preparing his presentation for the next album."
Billboard noted he said it "with a sly smile." That is the whole of it. It was one answer in a red carpet interview, not a press release, but it is the clearest public statement anyone in Eminem's circle has made this year that a new album is actually in motion.
How we got here: the Eminem, 2Pac and 50 Cent theme
50 plays Balrog in Street Fighter, which opens in theaters this Friday, October 16. Back in December 2025 he said publicly he wanted Eminem on the soundtrack. By July he was telling NBC's Today show the song already existed.
50 Cent, on Today (July 2026): "I did something currently me, Eminem and 2Pac... It's for the theme of Street Fighter."
We covered that tease when it happened in 50 Cent's Eminem and 2Pac Street Fighter theme. Then the September trailer arrived with a 2Pac "Ambitionz Az a Ridah" variant and no Eminem verse, which we broke down in the Street Fighter trailer story. Eminem's part was never confirmed, and as of last month the full theme was still unreleased. Monday's comments are the first explanation for the gap.
What this confirms, and what it doesn't
Confirmed: 50 Cent said it, on camera, to the AP on October 12. Street Fighter's release date and his role are locked.
Only on 50's word: that Eminem is working on a new album, that it is "close," and that he dropped the soundtrack feature to focus on it. Nobody from Eminem's side, Paul Rosenberg, Shady Records or Interscope, has commented. Billboard says it has reached out to Eminem's reps.
Does not exist yet: an album title, a release date, a tracklist or any label announcement. Billboard's own summary: "Details about the project remain scarce."
It is also worth knowing that "50 says Eminem has new music" is a headline that comes back every year or two. Plenty of the results you will find searching this today are recycled from 2019, 2023 and 2024. This one is new, and it is specific: tied to a real project Eminem walked away from, for a reason 50 gave out loud.
Why it lines up with everything else this fall
Eminem's last album, The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce), came out in July 2024 and debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. Since then he has kept appearing on other people's records rather than his own. Just this month he traded verses with Shady signee Ez Mil on "Madara", and his feature on Kid Rock's upcoming album drew a loud reaction from fans.
A man clearing his schedule of side projects because "the next album" needs his attention fits that picture. For the longer view on where the album talk stood before Monday, see what Denaun Porter has said about a new Eminem album and our running retirement, tour and new album rumor tracker.
Where this actually sits
50 Cent does not usually talk about Eminem's business by accident, and he knew a camera was rolling. But this is still a friend describing a friend's plans, with no date attached. Until Shady Records says something, treat it as the strongest signal yet, not an announcement. If the Eminem and 2Pac version of the theme surfaces later, on the soundtrack or on Em's own album, that will be the first real sign of what he has been building.
Sources: The Associated Press red carpet interview at the Street Fighter premiere (Oct. 12, 2026); Billboard (Oct. 13, 2026); NBC's Today (July 2026).