There’s a scene in the new movie Dead Man Running where one of the main characters, played by hip-hop star 50 Cent, is seen reading a copy of The Economist.

In real life, too, the musician has been getting to grips with business writing. Last month saw the publication of a management book, The 50th Law, a collaboration between author Robert Greene and 50 Cent.

The two make an unlikely duo but one of Greene’s previous books, the management bestseller The 48 Rules of Power, is a favourite among rap singers.

50 Cent had been a fan and an initial meeting in 2006 between the two led them to produce the new volume: part-memoir concerning the musician’s tough upbringing in New York and his former life as a drug dealer, and part-management guide. The mantra of the book is that the key to success is to be fearless.

The guide argues that many of the strategies 50 Cent used as a hustler dealing drugs can be applied to the boardroom. Some of this seems a little far-fetched, but the music star said the degree of determination involved is the same. “They have absolutely different codes of conduct but there are parallels to how they would do things,” he said. “I’ve people in my neighbourhood where I grew up, in order to expand their business, they wouldn’t rule out killing the competition.

“I now hang out with people who absolutely have those intentions for their competitors but they don’t have the physical act of killing them as part of their strategy. Two different routes, but they want the same outcome.”

Winners in business, he said, are determined by how much of their rivals’ market share they can conquer. “The people we deem good are the people who do probably the most destruction in the executive space,” said the musician.

50 Cent has more credibility than most when it comes to fearlessness. One day in May 2000, he was shot nine times by a former drug rival.

Today, he is one of the biggest music stars in the world, raking in $150m last year, according to Forbes magazine. 50 Cent runs the G-Unit record label and has businesses ranging from clothing to soft drinks. Next month, he launches an aftershave. “I’ve made more away from the music than from the music,” he said.

His new career as a management guru seems to appeal. Recently, he and Greene gave a talk at Howard University in Washington, which he found a little nerve-racking, until he worked out how to suppress any butterflies.

“Everyone in that room had achieved a higher education.

I found something that made me secure, like the fact that I had earned more money than everyone in that room over the past six years.”

One surprising element of the book is the degree to which bosses at Interscope, the record company that owns 50 Cent’s G-Unit label, come in for criticism. They are accused of being too slow to react to big changes in the sector, such as the threat from piracy. The star thinks it is a problem across the industry, born of a lack of ownership.

“People respond as if it’s just a regular job. In general, people who work for others work nine to five, and they couldn’t care less whether the job is actually done or not.”

Maybe, 50 Cent could start handing them copies of his book: it might get him some more satisfying results.

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