Before I Self Destruct (film)

Before I Self Destruct

Directed by	Curtis Jackson
Produced by	Curtis Jackson (also executive producer) J. Jesses Smith Ken Kushner Frank Mosca (associate producer)
Written by	Curtis Jackson
Starring	Curtis Jackson Clifton Powell Elijah Williams Gabriel Ellis Sasha Delvalle
Music by	Curtis Jackson Ky Miller Victor Bruno Stephen Tubin
Edited by	Stephen Franciosa Jr Ned Silhavy Jimmy Higgins (co-editor) Vilan Trub (post-production supervisor)
Production company	Kreative Film Empire
Distributed by	Cheetah Vision
Release dates	November 23, 2009 (2009-11-23)
Running time	79 Minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Before I Self Destruct^[1] is a 2009 American crime drama film^[2] starring Curtis Jackson, who also served as writer, director, producer and executive producer that is included with his fourth studio album of the same name. It was released on November 23, 2009 when the album was released 14 days earlier.

Plot

The film is about Clarence Jenkins (Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson), who lives with his mom and his gifted brother Shocka (Elijah "Strong-E" Williams). Clarence loves basketball and had dreamed on making the pros in the championship. However, due to breaking his knee in the end, his basketball career ended before it begins. Basically, he has no way to earn a living and ends up working in a supermarket where he longs after pretty girls that he feels are beyond his reach as a stock person, where he also checks out a woman named Princess (Sasha Delvalle).

After his mother, Donna Jenkins (Kar) was accidentally shot and killed by a gunman named Tiny (Shorty Red) in a drive-by shooting when she was leaving a local bodega, Clarence has no idea what he can do to take care of his brother and prevent him from going into foster care when he got fired from his job, after getting caught for stealing a can of cookies that was caught on camera. He is stuck trying to find a way to take care of Shocka, who had already been accepted to all eight Ivy League universities.

In anger and frustration, he finds Tiny and kills him with a revolver that came from inside a shoe box, which was covered over a shirt, that was under Clarence's bed at his hotel room, after coming back from the local bodega to find an eviction notice on the hotel door. Clarence visits Sean (Clifton Powell), who is the local crime boss, to inform him that he killed Tiny who had previously worked for Sean. Sean decides that he likes Clarence's style and way he carries himself, so he hires Clarence to be his new hitman.

After obtaining financial success from his newly found criminal lifestyle, he runs into Princess, the beautiful woman from the supermarket, who had captivated his attention, yet he felt was unable to obtain her affection. Now that he makes hundreds of thousands of dollars and can support his brother, life is easier and so is the money, once he gets past his original shock at being a hired gun. He begins to develop a close bond with Princess and believes she feels the same. However, he is unable to see Princess' true motivations, as she is using him. Clarence bestows gold, diamonds and payback when Princess's ex-boyfriend Rafael (Gabriel Ellis) gets released from prison.

Rafael tracks her down by using her mom's phone to call Princess and she answers the phone while in bed with Clarence pretending it is her mom. Rafael asks her where is the money he gave her for safekeeping and says he wants his "paper". She meets up with him and has sex and when he again asks her for his "paper" Princess stays silent. When Rafael gets angry and demands an answer, the only thing she says is "Clarence", implying that she gave Clarence Rafael's money, which of course is not true. Clarence is keeping her like a queen and given her everything she wants.

Rafael thinks that Clarence has taken his money from Princess so he has her call Clarence and ask him to come to her mom's house to help move furniture. Princess and Rafael wait in his car across the street from her mom's house. As soon as Clarence steps out of the car, Rafael starts shooting Clarence with a USP (Standard), leading to a slow, painful death. When Princess arrives and steals all of Clarence's paper out of the drawer, Shaka realises what's going on and tells Princess he will find her if it's the last thing he does if she hurt his brother, kind of hinting that Shocka may also follow the wrong path to seek revenge for Clarence.

Cast

Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson as Clarence Jenkins, Shocka's elder brother and the main protagonist in the film
Clifton Powell as Sean, Clarence's local crime boss
Elijah "Strong E" Williams as Shocka, Clarence's 13-year-old brother
Gabriel Ellis as Rafael, Princess's ex-boyfriend
Sasha Delvalle as Princess
Shorty Red as Tiny, a gunman who shot Clarence's mother
Angel as Mona
Anthony 'Treach' Criss as Cedrick
Michael Wright as the first victim who got killed in a lift
Lloyd Banks as Shocka's school teacher
Gabrielle Casseus as Freddie
Kar as Donna Jenkins, Clarence and Shocka's mother
Jaquan K.R. Cobb as Bobby, Shocka's best friend at school
Taquan K.R. Cobb as Kevin
Eve Lora as Mrs. Ortiz, Princess's mother

Music

The music for the film is composed by G-Unit frontman 50 Cent and Ky Miller (who both also served as music supervisors; Miller also served as ADR recordist and record producer) along with Victor Bruno (who also served as an ADR recordist; he also did the audio mix and design, and the sound design with Tom Gambale) and Stephen Tubin who composed and arranged the score. The first hit single "Ok, You're Right" from 50 Cent's fourth studio album of the same name was contributed to, and played in, Before I Self Destruct. The first single from the album was produced by Dr. Dre (who also served as 50 Cent's executive producer for the album).

Tony Yayo, another member from G-Unit, contributed his solo rap song "Face Off" (produced by Dream Team) in the film. Other contributed songs in the film include the following Ky Miller-produced tracks: "Come With Me" by Mass Hysteria, "It's Going Down" by Mike Knox, "Tell Me" by American female R&B singer Taryn Fouche, "All Night" by American rapper Smitty, and "Pray for Me" by R&B singer Gasner Hughes.

Prodigy contributed the song "Murder Murder" for the film, which produced by The Alchemist. 50 Cent also contributed three more rap songs in the film, such as the non-album single "Get Up" (produced by Scott Storch), which was replaced by the album's second single "Baby by Me" for the album of the same name, "Try Me" and "Cold Blooded" (both produced by Ky Miller).

Sequel

In November 2010, Sasha Delvalle revealed that there will be a second part of the movie and she will be a part of it.^[3] In September 2012, she revealed that the sequel Before I Self Destruct 2 was in the works.^[4]

References

External links

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