50 Cent has a new timetable for his next solo album: June 2004. The beefed-up MC had planned on dropping it in February, but he doesn't want to be competing with himself and his crew in record stores.

"I was gonna release it in the first quarter, but [the record company] asked me to give [G-Unit's Beg for Mercy] room, you know," 50 explained last week in Puerto Rico at the Mixshow Power Summit. "The material for [the G-Unit] record came out so well, they feel like it's gonna [have a long shelf life]."

It turned out so well that the G-Unit's Young Buck expects the record to surpass the first-week sales of 50's Get Rich or Die Tryin', which moved close to 900,000 copies.

"A million and a half," Buck predicted without flinching. "I believe anything is possible. You know, with the controversy around the album, I think once the people get a hold of it and they get to listening and seeing the things on this album, that's gonna make you say, 'Hold up — I know they didn't just say that.' It's gonna draw a whole lot more people."

One of Beg for Mercy's main drawing points, according to 50, will be the Lloyd Banks solo cut "Smile."

"It's huge, man," 50 said with a smile. "I think the record is gonna be probably if not the second, the third single on this album. 'I wanna be the reason you smile,' he's saying. A lot of times [artists] write records about relationships and everyone is in love or everyone is in a good space in the relationship. They do that a lot for R&B remixes and those situations. But particularly on a hip-hop level, I think that there is difference. There are those relationships where everything is not going good."

The G-Unit are building some big relationships with some of their peers. They've formed allegiances with such cats as Snoop Dogg, Lil' Flip, Busta Rhymes and Jay-Z. And in the video for Beg for Mercy's first single, "Stunt 101," the guys get a guest spot from Brandy. The clip takes its plot from the movie "Gone in 60 Seconds."

Beg for Mercy is due November 18, and 50 said a Lloyd Banks solo album should drop in March, with Young Buck's debut following in August.

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