G-Unit Talk About Loyalty

Unlike most hip-hop icons, 50 Cent actually enjoys sharing the mike - and the spotlight. Despite basking in the success of three multiplatinum solo albums and establishing a movie career, the Queens-bred rapper couldn't wait to reunite with his G-Unit running mates.

"[Lloyd] Banks and [Tony] Yayo are my family. No matter what we do on our own, we'll always come back and do records together," explains Fitty , who's optimistic the group's sophomore effort, "T.O.S. (Terminate on Sight)," dropping Tuesday, will flourish on the streets as well as the charts.

"Our clique is all about loyalty," he adds. "It's all about pushing each other. Both Yayo and Banks have had solo releases that have done very well. But that didn't mean we were gonna go our separate ways."

Unlike most emcees who blow up and promise their crew luxury cars, sexy girls and lots of dough, Fitty buried his ego after the album "Get Rich or Die Tryin' " made him an instant hip-hop icon in 2003. He quickly introduced his partners later that year on G-Unit's first album, "Beg for Mercy," which has gone on to sell more than 6 million copies.

The exposure sparked successful individual releases, including Banks' "The Hunger for More" and Young Buck's "Straight Outta Cashville," both of which went platinum.

"When you look at Eminem and Nelly, they both put out two records each before they introduced their boys," says Fitty, who remains close to Emimen, who with Dr. Dre helped launch his career. "People quickly got acquainted with G-Unit. The best part about that now is I don't feel like I have to lead."

It may be more like catch-up.

When Fitty heard Yayo tearing up former Gov. Eliot Spitzer on "Close to Me" and Banks boasting about his bedroom skills on "I Like the Way She Do It," he was inspired to break out his notebooks and tighten up his rhymes.

"I had to redo some things," he says, laughing.

"We were really pushing each other," Banks says. "Literally, by the time I got a verse done, Yayo would have his done. We were damn near fighting each other to get in the booth."

To his credit, Fitty - who recently turned 32 and has already started working on his fourth solo album, "Before I Self-Destruct," with Dre - made it easy on is crew by handpicking vicious and alluring melodies in advance from an array of virtually unknown producers. (Though one track does feature work from legendary Swizz Beatz.)

"I knew the sound we needed to reintroduce the power of a group," says Fitty. That couldn't be more apparent than on the NWA-inspired, "Straight Outta Southside," a raw, profanity-laced beast, or "Rider Pt. 2," which features Young Buck.

"If you look at hip-hop, there aren't any groups anymore," explains Fitty, who does respect the Roots and Wu-Tang Clan but feels there's something missing. "I wanna bring people back to the days of Onyx and Goodie Mob."

It's likely with the firepower behind "T.O.S," Fitty will get his wish. But even if he doesn't, the bulletproof general has already instilled the importance of unity within his troops.

"My loyalty's to the Unit because if it wasn't for us doing what we do as a whole, I wouldn't have anything," says Yayo. "I will always remember being in Southside Jamaica, Queens, not having what we have now. A lot of people get money and forget their friends. But not Fitty."