50 Cent on why 'Power' hasn't won more awards: 'I'd like to say it's racial'

BEVERLY HILLS – 50 Cent thinks there's a racial element to the lack of Emmy recognition for his Starz drama, "Power," the pay-cable network's top-rated series.

The hip-hop star (aka Curtis Jackson), who produces and stars in the drama about a New York drug lord seeking a way out of the criminal world, was more matter-of-fact than provocative when asked during a Television Critics Association panel why "Power," which opens its final season Aug. 25, hasn't been recognized in major awards competitions, especially the Emmys.

"I'd like to say it's racial. That's the easy way to get out of things. I just think (voters) overlook it," he said, suggesting Emmy voters weren't that familiar with the series, which features a predominantly black cast.

He compared the lack of Emmy attention – the series has been honored at the NAACP Image Awards but has never been nominated for an Emmy – to the slow response to his best-selling music.

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"People at awards ceremonies have always been late to my projects. … This project, the content is the same material that I use for my music, and I didn't receive the best new artist (award when I had) the largest debuting hip-hop album," he said. "I look at (this) the same. I'm just going to make the numbers so high, in viewership, that they'll be saying we (messed) up again."

Executive producer Courtney Kemp also addressed the nominations disparity between "Game of Thrones," which received 32, and "Power" – the second most-watched pay-cable series currently airing, according to Starz – which didn't get any.

"The first couple of years, it was disappointing because I thought we were doing something new and fresh and I was hoping that the Emmy voters would take notice and then they didn't. And (you) just accept it and move on," Kemp said. "But we've been winning (NAACP) Image Awards now for quite some time, so it feels as if our core audience does love and respect the show."

Kemp also theorized the cutting-edge drama was a bit ahead of its time.

"We were pioneers. Had we premiered maybe two or three years later, it might have been different," she said. "It's just that we were up front and so it took a while for people in the mainstream to notice us. And by that time, that sweet-spot window had disappeared."

50 Cent offered a final theory on the lack of recognition: "The people who are connected to these fantasies and voting are not necessarily cool people."

Quipped Kemp, in response: "So, now we'll never get one."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 50 Cent blames race for few Power awards