Starz Adds New Drama Series ‘Power,\' Produced by 50 Cent

1:31 p.m. | Updated

Alexei Hay Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, the rapper and and  executive producer of “Power.”

Judging solely from 50 Cent's hit song “In da Club,” one might think that nightclubs are places of pure frivolity, where shorties can always be found partying and sipping Bacardi like it was their birthdays. But, as a new television series that this rapper and actor will be producing for the Starz cable channel makes clear, clubs can have their dark sides too.

Starz said on Friday that it was picking up a new drama series called “Power,” which is set in the shadowy world of New York City night life and whose executive producers include 50 Cent (who is also known by his civilian name, Curtis Jackson).

“Power” is created by Courtney Kemp Agboh, a producer of “The Good Wife,” and chronicles a fictional nightclub owner named James St. Patrick, known as Ghost. But while he dreams of success, Ghost is living a double life: “When he is not in the club,” says a Starz news release, “he is the kingpin of the most lucrative drug network in New York for a very high-level clientele. His marriage, family and business all become unknowingly threatened as he is tempted to leave his criminal life behind and become the rags-to-riches businessman he wants to be most of all.”

Mr. Jackson, who grew up in Queens, N.Y., and worked as a drug dealer before pursuing his hip-hop career, said in a telephone interview that “Power” will continue to explore themes and ideas introduced on his breakthrough 2005 album “Get Rich or Die Tryin'.”

“I intentionally created a project that had all the dysfunctional behaviors that were around the environment I was from,” Mr. Jackson said of that album. “It was a representation of everything.”

“Power,” Mr. Jackson said, will “not shy away from what really goes on.” He added: “In the small print in the newspaper every day, there's a list of things that are happening, that are not actually being covered on the front page.”

Casting for “Power” was not immediately announced. But Mr. Jackson, who has also acted in films like “Home of the Brave,” “Righteous Kill” and a semi-autobiographical movie, also called “Get Rich or Die Tryin',” said he would like to play a character on the series that “takes me even further away from the things that I've done.”

Asked if he also planned to contribute music to “Power,” Mr. Jackson said, “I want to be all over it.”

Starz has continued to revamp its lineup of original programming as it has seen popular shows like “Spartacus” come to an end and canceled others like “Boss.” Among the series that it plans to introduce in the months ahead are “The White Queen,” a period drama based on the Philippa Gregory novel, and the pirate adventure “Black Sails.” Starz said that production on “Power” would begin later this year and that its first eight-episode season would be shown next year.