[There was a video here]

An intrepid tipster just leaked us this video of 50 Cent auditioning for a role in American Gangster, the 2007 Denzel Washington drama about drug kingpin Frank Lucas' rise to power, and there is nothing about this that is not amazing in every way.

50, who prefers to go by Curtis Jackson for his more serious acting roles, had a narrow body of work when he taped this audition—mainly just his widely panned turn in Terence Winters' Get Rich Or Die Tryin'—but that doesn't seem to have stopped him from putting himself up for the role of one of Lucas' brothers, a lieutenant in his drug army.

This tapes brings up so many questions:

  • Which talent agent at William Morris, who represented him at the time, thought this was a good idea?
  • Did Jackson actually submit this tape to Universal?
  • Who is the older-sounding woman heroically trying to read lines opposite him?
  • Is Jackson actually...not completely awful?

While his crying on demand skills may leave something to be desired, the rest of the tape isn't the absolute worst, despite its laughable production value. The role Jackson auditioned for ultimately went to Chiwetel Ejiofor, who is currently garnering solid Oscar buzz for Steve McQueen's Twelve Years A Slave.

If you have any more details on how and why this tape was created, drop me an e-mail. Got even more embarrassing audition tapes? Send those in too.

UPDATE: A tipster tells us that the agents behind this blessed mess were Joanna Wiles and Dana Sims, both of whom were let go from William Morris when it merged with Endeavor, and are now at ICM.