Tony Yayo has a lot to smile about. Maybe not by industry standards, because his debut album only went gold, but in the rapper's own mind, he's better off than he's ever been.

In a recent interview with XXL, the rapper discussed several aspects of his career, the most discussed is how he was the first artist in his camp to only go gold. Although it was looked at as a failure by most, including Yayo at one time, he feels differently about it today.

"They put us in a certain category. If someone from G-Unit does go platinum from G-Unit, it's a failure," Yayo explained to XXL. "That's how I felt about a lot of the media and a lot of people was looking at 'Hey Yayo, he's the only gold artist on G-Unit,' so they looked at my project as a failure, when it wasn't.

"Even I looked at it as a failure at the moment, but then I looked at it like 'Hey, my album went gold, sold 800,000 worldwide and I was on house arrest. What am I crying about?' Then I think about me being in a cell and think about me used to selling drugs before, and I think about everything I didn't have and what I have now... I ain't have sh** [before I started rapping]. The drug ring didn't give me nothing," he continued.

But, his outlook on his debut album's success isn't the only thing that has changed, his whole mindset toward hip-hop and the industry has as well.

"The day my mom's crib got shot up, I changed," he admits. "I just don't care anymore.

"I don't have a problem with calling 50 Cent my boss. My second solo project, I wanna call it I'm 50's Tax Write-Off. The reason why is because it's the truth. Everytime 50 makes money, I make motherf***in' money... He's the one who changed my life."

According to Yayo, he came up with the idea for the title while watching "Hannah Montana" on the Disney Channel with his daughter.

"I was watching 'Hannah Montana's' father and her father was saying 'When you don't have fun with the music no more, leave it alone,'" he recalls. "That's when I decided to call the album I'm 50's Tax Write-Off. I don't give a f*** what anybody say. I'm gonna have fun again and not worry about record sales. I just wanna do the music and say what I wanna say."

Maybe Yayo is on to something. It's no secret that hip-hop record sales and record sales in general have been on a constant decline for years. Maybe getting back to recording music for fun, instead of worrying about singles and spins, could be helpful to the decline of the music industry.

At press time, there is no word on when Yayo's sophomore release is expected to hit stores or where he is at exactly in recording the album.

But in the meantime, Yayo will be working on the release of G-Unit's second album as a group, titled Shoot To Kill, which is expected to hit stores in December.