50 CENT - 50 CENT: 'ALBUM EMBRACE IS NOT ME + CIARA'

50 CENT has played down reports the naked woman he's embracing in cover art photos for his new album is CIARA, insisting the hip-hop world simply wants them to be a couple. Reports of a romance went into overdrive earlier this summer (07) when the rapper joined Ciara for steamy scenes in her Can't Leave 'Em Alone video. The pair has denied a romance, but now photos of what looks like a topless 50 embracing a naked Ciara, wearing only a thong, have appeared in cover art for his album Curtis. But the rap star insists, "This album photo packaging was done four months before the (Ciara) video. It's not her. I was scheduled to release (the album) June 26 and those photos were shot back then. "You were all so stuck on the idea of me being with Ciara that y'all thought that was Ciara."