It looks as if Zayn Malik may be leaving Simon Cowell’s record label, Syco, to go and work with rapper 50 Cent instead.

50 Cent, whose real name is Curtis Jackson, has already admitted to wanting to work with Zayn. “I want it to happen,” he told the Sunday Mirror.

“I can make him a lot of money and he can make me a lot of money,” Mr Jackson said. “The point I am making is he needs to be working with the right producers, artists, and people in the genre.”

The 39-year-old hip hop and fashion mogul has reportedly wooed Zayn by telling him that if he tries to make rap music with a pop label it could be “a little cringe, and he doesn’t want that.”

While Zayn maintained that his reason for leaving 1D was because he wanted to lead a normal life, it looks as if Perrie Edward’s fiancé has already begun work on his career as a solo artist.

Zayn has been working with producer friend Naughty Boy but their relationship has already been ensnared in controversy. 

The rapper MIC Righteous released a track that had Zayn's vocals on it. But Naughty Boy instantly claimed that the track was stolen and unfinished. 

The producer tweeted saying “Just wait for the real one… you won’t be disappointed. That had nothing to do with me or Zayn, something was stolen from the hard drive that had nothing to do with the rapper involved.”

As the La La La producer has already been involved in a heated Twitter feud with Louis Tomlinson, it looks as if Zayn could be playing it safe by jumping to 50 Cent’s label and avoiding any further controversy. 

@NaughtyBoyMusic I was talking about the video you tweeted . Clearly trying to wind the fans up ! Well you succeeded anyway . Fair play

— Louis Tomlinson (@Louis_Tomlinson) March 31, 2015