Upon discovering an old tape of his formative project Power Of The Dollar, 50 Cent issued a confident declaration. “Damn i did this in 1998 and i still can rap better than you fools.” A reminder that behind all of the antics and brand-pushing hashtags stands a proud emcee. One who seldom gets the credit he might deserve. Despite having held his own alongside lyrical elites like Eminem and his own group-mate Lloyd Banks. Despite having engaged in battle with rappers like Jadakiss, The Game, and Rick Ross, three foes who would surely lay waste to a lesser challenger. Not to mention the fact that his breakout movement was based off a simple premise, which is to say, freestyling over established beats and outshining the original artist.

Consider that mixtapes of that nature have essentially gone extinct. These days, mixtapes are basically albums, albeit generally more free-flowing and lax. Back when 50 was carving out his lane, attempting to crack into an industry that was essentially too fearful to do business with him, he was spitting with a hunger not often seen in this era. Unafraid to call out names and make enemies, Fif’s intensity carried into his early music. The aforementioned Power Of The Dollar, his classic mixtape Guess Who’s Back. His reputation as a wild card allowed him a certain presence on wax, one who seemed willing to back up any threat made. For a gangsta rapper, that’s an invaluable tool. And while many have explored similar territory as young 50 tended to favor, few did it with as much relish. He seemed to feel a devilish glee while detailing acts of violence, one that imbued him with a villainous charisma — the likes of which are still felt to this day.

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Remember, this was a rapper who eyed the coveted New York crown. He expressed as such on the classic “Be A Gentleman,” when he called out one of his chief competitors in Jay-Z. “Still n***s actin’ like I don’t get down or something, like I ain’t the next n***a to wear the crown or something,” he taunts, a rhyme basic on paper but impactful on wax. “You gonna talk about your chips ’til we run in your crib and you gon’ ask dumb questions like, ‘can I live?’” At the time, the race for New York kingship was tight — names like Jay, DMX, Ja Rule, Ghostface, and Raekwon were comfortably in the running delivering excellent music. And while each one was more established than Fif, he somehow managed to remain in the race. Immense hustle and work ethic can go far, but not without the skill to match. Without the ability to toggle beast mode, longevity is out of the question. It’s the reason tapes like the aforementioned two stand up today, not as historical relics but as genuinely badass servings of grimy NYC rap.

But what about his rapping ability makes him a top tier emcee? Insofar as the lyrics themselves are concerned, Fif seldom engaged in what has come to be unflatteringly described as “rappity-rap.” He’s concise in his messages, letting the attitude present within his voice emphasize any point. “In the hood summertime, it’s the killing season / it’s hot out this bitch, that’s a good enough reason,” he shrugs, on the Dr. Dre produced “Heat.” Lines like that hold more character than some rappers conjure in an entire song. The entirety of “Heat,” arguably the greatest song of Fif’s career, is a masterclass in visual storytelling. “Don’t think you safe ’cause you moved out the hood, cause ya mama still around dawg, and that ain’t good,” he continues. “If you was smart you’d be shook of me, cause I get tired of looking for ya / spray ya mama crib and let yo ass look for me.” Where a lesser lyricist might have simply delivered the threat in a passing line, Fif’s internal rhyme scheme set up gives it even more power. 

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And if “Heat” doesn’t hold the crown as 50’s greatest record, there’s a strong case to be made for another Get Rich Or Die Tryin classic, “Many Men.” It should be noted that as a writer, Fif seldom gets overtly conceptual in his use of language. He tends to operate in a rather frank manner, drawing from personal experience and presenting his philosophies accordingly. “In the Bible, it says what goes around, comes around,” raps Fif, in the climactic verse. “Hommo shot me, three weeks later he got shot down, now it’s clear that I’m here for a real reason / cause he got hit like I got hit, but he ain’t fuckin’ breathin’.”

On paper, the lines read relatively simple, the premise straightforward. Yet it’s exactly this approach to morality that makes his rapping so compelling. It’s not entirely different from an emcee like DMX, whose words were imbued with a similar gravitas; neither have to flow in a dexterous fashion to impress, masking lack of character with aimless lyrical gymnastics. Instead, 50 was able to paint vivid pictures with the simplest of lines, evoking the smell of gunfire, the scowls of his foes. “I’m observant in my hood, cause n***s be dumbing, shots forfeit the dice game, all you see is the running,” he reflects, on Massacre opener “In My Hood.” Words that may as well be a scene off a cinematographer’s storyboard.

How does all that factor into 50 Cent’s ability as an emcee? Those who would reserve him a spot in the top ten might be quick to tout his songwriting prowess, his ability to adapt to a variety of instrumentals, or his ear for melodic singsong flow schemes. Yet it’s unlikely that many would place him in the same conversation as artists like Royce Da 5’9”, Black Thought, Nas, Eminem, Andre 3000, or Jay-Z, rappers that have become known and regarded for their lyricism. Though 50’s writing does possess depth and authenticity, his preference for a frank and minimalist delivery has given him the illusion of simplicity. That should never be mistaken for weakness. There’s an authoritative quality to his tone that made him, at his prime, one of the most compelling rappers in the entire game. 

The nerve, the audacity, thought Ja Rule, upon witnessing the music video to 50 Cent’s latest Get Rich Or Die Tryin single “21 Questions.” After giving me such a hard time. A fair takeaway from our fictitious imagining of Rule, who previously found himself on the receiving end of some scathing “Back Down” bars. “I’m back in the game shawty, to rule and conquer you sing for hoes and sound like the cookie monster,” rapped 50 Cent, his ire magnified by Dr. Dre’s blood-chilling production. A narrative that was quickly seized by many of Fif’s battle-ready comrades — which is to say the entire Shady Records roster — determined to rewrite Ja’s personal history.

And like that, Ja Rule’s transition from the murderous mind behind Veni Vedi Vici, who once seemed at home spitting bars alongside DMX and Jay-Z, to the “singing rapper” was complete. At least in the eyes of the public, who were becoming increasingly enamored with 50 Cent’s unapologetic reputation as hip-hop’s most talented villain. Despite Ja having recently set the charts ablaze with “Livin’ It Up,” Fifty’s “Back Down” was simply too brutal a blow for Ja’s image to withstand. Yet 50 didn’t merely kill Ja Rule on wax; it’s likely he absorbed part of his soul in the process, imbuing the stone-cold rapper with a never-before-seen sensitivity. Though melodies were often implemented in Fif’s early music, his singsong delivery closer to taunting than crooning, never were they so overtly present — and uncharacteristically saccharine– than in “21 Questions.”

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In a 2007 interview, 50 Cent reflected on Dr. Dre’s first impressions of “21 Question,” imploring the rapper to leave the track on the cutting room floor. “Dre was, like, ‘How you goin’ to be gangsta this and that and then put this sappy love song on?’” reflects Fif, who kindly countered Dre’s counsel with his own desire to express his full character. Evidently, there was a hopeless romantic buried beneath the violent bravado. One that seemed like a far cry from the looming presence that stalked the “Corner Bodega.” That oozed arrogance over Dr. Dre’s thunderous organ-gunfire tandem on “Heat.” That managed to bridge the vastly different worlds of the streets and the suburbs by giving them a vicious and charismatic figure to champion. Yet here he was, declaring his love to be equivalent to that of a glutton’s for cake.

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In lesser hands “21 Questions” might have been an aberration. It’s vastly different from its fellow Get Rich brethren, both thematically and musically; where both Dre and Eminem tend to operate within the minor key, producer Dirty Swift blessed Fif with the instrumental equivalent to an uplifting daydream. And though he originally protested its inclusion on the album, Dr. Dre’s capable hands perfected the mix, ensuring a sense of sonic cohesion would be retained — why else do you think those drums hit like that? Effectively boom-bap at its core, albeit a slightly more romanticized take, 50 manages to feel at ease over the lush string pads and trebly guitars. Even though he’s essentially baring his deepest insecurities, he does so with the affable charm of a surprisingly relatable leading man. Throw in an immediately catchy chorus from the King Of Hooks himself, the legendary Nate Dogg, and it’s no surprise that Fif caught himself basking in the afterglow of another hit.

Once the initial shock of hearing 50 Cent’s first love song wore off, the many merits of “21 Questions” quickly became evident. For one, it provided the versatility that 50 Cent initially desired to reveal, his vulnerable performance coming off as surprisingly sincere. True, he likely understood the commercial benefits of widening his demographical reach, crafty businessman that he is, but his attempts at diversifying his sound appeared to stem from a genuine place. Given that many of his subsequent singles seemed designed with the female market in mind, it’s entirely likely that Fif developed a framework with “21 Questions,” albeit a more sexually-charged variant. On Get Rich, however, 50 Cent seemed content with building a genuine connection beyond the physical, channeling the spirit of rappers like Fabolous, LL Cool J, and yes — Ja Rule.

If you ask Rich The Kid what his favorite albums of all-time are, you might expect him to list off a bunch of projects he’s created over the years. The World Is Yours, The World Is Yours 2, BOSS MAN, maybe a Rich Forever tape thrown in there… Surprisingly enough, the Atlanta/New York rapper actually has a pretty respectable list that will pleasure hip-hop historians around the world.

Out of nowhere, Rich The Kid decided to reveal some of his favorite bodies of work ever released, sharing their cover artworks on his Instagram page.

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“These my top albums ever only rap n***as I ever looked up too,” wrote the 27-year-old.

Placed in no particular order, the rapper highlighted select projects from Nas, Lil Wayne, JAY-Z, and others. The first picture is one of Nas’ God’s Son. He follows that up with one of the greatest debut albums of all time, 50 Cent‘s Get Rich Or Die Tryin’. Then, we get JAY-Z’s The Blueprint, Lil Wayne’s original Tha Carter, the third installment in that series, and Nas’ Stillmatic. 

Rich The Kid is much more of an old head than many would have thought. Are you surprised that he was so heavily influenced by these albums?

Since the arrival of Get Rich Or Die Tryin’ in February 2003, 50 Cent has been entrenched in the hip-hop mainstream. Working as both an active participant and the proprietor of his own G-Unit stable, the South Jamaica, Queens native has never strayed far from the audience’s mind even after twenty years in the game. In the era of alleged “industry plants”, it’d be assumed that anyone shifting 872,000 copies of their debut album in first week sales had been groomed for the spotlight. 50, on the other hand, wasn’t chaperoned to that point. A quadrilogy of iconic mixtapes mapped out his path to superstardom. Tearing through the game like a cyclone, 50’s mixtape success left the perfect blueprint for others to follow as technology evolved from physical distribution into an online marketplace.

Based on the accessibility that the internet now affords both artist and consumer, the concept of getting “rich off a mixtape” a la Drake is no longer a noteworthy occasion. What maps 50 out as special is that when it comes down to it, he was the originator. Prior to his arrival, the term “mixtape” held a very different connotation. Usually helmed by a DJ, these compilations would provide an overview of what was hot at the time with the plaudits and financial rewards all going to the name on the marquee.

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When 50’s career was at its lowest ebb, Jackson realized that he had to do something drastic to stay afloat. Dropped by Columbia and “blackballed” from the industry amid the fallout from the revelatory, Supreme Team-chronicling “Ghetto Qu’ran”, the former Jam Master Jay protégé was stripped of his foundations. As his unreleased debut album, The Power Of The Dollar gathered dust on the shelf, 50 refused to be dissuaded. 

Linking up with fellow JMJ mentee Sha Money XL, 50 decamped to the engineer and producer’s home in Westbury, Long Island and set upon the journey that’d take him from the fringes of history to becoming the focal point of a revolution. In the wake of getting shot nine times, 50’s momentum had halted. Under the guidance of Sha, much of the music that’d been laid down prior to that life-altering incident was repurposed for his first groundbreaking mixtape, January 2002’s Guess Who’s Back. “All those records were recorded 18 days, 2 records a day”, Sha told XXL. “Motherfuckers were there for 18 days and had 2 songs. This n***a 50 had 38. He said ‘There’s no way I’m going to leave this place without a record deal. If I don’t have a record deal, I’m going to have 38 Trackmasters’ tracks.’ That’s what I remember him telling me. I said, “This n***a smart.” 

As we’d soon learn, that’s a drastic understatement when talking about 50 and his raw business savvy. Holding the rare distinction of getting dissed by Hov before he’d even pushed a Soundscan unit, his rise to cultural dominance may have seemed meticulously planned out. In truth, the decision to upend the way in which mixtapes were used came from everyday interaction.

“A lot of people don’t even know how different marketing and non-traditional marketing impacts the actual culture”, 50 reminisced. “Before 50 Cent Is The Future was released, what they call a mixtape now didn’t exist. A mixtape prior to that was me sending 16 bars to you for your tape. 16 bars to Clue, Ron G, Doowop, Kid Capri and to the different DJ’s that were around. What happened with 50 Cent Is The Future was I was going across the street to the bootlegger and ‘I said you got anything new?’ And he said ‘yeah, look new 50 Cent, see?’ He was selling to me based on me but I didn’t have any photograph or anything. So, I was like, I’m going to make my own tape.”

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The follow-up to Guess Who’s Back, 50 Cent Is The Future wasn’t just a promotional vehicle for its primary artist, but gave the rest of G-Unit a chance to exhibit their skills. Featuring Tony Yayo, the would-be “punchline king” Lloyd Banks and his inaugural collab with the then-UTP member Young Buck, the second installment of the pre-Get Rich Or Die Tryin’ tapes was the moment that he truly began to pick up momentum. Loaded with interpolations and reworks of The Wu-Tang Clan, Raphael Saadiq, Tweet and Ruff Ryders, the project—which was largely recorded in Canada due to 50’s reputation as an industry pariah—was “physically duplicated” by Sha Money in June 2002. As for distribution, long-time G-Unit affiliate DJ Whoo Kid remembers the grassroots approach to A&R that they employed.

“I would go to the bodega and be like “I’m gonna leave like 20 tapes here”. Cause’ the whole drug culture is connected with 50 Cent”, Whoo Kid told Mass Appeal. “They love his music. So, I’m like “If these guys are coming here to buy drugs, buying weed, getting their nickel bags and shit, there’s a tape on the window right there. Hey, and you get a tape too. I’ll get a bag of chips, a turkey sandwich, and a G-Unit tape.” Using word of mouth as the steam engine to power his eventual come-up, this unsanctioned approach to releasing music changed the world as we know it. And, despite how low-rent its recording and packaging may have been, 50 is aware of the shift that he’d instigated.

Across the remainder of 2002, 50 stuck to the formula and released No Mercy, No Fear and God’s Plan, the latter of which featured the first airing of 50’s “Work It” remix with Missy Elliott. Providing the industry with a lesson about the power of non-conformity, DJ Drama—who ushered in a new era for the mixtape in his own right with Gangsta Grillz—is forthcoming about the impact that this had on an artist’s playbook. “From the 50 era, that’s pretty much when it became a street album. Mixtapes destroyed the demo tape; nobody cared about your demo tape anymore,” he informed Billboard. “It was like, “What are you doing with your mixtape, and how are the streets selling it? I definitely can say that they helped inspire what I went on to do with Gangsta Grillz and the artists that I came up with.”

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From Drake, T.I, and Wiz to Kendrick, Cole and Big Sean, 50’s entrepreneurship paved the way for the next generation of stars that’d make their name on the independent circuit before being beckoned to the comforting arms of the labels. For the most part, 50 is seen as one of two case studies that epitomize the catalytic power of the mixtape. The other, more often than not, is Lil Wayne. Yet while Weezy used these tapes to reconfigure his sound and prove his credentials as an elite-level MC, 50 rebuffs the notion that they should share the distinction as pioneers.

“He wouldn’t even be making a mixtape because I invented that,” 50 snarled at SOHH. “There’s no significance in that. When he freestyles on a mixtape, it’s in song format because he’s following my format but they ask me about him like we’re the same?” No longer bound by the conventional process that other artists had to adhere to, the wealth of material that 50 had at hand was instrumental in forging a connection that’d change his life. In turn, setting the scene for countless other future legends to get signed off the strength of an ad-hoc project in the decade to come.

“Theo, my attorney, and Paul Rosenberg work close together,” he recalled. “Like they know each other, they came up together so, I had a CD called Guess Who’s Back. Em got a copy of it and he was in the middle of completing The Eminem Show, so he didn’t get a chance to properly listen to it, but after he got that done he heard it and he was like “Ya’ll need to come out here now!” so they flew me out on like Friday night, I fly to Los Angeles the next day and I met with him and Dre and then after we met it was kinda all alright.”

Despite admitting that “the word had reverberated around the industry that this guy was pretty much a wrap,” Shady Records’ Paul Rosenberg couldn’t help but take notice of what 50 had accomplished and made Em aware of this exciting upstart. Discussed during a promotional roundtable for Shady XV, Mathers reflected on the moment that 50, embroiled in his underground hustle, stopped the multi-platinum selling artist in his tracks.

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“We were somewhere doing a show and our old DJ, DJ Head had the “Your Life’s On The Line” record”, Em told Shade 45. “That was the first record that I remember hearing and being like “holy shit, this dude is fuckin’ dangerous. He was on some MC shit and it’s like yo, he’s a fuckin’ threat. The way he was saying this shit, he just made you believe it. Fif has always been like that but it wasn’t something I’d heard before. He sounds like he’s going to fuck you up… he believes in what he’s saying right now. It was the passion behind it and the lyrics… I was riding around bumpin’ that shit more than anything I was recording myself.”

“They crushed the mixtapes”, Rosenberg chimed in. “No one’s ever going to do mixtapes like that again. This guy made so much money off selling mixtapes that he pulled up outside BET in a fuckin’ Lamborghini. People were fiending for those things, fiending.” Just as he’d withstood 9 shots, 50 Cent circumvented the barriers to the game that’d leave others immobile and kept moving. Left in a sink-or-swim scenario, Curtis Jackson opted to bet on himself and in doing so, forever altered the infrastructure of hip-hop by prising power away from its traditional brokers and emboldening the artists to go it alone. 

If there was ever any doubt that 50 Cent‘s Get Rich Or Die Tryin was anything other than timeless, look no further than its ninth platinum certification. Originally released on February 6th, 2003, executive produced by both Dr. Dre and Eminem at the height of Shady/Aftermath’s reign, Fif’s debut featured smash hip-hop hits like “In Da Club,” “21 Questions,” and “P.I.M.P.” Singles that still go off today, with “In Da Club” remaining one of the most widely-recognized mainstream rap singles of all time. 

Get Rich sold 872,000 copies in its first week — remember that this was an era where people actually went out and bought albums. By the end of the year, the project had moved a staggering 12 million copies, with six million stemming from the United States; as such, Fif’s debut was certified 6x Platinum by the RIAA in 2003, an accomplishment that has only now been updated.

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A quick perusal of the RIAA’s “Gold And Platinum” section finds updated statistics devised as of February 24th. As of now, 50 Cent’s Get Rich Or Die Tryin has upgraded to nine-times platinum, a number his fans have come to develop a strong association. Following this latest milestone, Fif is only one million short of the coveted diamond status, an accomplishment that only a handful of fellow rappers have achieved.

As it happens, his friend and former labelmate Eminem has a few Diamond certifications under his belt, earned  The Marshall Mathers LP and The Eminem Show.. OutKast‘s Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, also released in 2003, holds the prestigious honor. Nelly‘s Country Grammar has it locked, as does 2Pac‘s classic All Eyez On Me and Notorious B.I.G.’s Life After Death. Should he find himself moving one million album-equivalent units, 50 Cent seems all but destined to join the ranks. And let’s be honest — the accomplishment would be well-deserved.

It’s a hard question, but we know in our hearts there is only one answer. Yes, “Heat” is 50 Cent’s best song. Between the insane instrumental from Dr. Dre, the cinematic intro skit, catchy yet chilling chorus, and the cold-hearted charisma of hip-hop’s beloved antihero, the Get Rich Or Die Tryin centerpiece has withstood the test of time. And aside from being immensely listenable, Fif’s “Heat” has also provided many quotables by which one might choose to live by. “It’s hot out this bitch, that’s a good enough reason” being one of them. “I do what I wanna do, I don’t care if I get caught,” being another.

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Sometimes, the wisdom of 50 Cent finds itself cited in unexpected places. In the midst of Donald Trump’s ongoing Impeachment trial, MSNBC anchor Ari Melber (noted hip-hop fan) drew upon Fif’s “Heat” to draw parallels between the rapper as the President of the United States. In the face of Trump’s brazen denial of any wrongdoing, Melber provides a G-Unit approved explanation: “the argument he presents is vintage 50 Cent. “I’ll do what I want, I don’t care if I get caught. The D.A. can play this tape in court.”

After explaining “slant rhymes” to his co-hosts, Melba explains that there is a “gangster thuggishness to that attitude. It’s not just hiding what you did, it’s actually that extra bravado.” It didn’t take long for Fif to catch wind of the comparison, taking to IG to voice his opinion. “Yeah, Ari Melber Trump on some real gangsta shit,” he writes, leaving us to infer his tone. “He gonna do it his way.”