60 Songs That Explain the '90s - “In da Club”—50 Cent

Episode Date: October 16, 2024

Rob looks back at some of the greatest haters in the history of music in celebration of the legendary hater and rapper that is 50 Cent. Later, Rob guides us through the rise of 50 Cent in the early 2000s. Then, he’s joined by The Ringer’s Charles Holmes to discuss 50 Cent’s history of rap beefs and more! Host: Rob Harvilla Guest: Charles Holmes Producers: Jonathan Kermah and Justin Sayles Additional Production Support: Olivia Crerie Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This is Bill Simmons. I am thrilled to announce our newest YouTube channel. It's called Ringer Movies. If you're a fan of our movie coverage here at The Ringer, then you're in luck because every episode of The Rwatchables and the Big Picture now on YouTube. Like Bill said, Ringer movies will feature full episodes of my show, The Big Picture, the Rewatchables, as well as special live episodes, deep dives into movie history and a bunch of other fun stuff featuring other movie-loving Ringer personalities.

Search Ringer movies on YouTube and Experience the Joy, Chris Ryan impersonating Wayne Jenkins on camera. Jammer just sit around and think about all the people who might hate you. You're bloody motherfucking asshole. Relax, that song is not about you unless you are esteemed veteran singer-songwriter Loudoun Wainwright the Third, in which case, hello, sir. Thank you for listening. It's an honor.

And also, I'm sorry, sir, but that's your daughter, Martha Wainwright singing a song she wrote about you and released in 2005 and the song is called That. This song is called that thing she keeps saying. Martha explained to the Guardian

also in 2005 that she wrote this song partly in retaliation for the time her father wrote a song with the line Every time I see you cry you're just a clone of every woman I've known. And she always felt bad for whatever poor

girl her dad was talking about, but then she found out he was talking about her as a teenager. That's a tough one. I assume that father and daughter that Loudon and Martha Wainwright have reconciled to some extent in the 19 years since she put out a song about her dad called bloody motherfucking asshole, although I just found a video on Facebook of Martha performing this song live in 2022. So maybe not. I don't know why exactly that a Martha Wainwright's song is the very first song I thought of when I started thinking about songs, about people hating other people. That's the whitest possible hater song I could have thought of, if you want the truth, not to be a hater, a self-hater. Why don't we try this again?

Okay, closer. The 2001 Blue Cantrell Smash, hit him up style. Oops. That's hit him up style, parentheses, oops, exclamation point, close parentheses. This is a way more appropriate hater song, given our focus here today. This is the song where Blue Cantrell gets cheated on so she spends all the dudes money. Oops. This song peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100, beaten out only by Usher's You Remind Me. Usher, if I recall correctly, has a few songs about cheating as well. I wonder if Blue Cantrell hates Usher for keeping her from hitting.

number one. I hope not. Or maybe I hope so if that hatred might yet inspire Blue Cantrell to further greatness. Hit him up style is a classic and it's certainly vindictive, but it's vindictiveness via capitalism, via shopping. And also, it's not quite insulting enough. It's not personally and physically insulting enough for our purposes. Who else? Oh, remember the end of Missy Elliott's gossip folks? Where she gets very, very angry? This is off, Missy This is off Fools

You think I ain't know y'all Millie Vanilly J.J. Fadwinner Bees ain't over here gossiping all me Yo, how about you buff these poems for 20 cents So your lights won't get cut off? This is off her 2002 album

Under Construction I so intensely associate Missy Elliott With joy With life-affirming baffling exuberance And togetherness That it's extra jarring

When she just hauls off And explicitly insults someone But that element of surprise is what makes her insults so devastating. Right? Wait a minute. She wasn't done. Damn. When you listen to angry pop stars, angryly insulting people,

or better yet, angry pop stars angrily insulting one another, do you apply this angerly insulting one another? do you apply this anger and hatred and conflict to your own life? Do you think about people that you personally dislike? Do you think about people who may personally dislike you? It occurred to me recently that there are definitely people out in the world who hate me. People I went to school with, people I worked with, ex-paramores. It is very unlikely from like a statistical standpoint that everyone loves me.

or even likes me. And this bothers me. My dad looked me up on Reddit once. I did this live event a while back where I was just the moderator. I was not at all the evening's focal point. Right? And afterwards, somebody on Reddit goes, yeah, the show was fine, except the moderator was some unknown douche.

My father was delighted by this phrase. Unknown douche. Dad mentioned it to me several times over the course of a weekend. One Reddit guy was like, yeah, the moderator was an unknown douche. And another guy was like, hey, I know that douche. And I'm like, Dad, quit looking me up on Reddit. Isn't Reddit supposed to be really hard for your dad to get on? Is that not central to the appeal of Reddit? I don't deal with conflict well. That is the point I am attempting to make here. I am uncomfortable with the idea of my hating people, and I am certainly uncomfortable with the idea of people hating me. I don't like

conflict IRL. I don't even like TV shows where people yell at each other and or hate each other. Oh, you like that show, The Bear? I hate that show. I still watch it for some reason, but I hate it. Everyone stop yelling at each other all the time. I even have to grit my teeth through songs about people hating each other. You a fan A phony or fake A pussy or stand I steal whip your ass

You 36 in a karate class You tibbo-ho Trying to work it out You trying to get brolic Ask me if I'm trying to kick knowledge Okay this escalated quickly If we're talking musical insults And conflict and outright hatred

In the early 2000s We could fart around some more And we could just jump straight To JZ versus Nas To Nas' ether Specifically, we could jump straight to the line, U-36 in a karate class, which is still extremely funny to me. I am laughing through gritted teeth through the J-Z. Nas feud. It is 2001. It's been five

years or so since the height of the Biggie and Tupac feud, since we lost both Biggie and Tupac. But that trauma is still reverberating through rap music and maybe never stops reverberating. And once again, two of the biggest rappers in the world, J-Z and Nas are fighting. And the songs themselves are often exhilarating. I still prefer Jay-Z's takeover to Ether, if you don't mind my saying. We'll talk about that another time, maybe, but it's possible that part of the exhilaration here is the fact that this hatred is real, that it certainly seems real anyway. And therefore, exhilaration aside, all this hatred might once again lead to real-world tragedy. mercifully, JZ versus Naz does not end in real world tragedy because after JZ puts out takeover

and Nas responds with Ether, JZ responds with a song called Super Ugly, which is indeed super ugly with a lot of extra super ugly and misogynist stuff, not worth elucidating here. But it's enough that Jay Z's mom, Gloria Carter, calls up Jay Z and tells him to knock it off. Jay-Z goes on Hot 97, the New York rap station, and apologizes for super ugly because his mom told him to. He says, quote, my mom's never ever calls my cell, end quote. And then Jay-Z and Nas knocked it off. Every rap feud should end with one of the rappers getting yelled at by his or her mother. That's fantastic.

We've all learned a valuable lesson here. And that lesson is rap stuff. cardem cannot be achieved or maintained through hatred and ugliness alone. Nobody likes me. Uh-oh. We have a dissenting opinion about the power and long-term value of expressing dissenting opinions. His name is Curtis Jackson. He's from Queens, South Jamaica, Queens specifically.

I believe the rap group, Onyx, also from South Jamaica, once referred to this neighborhood as South suicide, queens. Curtis Jackson in this moment is not yet famous. He is not yet a famous rapper. He is not yet a famous rapper, famous, for getting shot nine times and surviving. More specifically, Curtis's voice, his physical voice here, is a little smoother than you might expect, as he has not yet been shot in the jaw and does not yet have bullet shrapnel lodged in his tongue. He is better known by the name 50 Cent. This song is called Your Life's On the Line.

This song interpolates an onic song, actually. At first anyway, this song was supposed to come out in the year 2000. It is addressed to a few people very specifically, including Nas, actually, but 50 cents sounds, even without the tongue shrapnel, like he's talking to everyone. Like he's threatening everyone. Like he's threatening you personally. Like anyone's life could be on the line. Even his. Especially his.

anyway and I don't like y'all anyway fuck all y'all 50 cent is not saying fuck all y'all for dramatic effect 50 cent is saying fuck all y'all because fuck all y'all 50 cent will fight with anyone 50 cent once got into a feud with sticky fingers from onyx aka the guy who called it south suicide queens 50 cent would just as soon rap about killing you as look at you 50 cent eats pieces of shit like you

for breakfast. You eat pieces of shit for breakfast? Yes, he does. 50 cent is super ugly personified. 50 cent is at peace with all this. 50 cent is at peace with the prospect of being at war forever. There are several versions of your life's on the line, but that chorus is in all of them. 50 cent is at war with murder ink. One of the biggest labels in rap. music. More specifically, 50 Cent is at war with Murder Inc. superstar rapper Jha Rule. It is not going to end well for Jha rule. Spoiler alert. Jow when I don't like a nigger, I don't pretend to. I had a paramedics rapping your fucking head like a Hindu. No, I said he half man half amazing. You half X, half pop, that ain't hot.

You half X, half Pock, that ain't hot is one of the nicer mean things 50 Cent will ever say. about Jarl. Your life's on the line is slated as track five on 50 cents debut album called Power of the Dollar and scheduled for release on July 4th, 2000 on Columbia Records. This does not occur because in May 2050 cent get shot nine times in front of his grandmother's house in Queens and he survives, but Columbia Records drops him and Power of the Dollar never officially comes out at all. This is not going to end well for Columbia Records. Spoiler alert, incredibly. 50 Cent survives and regroups and reemerges in 2002 with four mixed tapes in one year, the first of which is titled, Guess Who's Back? And of course, 50 Cent has learned his lesson and has sworn off distracts forever. And for the rest of his

career, he will famously be super conflict averse. Nobody likes me. Of course, I'm just kidding. Your Life's On the Line is now Track 7. Track 10 is called Fuck You. This mixtape, guess who's back, attracts the attention of Eminem. Another famously conflict-diverse rapper who signs 50 Cent to his label, Shady Records. And meanwhile, 50 and his pals

and his group G-unit put out three other mixtapes, and now it is 2003, and 50-cent's debut album comes out for real. It is called Get Rich or Die Tryin. It will eventually sell 9 million copies in the United States, alone. And to achieve this level of super fame, 50 cent of course will set aside all that conflict and hatred that's been holding him back all this time.

Nobody likes me. I'm still kidding. Life's on the line is now track 19. Life's on the line is now a bonus track on 50 cents multi, multi, multi, multi platinum debut album. Put that another way. A jaw rule disc is the closing track on the best-selling single-disc rap album of the past 21 years and counting. I was not kidding when I told you this wouldn't end well for Jarl Rule. Very arguably nothing will ever turn out quite this well for 50 cent ever again. But for now, no one can argue with 50 cent when he places himself among the greatest and meanest rappers alive. Now, if you say my name in your rhyme, you better watch. You say it.

You can carry the way. You could get shot and carried away. Now here's a list of MCs that can kill you in A-Barrs. 50-U-M. Jay-Z and Naws. I love the, um, I love the implication that it takes 50 cent a second to think of someone worthy of his company. Although the entire point of this song is that 50 cent does not necessarily desire your company at all.

I'm gonna say this shit now and never again. We ain't buddies, we ain't partners and we damn sure we ain't friends. 50 cent is definitely going to say this shit again. By your company, I mean he doesn't desire Jha Rule's company. Of course, he hates Jarl rule. He doesn't hate you. You know that, right? Do you ever listen to the angriest 50 cent songs and imagine he's rapping about you? Probably not. Do you ever listen to the angriest 50 cent songs and imagine he's rapping about the people that you hate or the people who hate you? Maybe you do. Is this very specifically mean and angry song appealing enough to sell nine million copies of one album in the post-Napster era? This song, No. Life's on the Line

is one of like several dozen 50-cent songs that made him infamous, but he needed only one song to finally make him truly, permanently super famous. Go shawlty, it's your birthday. We're going to party like it's your birthday. We're going to sip a card in like, it's your birthday and you know we don't give a because that's your birthday. My name is Rob Harvilla. This is the third episode of 60 songs that explain the 90s, Cole in the 2000s.

And this week we are discussing Inde Club by 50 Cent. From his 2003 album, Get Rich or Die Tryin. Officially it's styled Indic Club, NDA Club, but I'm going to say in the club from now on because I'd rather not sound like even more of an idiot. I am impatient. and I have waited long enough to relate to you my three favorite pieces of 50 cent

beef related content. 50 cent has feuded with everyone. Jarl Rule, J. Z. Diddy, The Game, Kanye West, Lil Wayne, Cameron, Floyd Mayweather. What? Madonna, Oprah. He once named his dog Oprah, Ashanti, Vivica A. Fox, etc. If you're in a public feud with someone and you name your dog after that person,

you either automatically lose or automatically win. I honestly can't decide which. Either way, the argument is over. As for my three favorite pieces of 50 cent beef related content in no particular order. For a long time, 50 cent had his own website, this is 50.com, where he would insult various people via memes and viral videos and whatnot. And he was feuding with Fat Joe, right? fellow New York City rap icon Fat Joe. Never mind why. Stay out of it. The why never matters much.

So in 2008, Fat Joe puts out an album called The Elephant in the Room. And that day, 50 Cent puts out a mixtape called Elephant in the Sand, whose cover is an unflattering photo of Fat Joe on the beach. That's not one of my favorite things. In 2009, 50 releases a video with the title, 50 Cent warns you, listening to Fat Joe is dangerous. And it's a compilation of several other famous viral videos, the dancing kid who jumps on the moving treadmill and wipes out, the martial arts guy with nunchucks who does a backflip and knocks himself out, etc. And the joke in this is that Fat Joe's music starts playing right before all these people injure themselves.

This joke, of course, does not work at all in an audio-only format, but I don't see why that should stop me. Here's a lady falling off a table when Fat Joe starts playing. It's terrible. I mean, Fat Joe is the worst thing of having him up. It's hilarious. The lady falling out the table is hilarious. She's fine, probably. Also, that was 50% pretending to cry.

He's a pretty good actor some of the time. I was not familiar with this particular Fat Joe song, so just to clarify, fat Joe did just say, bitch, I'm on the grind, moving them cupcakes. It's a drug reference. That song is called Cupcake, and it's from his 2009 album, Jealous One's Still Envy, aka Jose 2. So, I am always slightly embarrassed to tell you that I thought this 50 cent video is incredibly funny at the time. I was not quite as enlightened as I am now. I was 31 years old. I also found. I also found another video called 50 cent rush to hospital after listening to Fat Joe, but that one's not as funny. I have matured since then, and so is 50 cent, or at least 50 cent and Fat Joe have

since reconciled. My second beloved piece of 50 cent feud related content is when he was beefing with Jada kiss, fellow New York City rap icon Jadikis, never mind why. It doesn't matter. And Jadikis got so mad he wrapped the word Connecticut. you got a felony, but you ain't a predicate. Never the king in New York. You live in Connecticut. That's from the Jadicus Distrack Checkmate, released in 2005. Nobody has ever sounded cooler or angrier saying Connecticut than Jada kiss.

My final piece of beloved 50 cent feud related content also does not technically come from him. 50 cent and Rick Ross were in an extra ugly confrontation for years. Allegedly because 50 glared at Rick Ross during a BET event. This is back in the late 2000s, when people thought that pointing out that Rick Ross used to be a prison guard might actually harm Rick Ross's rap career. This is one of the only playable excerpts of a discrack 50 cent released called Officer Ricky, parentheses, go ahead, try me.

Close parentheses. Brace yourself. We're going to be a lips is breath stronger the end of. Fat fuck playing. I looked up the lyrics Here's another tattoo When it's my goon soon Have new bullet wounds

I looked up the lyrics to this song On the internet And it was the funniest Mispelling of gonorrhea I have ever seen in my life I don't go around looking For this sort of thing This stuff just finds me

For the record You do not spell gonorrhea G-O-N-D-R-E-A There is no D in this particular word There's your trouble See, that spells gondoria. That is way closer to spelling gondola than gonorrhea. If you're ever in Venice, Italy, and someone asks you if you want to ride in the gondoria, you don't.

I can't spell it right either, but come on now. That's so rude. All of this is rude. The rudeness is infectious. The 50 cent Rick Ross feud drags on for years and years. And it does not, in fact, harm Rick Ross's rap career when people put. point out that he used to work in law enforcement. And so in 2016, during an interview with Rolling Stone, Rick Ross is asked about his endless fight with 50 cent. And brace yourself for this also.

Rick Ross says, quote, at this point, my relationship with Curtis is really amusing due to the fact that I'm the biggest L he ever took. I'm still enjoying life. My kids love me. I'm blessed. And when it comes to Curtis, it's just unfortunate. I'm not happy that his boxing company went under. I'm not happy that his clothing company went under. I'm not happy his record label went under. I'm not happy that he went bankrupt. I'm not happy that he doesn't have a relationship with his son. That's not something to be happy about. But to see him parading around, still able to hold his head up every day with all of that weighing on him, that makes me happy. I admire him for being able to hold his head up in a city that has revoked all of his passes. We've had a quite enjoyable past, and I still

smile when I see him." End quote. All right. Wow. Okay, this is the level of enmity and vitriol, and unfortunately very amusing Schaden Freud that we are dealing with. when we deal with this person and when this person deals with us. This is the level of enmity and vitriol and unfortunately very amusing Schadenfreude that 50 Cent both radiates and inspires in others. Nobody likes him and that's okay. Here is a somewhat morbid hypothetical. What is 50 Cent's career like if 50 Cent does not get shot nine times?

Look, we can shout together, mama. This fifth-ass shit, baby, Fing you first. I ain't tight with the chips, girl, I'm down to splurge. If it's ice you like, I'll light up your life. This song is called Thug Love. That's what it's called. Your ears do not deceive you. This song called Thug Love features Destiny's Child.

It is released as a single in September 1999 to promote 50 cents imminent Columbia Records debut album, Power of the Dollar. 50 Cent is in fact scheduled to shoot a video for this song. in May 2000, but three days before the video shoot, he gets shot nine times and goodbye to all that. I listen to this song now, not by choice. It's not great. I'm listening to this song for work. I listen to Thug Love now and I try to picture that video that he never got to shoot. And I try to imagine that video's reception. And I just broadly try to imagine 50 cents career if it unfolded the way he originally intended it to unfold.

As your life's on the line makes clear, 50 cent is already beefing with Jha Rule on this power of the dollar record that never comes out. He is who he is. This is not a sliding door is hypothetical where 50 cent is particularly non-confrontational or even like nice. Even in a best-case scenario universe,

50 cent is guaranteed to act like worst-case scenario, 50 cents, all the time. But there's a huge difference between Thug Love 50 Cent blowing up and 50 Cent, the rapper who got shot nine times blowing up. What is 50 Cent doing in this hypothetical Thug Love video while Beyonce sings this hook? How close is he physically to Beyonce? Don't answer that. All right. Frankly, I don't know if that's the song that's going to make 50 Cent a superstar, even if they'd made that video. Curtis Jassen was born on July. 6th, 1975, in South Jamaica, Queens, New York. Jarlah was born in 1976 and nearby Hollis, Queens.

Keep your enemies close. 50 cent did not know his father. In his first Rolling Stone cover story, in April 2003, written by the great hip-hop journalist Trey, the cover line is 50 Cent mastering the art of violence. In this cover story, 50 says of his father, quote, let's give him a warning in this article. Don't you even dare crawl your ass out this way? End quote. Got it. Talking about his mother, Sabrina Jackson, 50 says she sold cocaine. And he adds, quote, my mom's was hard. She's real worse than me. She wasn't really feminine like that. My mom's was tough, tough, like man tough. End quote. I don't feel like trying to paraphrase this. So then this article says, quote, when Curtis was eight, Someone went home with Sabrina, put something in her drink that left her unconscious,

closed the windows, turned on the gas, and left her for dead. She was found a few days later. Had to be something to do with the drugs, 50 says. Her body was all fucked up. She was 23. End quote. Curtis drops out of school after 10th grade, by which point he's already selling drugs himself. In 1994, he is arrested twice in a three-week span.

Eventually, he has sentenced to three to nine years. years in prison, but he's released after a new six-month boot camp program for non-violent offenders. He gravitates toward hip-hop. He's already screwing around rapping in friends' basements and whatnot, but Curtis gets much more serious in 1996 when he meets Jam Master Jay, run DMC legend, Queen's Legend Jam Master Jay, who teaches Curtis how to structure a song. They record a whole 50-cent album together, but nothing comes of it. By 1999, Curtis is on Columbia. records. In his real debut album, Power of the Dollar is imminent. And people are very excited, mostly because of a quite uncouth early single called How to Rob.

Hey, yo, the bottom line is, I'm a crook with a deal. If my record don't sell, I'm a rob and still, you better recognize, dog. I'm straight from the street. It's in the street. Cat starting to look like something to eat. How to Rob is a song in which 50 cent threatens to, you know, violently accost various rap and R&B superstars. This is the radio edit. It's not the world's subtlest radio edit. This song, of course, structurally echoes the notorious BIG's 1994 hit, just playing parentheses dreams. Although in that case, Biggie is describing having sex with various R&B superstars on how to rob 50 approaches Biggie levels of charisma, but 50's charisma is a notably extra malevolent sort of charisma. Yes? This guy is

trouble. This guy is mean. This guy is fun mean, but nonetheless, quite mean. This song is designed to offend everyone. Offend various super famous and super powerful people, but it offends everyone delightfully, maybe, right? Look out. Top five lines and how to rob. Here we go. Number five. I catch pee and silken shocker right after the Grammys and Will Smith and Jada ass down in Miami. Run up on Timberlin and Missy with the pound like you. Give me the cash. You put the hot dog down. That's pretty mean. This list is basically unranked, actually.

These are just mean things 50 cents says just in the second verse of how to rob chronologically. Okay, number four. I should rob clue, man. It joined did well. I want to stick TQ, but he ain't sell. That's super mean, especially if you don't know who TQ is, which it's more than likely you don't, which is why it's super mean. Number three, I laughed out loud at this again yesterday.

I'm gonna keep sick in cats until I'm living. I brought boys the men like I'm Michael Bimmins. That's funny. I think that's very funny. How to Rob also functions as a high-level critique of music industry exploitation. Almost done. Number two. I had busted a whole flip mode on the flow.

He asked me if I had enough. I told him, give me some more. That's probably the funniest line from a hit song. reappropriation standpoint. One more grievous insult for the road, though. If you're feeling this, then wait for the sequel. I got to get Kurt Franklin for robbing God's people. Okay, yikes.

That's also very funny. 50 cents high-level critique of music industry exploitation even extends out to gospel music. The full power of the dollar album that never officially comes out is eventually heavily bootlegged and available online and so forth. It's not exactly illmatic, okay, but you see the appeal of this person, the quite malevolent appeal. Another song of note on this album is called Ghetto Karan. Yo, when you hear talk to the south side, you hear talk to the team.

You niggas fair prince and respected pring. Boy, you slow motherfuckers, I'm going to break it down iller. Supreme was the businessman and Prince was the killer. So I've given this some thought, and I'm going to tell you that this song, Ghetto Karan, is a remarkable. remarkably detailed We Didn't Start the Fire type overview of Southside Queen's

drug-related activity that features probably way more names of actual people than is strictly advisable and it has been widely reported that some of those actual people were none too psyched about it

and I'm going to leave it at that once again I'm disinclined to even paraphrase I am yada yottieing this shit out of this on May 24th 2000 50 cent is ambushed outside his grandmother's house

in South Jamaica He has shot nine times. He is shot in the hand. Fifty tells Rolley Stone. Shell hit my thumb and came out my pinky. He is shot in the hip. 50 tells Rolling Stone. That one hurt hurt. He is shot in the calf, in the chest, and in the face. A bullet goes through his left cheek and into his mouth. 50 says, there's a different sound now when I talk because of the air around the tooth. getting shot just totally fixed my instrument end quote 50 cent lives 50 cent survives which is to put it mildly quite shocking also quite shocking and this for me is the most unbelievable the most antiquated the most the year 2000 ass element of this story 50 cent gets shot nine times and survives and his

record label drops him no way that's what happens if god forbid this has happens to somebody else tomorrow. I don't think so. Talking to New York Magazine in 2003-50 says, I think the industry would prefer a studio gangster rather than someone who actually comes from that background because it's less of a risk because you're investing money in this person as an artist and shots could go off, end quote. But see, here's the thing. If you're unaware of any of this in the year 2000, if you don't live in New York City, if you're not attuned to the intricacies of New York City rap music, if they're not playing how to rob on your local radio station, if you're not yet familiar with this person, then when 50 cent reemerges and when he is

finally formally introduced to you, he is formally introduced to you and introduced to the wider listening public as 50 cent the rapper who was shot nine times. That is his entire marketing plan or at least that is all the marketing 50 cent will ever require m&m talking to rolling stone explains 50 cents musical appeal like this quote if he says he's going to pop you you think he might kids want to see a guy that got shot that many times and lived there's a whole mystique about him but at the same time the same kids that are going to the shows are a little bit intense intimidated by him. Maybe not all, but most. He's definitely out there. And that's me saying that. End quote. In 2002, 50 cent resurfaces and puts out four mixed tapes in one year, the first of which is entitled, Guess Who's Back?

And features, in addition to old favorites like your life's on the line and even Ghetto Coran. And putting out Ghetto Coran after he got shot is arguably the single most brazen thing, 50 Cent ever did. guess whose back features a whole bunch of delightfully malevolent new songs, including one called You Not Like Me, speaking of putting it mildly. I shall hit my Joe. I ain't wait for doctor. Get it out. Hit my wisdom too. I spit it out.

I don't smile a lot because ain't nothing pretty. Got a purple heart for war and I ain't never left the city. Hawk toa says 50 cent. More importantly, got a purple heart for war and I ain't never left. the city is a fantastic line because that's the other thing marketing aside personal calamity and intrigue aside 50 cent is a rapper with no shortage of fantastic lines and fantastic songs with fantastic hooks there is something about the legitimately dulcet and tuneful and malevolent allure of 50 cents monotone that makes him perfect for hooks for earworms for anthems you not like me as a

fantastic song, even if it's overwhelmingly likely that when he says, you not like me, he might as well be talking to you specifically. That's a phenomenal chorus. That's a phenomenal hook. You're not like me. You ain't got to work on a block. You're not like me. It's hot. You ain't got no drop. You're not like me. Like me, dope. You're not like me. That's a phenomenal chorus. That's a phenomenal hook. You not like me walked so they not like us could run. How much more phenomenal is that hook because of how his voice sounds now? The bullet wound grit, the insidious lisp of his voice now. Is 50 cent correct in stating that getting shot totally fixed his instrument? It's quite lurid and sensational to argue that 50 cent became a better rapper after getting shot in the mouth. But that's why he said it because it's lurid and sensational. 50 returns to this topic on the song called

Fuck You, where he also mentions maybe the only record label that wouldn't have immediately dropped him. 50 cent joining Imperial Era death row or be good for me because Tommy Matole ain't shooting out in the hood with me. I've been shot nine times, my nigga. That's why I walk funny. 50 cent joining Imperial era death row records. 50 cent at the peak of his powers somehow standing alongside Tupac and Shug Knight at the peak of their powers, that is a terrifying prospect, quite frankly. That is an extinction level event. We should all be glad that did not occur. You want to know the most menacing track on this guess who's back mixtape? It's the one where 50 cent antagonizes Jay-Z over the melody to God rest ye merry gentlemen. Even Christmas carols become diss tracks

When 50 cents sings Christmas carols You better watch out You better not cry This song is called Be a Gentleman It starts off with 50 announcing That he's done battling with the likes of jaw rule And sticky fingers Because he's got bigger fish to fry

And then 50 finds a bigger fish to fry You're going to talk about your tits that we're running your crass, then you're going to ask dumb questions like, Can I Live? Oof, Can I Live is a famous Jay-Z song, just on the off chance that one of my parents is still listening to this, which is not likely, given all the profanity.

I'm sorry, it's not me. It's mostly not me. Look, if I shoot you, I'm famous. If you shoot me, you're brainless. You set it yourself. I'm slick enough to twist your up. lines and send them back at you. Swiffing up to snatch the mac,

pop that at you. Technically, 50 cent just repeats one of Jay-Z's most famous lines and changes the pronouns. I don't know if that qualifies as twisting that line, but I think you get the point. And the point, as always, is maybe 50 cent will shoot you, even if you're Jay-Z, perhaps especially if you're Jay-Z. I'm going to level with you. I went into this episode thinking that I would talk about jaw rule. for like half the time.

And I'd play you a bunch of Jha Ruhl songs. And we'd marvel together, you and I, at the fact that Jha Rul was one of the biggest rappers, biggest hitmakers in pop music in the first few years of the 2000s. And then he got into a super ugly years-long feud with 50 Cent. And J'A Rul was thereafter, not necessarily one of the biggest rappers and hitmakers and pop music. And that's because 50 Cent put out like a zillion mixtapes,

with titles like G Unit Radio Part 4, no peace talks. That's G Unit Radio Part 4, colon, no peace talks, exclamation point, which came out in 2003 and features 50 cents saying, I'm paraphrasing slightly, quote,

I think I have to go see the minister and explain to him why I can't let up off you, Jha, because it's against my religion to let a man survive. When you destroy, you destroy completely.

bitch, end quote. But see, that's the problem. Right there. I think about playing jaw rule. And I say out loud that I want to play jaw rule, but immediately I get distracted by something 50 cent did. So I look at this jaw rule free episode as a microcosm of society through the scheming malevolent eyes of 50 cent, right? When you think about it, it's actually quite sophisticated of me that I am in fact playing you zero jaw rule songs. This is the level. of elite thematic construction that we aspire to on this program. Perchats, are you familiar with the song, Wankster? You say you were gangster, but you never pop none.

You say you were Winkster, and you need to stop fronten. You go to the dealership, but you never cop none. You've been hustling a long time and you ain't got none. Sorry for the British accent there. Wankster, a 50-cent song that may or may not be about Jarl. appears on the 2002 mixtape, No Mercy, No Fear. No mercy, no fear.

When we talk about world famous early 21st century mixtape runs, we talk a lot about Lil Wayne, right? Because of course we do. But 50 Cent, putting out four mixtapes in 2002 alone and building the mythos that just one year later will make him one of the biggest rappers and hitmakers and pop music. This run, which includes the mixtapes, guess who's back, 50 cent is the future, no mercy, no fear, and God's plan.

This probably deserves more attention, no matter how much lavish attention it is already received. Wanksta is another mesmerizing, monotone hook situation. It's just 50 rapping for like four minutes straight over do do do do do do do do do do do. Logically, you should get very, very, very sick of this song after 30 seconds, but you don't. Now do you? Damn, homie. In high school, you was the man, homie. What fuck happened to you?

One great thing about the 50 cent monotone is its extra momentous when his voice gets even a little higher. Right? If you've never listened to the beloved Ringer podcast, No Skips, hosted by Shea Serrano and Brandon Jenkins, and produced by our own Jonathan Kerma, in which every episode was devoted to a classic rap album, You got to go listen to all of that, starting with the very first episode, which is about 50 cents get rich or die trying, which also features the song Wanksta. Anyway, Shea and Brandon agree that damn homie in high school you was the man, homie, fuck happened to you is one of the hardest lines on the whole album.

You know, another less prominent, but nonetheless, extremely hard 50 cent line, this one. and they split to you, you won't scream like a bitch. In your dreams, it don't feel how it feels when you're hit. That song's called You're Not Ready. He's talking about you. And that's the line that stays with me. In your dreams, it don't feel how it feels when you're hit. And that's the whole lurid sensationalist appeal of 50 cent in one line,

the chasm between what he knows and what he knows you think you know. That's on the mixtape God's plan. After Guess Who's Back, the other $0.50 cent mixtapes released in 2002 are credited to and co-headlined by his group G Unit, which here also includes Lloyd Banks and Tony Yeo. At some point somewhere, Tony Yeo attempts to rhyme, I'm a freak so I love Minaja Toa with I really care less if you twice my saws, and he almost makes it work, and I left out loud in the CBS drive-thru lane while waiting to pick up a prescription. And I am eternally grateful to Tony Yeo for that, but I got no problem telling you that Lloyd Banks is my favorite. It's in this game, you only make it far if you're loyal, and if you grow with your mother and your father be spoiled, why swing?

You got to be strapped. They get rid of me. I leave your water like the statue. That's Lloyd Banks in a song called Say What You Say, Threatening to leave you in water like the Statue of Liberty. Lloyd Banks gets funnier as he gets scarier. That's why Lloyd Banks is the best. I fear that I have gotten distracted. My distractions are distracting me from my earlier distractions. Eminem hears the guess who's back tape and freaks out and signs 50 cent to shady records. And Eminem's good friend, Dr. Dre, enters the equation.

And 50 Cent's debut album, his third attempt at a debut album is released at long last on February 6, 2003. And it is called Get Rich or Die Tryin. And it's here that we meet a totally new major label, superstar caliber, practically unrecognizable iteration of 50 Cent. Nobody likes me. I'm still kidding. It's the same guy. 50 cent is the same guy. Sometimes he's rapping on the same songs.

This is now their bonus tracks. Life's on the line is here. Wankst is here. You Not Like Me is here. 50 Cent is still saying the wildest, meanest, gnarliest shit possible. He's just got way higher budgets

and way more luxurious production now. Now he gets to say the wildest, meanest, gnarliest shit possible on a song produced by Dr. Drey. I do what I got to do. I don't care if I get caught.

The DA can play this motherfucker tape in court. I kill. I ain't playing. Yeah, what I'm saying. I'm saying. I don't know. I ain't planned. The gunshots in the background are super high fidelity now.

That's the difference on Get Rich or Die Trying between 50 cent then and 50 cent right now. Higher quality gunshots, real gunshots, according to 50 himself. The DA can play this motherfucking tape and. court, I'll kill you. That is a line so hard that I personally will only sound softer, the harder I try to convince you of how hard a line that is. I think I lingered so long on 50 cents prehistory because I personally knew very little of that prehistory the first time I heard this record, heard these songs, heard this voice. What I knew was that this guy's name was 50 cent the rapper who got shot nine times. And that, as it turns out, was maybe all anybody.

ever needed to know. Many men wish death on me, dog. I don't cry no more. Don't look to the sky no more. Yet another fantastic, dulcet, malevolent, monotone hook that somehow you never, ever get tired of from 50 cent on the song Many Men, parentheses, wish death. I love the jaunty little musical flourish right at the end there, like do, do, do, do. And something in the tone of 50 cents voice almost rejects.

the jauntiness of it, he is undeterred by the newfound prettiness and lushness of his environment. Most rappers, even the hardest, most believable rappers, they hypothetically show up with a song called Many Men, parentheses, Wish Death, and there is some level of performative distance. There is an agreed upon degree of exaggeration. There is the understanding that this is just a song, not so with this guy, with, 50 cent and that's 10% because of the audible grit in his voice and 90% because most likely you're aware of how that grit in his voice was acquired. Okay, yikes, get rich or die trying. Here's one of these deals where I got so distracted by the prehistory because this record in its

entirety really is so ingrained in human consciousness that I feel super corny over here being like, hey, you know what's a good song? In the club. Nevertheless. I do you I do I got a full of bub Mama I got what you need You need the fill of bars I'm gonna have sex

I ain't in to make it love So come get me a hug You're getting the rough I do remember where I was When I heard this for the first time I was on a couch at my buddy Mike's house In Cincinnati, Ohio The video came on

I felt like time stopped Or maybe just I stopped My brain stopped I could not immediately process this situation. 50 cent hanging upside down in the weird hospital, Captain America workout laboratory situation. Dr. Dre and Eminem are clowning around. Hey, I know those guys. And now there's this guy, the upside down guy, the jovial menacing mumbler. What's the deal with this guy? Did he just say, I'm into having sex. I ain't into making love. Yes, he did. But above

all there's the beat. Yes, the gold-plated billion-dollar opulent hypnosis of that beat, the mesmerizing handclaps. DJ quick on the drums. Let's face it, anybody could have had a huge hit with this beat. I could have had a huge hit with this beat. That's not true. What's that Dr. Dre quote that I really love from Rolling Stone back in the 90s, back when Snoop Doggy Dog was his new protege? Ah, yes. Dr. Dre said, quote, I can take anybody who reads this magazine and make a hit record on him. You don't have to rap. You can do anything. You can go into the studio and talk. I can take a fucking three-year-old and make a hit record on him. God has blessed me with this gift. End quote. He wasn't wrong then and he ain't wrong now. What 50 cent has to do on In the Club is convince us that he deserves this beat. He has to prove

himself worthy. That's the clean version. That's the clean version. 50 cent will prove himself worthy less by what he says than how he says it. When I roll 20 deep, it's always drama in the club is not my favorite 50 cent line on the topic of drama in the club. For the record, my favorite 50 cent line on that topic is, were the reason that they make you take your shoes off at the tunnel. That's very funny to me. Don't worry about it. But he gets his point across. It's not that 50 cent is rolling with

Dre. It's how he says now that I roll with Dre. It's not that he's selling like Eminem yet. It's the way he says when you sell like Eminem. There is simultaneously an ease and a palpable unease to 50 cent. the comfort in the perpetual threat of profound, potentially lethal discomfort. The threat is audible, always, whether you know way too much about this person or whether you know next to nothing. It is a voice that says, no matter what else he's saying, that he survived getting shot nine times.

It's the way he says, I ain't concerned. You believe him when 50 cents says, I ain't concerned. But you also know he should be. My junk at the bumping in the club This song I'm with my eyes And chicks If she smash a gun

It's a proof on fire, man Just let it burn up the talking About money, homie I ain't concerned Do you want to talk about Anything that happened at 50 Cent After this song? You want to talk about candy shop? You want to talk about vitamin water?

You want to talk about Kanye? You want me to talk about how 50 did live in Connecticut for many years, apparently alone, in a 52-room Connecticut mansion previously owned by Mike Tyson. You want to spend some time unpacking the image of 50-cent wandering around Mike Tyson's old mansion?

No thank you. You want me to read that Rick Ross quote again? I kind of want to read that again. I won't, though. In The Club to me is a song so ubiquitous. It's hard to even hear anymore. It's hard to focus on. So, okay, I find 50 cents a cent.

to this song way more compelling than the song itself. I find the various harrowing dissents within that assent compelling and also harrowing. I still hear this song now and my brain turns off and that's why I love it. Maybe that's why a lot of people love it. But my brain does turn on just a little bit, just briefly, right here. my shoes look on me i don't came on and i ain't changed it the words themselves are rap superstar boilerplate my crib my cars my clothes my jewels it's almost a deconstruction of a hit rap song it's almost avant-garde but as always it's the way he says it the staccato warmth and insidious chill of that voice always that voice the violence embedded in his tongue I ain't changed. That's rap superstar boilerplate too, but he didn't and he wouldn't.

God has blessed him with this gift. God has blessed us all with this gift and cursed us with it too. For some people, 50 Cent was entirely a curse. But relax, you're probably not one of those unfortunate people. And if you are, hello, thank you for listening.

It's an honor. And I'm sorry. We have waited far too long to welcome Charles Holmes, the great Charles Holmes, Ringer staff writer, co-host of the Midnight Boys, the most dangerous cultural critic in America. I think I got that right. He's actually a really nice guy. Charles, welcome. Thank you so much.

I'm honored to be here. I do have to ask, when you were thinking of this season, this ongoing project of the 2000s, Did you see the son of the bitch known as 50 Cent, one of the meanest rappers of all time? If you're like, you know who is a kindred spirit? Charles Holmes, both haters of the highest degree. Yeah, I can't deny anything that you're saying right now. I did feel like you had a certain psychic connection. I think he's meaner than you are by several orders of magnitude.

Oh, absolutely. I think that you are, you are better equipped than I am to address his meanness, I think, was my thought. So before we get into this, I want to know. I hope you'll take that in the proper spirit. I was, I was about eight or nine when get Richard I trying drops. How old are you, Rob? 25. 20.

So this was, when you were 25, you were going out to the clubs. In the club came on. You got the G unit spinner, you know. Maybe the S. Dot Carters and you're just vibing with the ladies. I didn't say any of that. I didn't say any of that. I sat on my couch and watched this video on MTV. I will say that.

I don't know that I've ever set foot in the club in my life. That may shock you, Charles. Rob, that is such a fucking lie. You've definitely had some duce, some ACE spades. Come on, man. Okay. Yeah, you're right. You're wrong, but you're right as well somehow.

Charles, is 50 cent the meanest rapper of all time? Yes or no? I would have, if we had done this a year ago, I would say potentially, the two, and we might get into this later, the two that have kind of maybe taken the crown, I would say the first is push a tea because I think push a tea and 50 cent have a similar, not only do we not care, but we're going to reveal information about your life that will just, fundamentally change who you are as a person forever. And then I would say...

You're hiding a child's energy. And I would say probably with the year he's having, Kendrick Lamar, where Kendrick Lamar, I think, has a little bit more jesus in him. But when it comes to the calculating nature, we will talk about everything that happened with that beef is being like, Kendrick strategically... did this in a way that we didn't think possible.

If, and I will say I'm coming from the family where my cousins had the 50th law of power, not the 48 laws of power. There was the 50 cents spinoff. Kendrick has read that book and memorized it. And that was this entire year. So 50 cent, I would say still in the top three to five meters rappers. Okay.

Okay. Did you say you were eight or nine when you first heard 50 cent? Did I hear that correctly? I was probably not eight or nine when I, first heard him, but that was when Richard died trying drops. Okay. What is it, what is it

do to you to hear 50 Cent at such a young, impressionable age? How does that change you as a person? That this is the biggest rapper or one of the biggest rappers when you're that young? So, your father of children,

and I will say what I've noticed about even my friends who have kids and now I noticed about my parents. in retrospect. There are certain forces in this world that if you give it to a child at the wrong time, they just go bonkers. It drives them up the wall. Sugar is one of them. Sugary drinks, you know, candy, certain artists, Fortnite. 50 cent was one of those artists that I think my parents at a very young age realized. They're just like, this does something to children and we're not going to have any of it. I was, I vividly remember a moment.

where it was like Friday. I'm like, they're like, we're going to Burger King. I'm like, we're going to Burger King on a Friday. And I decided to roll down the window for some reason as like a sixth or seventh grader and be like, I got the magic stick. And I started like just singing, like rapping PIRP. And my dad turns around. He's like, what the fuck is wrong with you?

Turn out, like, roll up the window. And that was my parents way. And this kept happening. I became a 50-set fan. almost like just through sheer force of will where I would have to go to borders when they still had like, do you remember when like borders or those bookstores had the like CD rack where you could like listen to the album? I'd be like, yes, I get to listen to 30 seconds.

The listening station. So my parents were not, my parents were not fans, but he had become almost not, it was not overnight, obviously, but at that time it did feel like that. in my middle school where it was like, I woke up one day and I went to a very Italian,

Jewish middle school. And there was a handful of black kids. And overnight it was just seeing all the, like little white children in du rags, G unit, like G unit tops. Just like it was,

oh, I was like, what is, what's happening, bro? Like, my middle school looked like empty, V2, after 10 with a bunch of like 10-year-olds, basically being like, I'm going to kill you right now. I'd survive nine shots. So that was how big the 50-cent atomic bomb was.

I'm sorry you had to go through that, Charles. That sounds terrible. Actually, that middle school experience. Here's the thing. Having revisited a lot of 50s music for this episode. I think as a culture, we've come a long way. I cannot honestly believe that we could contain that much negativity at one time. Because get Richard I try and I'm like, oh shit, this man is a fucking villain.

He's a monster. And it sounds so good. Right. I was going to, we're sort of beyond the question of whether music like this ages well or not. but it feels archaic to you now in the sense that nothing, you know, the Kendrick Drake beef aside and maybe pushes well, like rap music never got this mean,

this vindictive again, I don't think, not at this level, not at the highest pop star level. Well, I think what's interesting to me, about 50 cent in this time, is that especially around the time that 50 cent,

finally he gets signed. This is, he's already gotten dropped, he's already gotten shot. But when Dr. Dre and Eminem team up, Eminem and Dr. Dre have already in that label, they crack the code in terms of popularity, where at that time, they are running Viacom, essentially. You cannot turn on MTV, BET without seeing them. And at this point, M doesn't need the source.

At that point, XXL was basically like the Eminem, 50 cent G unit shady aftermath Bible. And what happens is as a kid even more so than the music, I am watching MTV documentaries on 50 cents rise. I am watching

breakdowns of this is the state of the jaw rule in 50 beef. This is the state of Nas and 50. This is the state of 50 and Rick Rock. It was just like that was and it's the internet is around but as a kid I'm like 7, 8. It's far

easier for me to go over to my grandparents' house to be like, I'm just going to watch a bunch of MTV, whether it's TRL, whether it's 106 and Park, whether it's VH1, they're going to be doing a documentary on how good into club is, then I'm going to get some beef shit. Oh shit, 50 Cent, Tony Yeo got a new record. It's from Marinole 106 and Park. Like that is like the last probably era where I just like wall to wall. I'm just like, we're having a 50 cent afternoon. Right. Today, cousins and brother. It's a 50-cent block. It's a three-hour.

After school, I was watching Thundercats, dude. I don't think we were on the same timeline. Wait, who was your favorite Thundercat? Who was my favorite Thundercat? I liked the old guy, Pantrow. I think it's Pantrow. That's the only one I can remember right now. That's how I know you down with the cause,

because Panthrow was the only black Thundercat. That's how I know you down. Is I got shot nine times the best rapper origin story of all time? And did it actually obviate the need for any subsequent rapper to have any origin story at all? Is this the end of the line in terms of myth making? People might disagree. But for my money, getting shot nine times definitely has to be the best rapper origin story because you have to think. Before this, 50 cent.

was in the ether he's dropping these records he's signed to Jam Master Jay he gets dropped by Columbia he was right before he gets dropped by Columbia obviously he's supposed to have this uh this feature from Destiny's Child

but what the getting shot nine times and surviving does is it coalesces a character around 50 cent even he's saying early in that time in that era there's so many New York rappers whether it's Jarl, Fat Show, Jadicus, none of them are really seizing the crown and Jayze is just kind of the guy. And once 50 gets shot nine times, what that does is that it gives that

MTV, BET, XXL, Rolling Stone, media, something to grab on. And it gives 50 something to grab on. Within the first three or four songs on Get Richard I Trying, who is 50 cent comparing himself to. He has an S on his chest. He's Conan the Barbarian. When you see him in the Inda Club video, he's the Bionic Man, Terminator, doing upside down like fucking crunches. You are

in real time, you are seeing like, this is a comic book villain that survived getting shot nine times. And it was one of those things where I'm like, how does my mom or my aunt or my teachers know that this fucking black man from Queens survived nine

shots? And that is like, the only one that I can think was comparable also happened at the same time, which was Kanye, but on a smaller level of Kanye survived the car crash. He got his jaw-wired shut. Now it's through the wire. That's a shock-a-con song.

Those are the two times I feel like in rap. They're probably the best cases. And the last were like, this origin story immediately vaults this rapper above the fray of every other rapper that they're competing with at that time in their territory. Am I wrong? I'm older than me.

Can you think of any origin stories in hip-hop, Rob, that rival getting shot nine times and walking away from it? I cannot. And I do think it's notable that, like, he starts beefing with Rick Ross, right? And the entire thing there is, like, it should ruin Rick Ross's career that he used to be a prison guard. Yes.

You know, and it doesn't. So it's like maximum credibility versus no, credibility whatsoever. And they fight that to a draw, you know, where Rick Ross probably arguably wins. It just feels like the stakes, you know, in the line of how credible you have to be to make it as a superstar rapper. Like it peaks with 50. And then immediately it's just a free for all where anybody can come from anywhere and be anything. So can I ask you this then? Because I've been thinking of this in terms of the origin story of 50 and just New York. York hip hop in general.

I'm growing up in New Jersey at the time, so I'm removed, but I listen to Hot 97, Power 105. Close enough. Those are the things on the way to school, whatever. And to me, 50 cent is probably the end of the line of not only New York as hip hop's mecca, but he is probably the last New York style icon, because he basically takes what had happened in the previous decades. and he is the most extreme version.

When you think of what New York rap was at that time, you're thinking of, oh, well, Rick Ross has to be fake. He was a corrections officer. And 50 was a fucking crack dealer who got shot and went to jail a bunch of times. Oh, not only does he survive the shots, he comes back out of it looking like Arnold Schwarzenegger. And it's like he's going at Hove. He's going at Nas.

He's outselling them. and by the time you get done with his run, there's this question that New York still hasn't been able to kind of answer, which is how do you match that? How do you match that extremity of what 50 cent was? And I don't know if we have the answer yet. I don't think anyone's matched the extremity. You know, like Nikki Minaj, I think comes after him, of course.

And I think that she's part of that lineage, but it's not as gruesome an origin story. I don't think something like this ever happens again. And I think notably, you know, when 50 is fighting with Jadakis, with Fat Joe, with whoever, like, he's fighting with, you know, rap icons in New York City who are not nearly as popular outside of New York City. Like what he keeps saying is like, you're a local, you're a local star. The other remarkable thing about 50 is suddenly he's everywhere at once. I think it's one of the last times, you know, there's a few other examples, Nikki, whoever, but the last time that a New York rapper went true. truly global in this way.

And that's, Nikki's a good example too, because I think what we also start seeing is Dr. Dr. Drey signs Eminem. And then Eminem is like, what can, like,

who can I sign? Who can I sign and find? He finds 50. And 50 under him with his charisma is like, no shot to M, but like, there's only so much you can do for O.B. Trice.

50 is like, I'm going to be so prolific. I'm going to make sure Lloyd Banks almost sells a mill. I'm going to get y'all to fuck with Tony Yeo. I'm going to get y'all to fuck with Young Buck. Then he has the game. And by the time the game comes out

you're like, and I was talking to, shout out to 60 songs producer Justin Sales. The question with 50 with that sophomore record with Massacre is like, do we talk about 50 differently? If he had that after Get Richard I. Tryin, he's not lending his

voice to every other person in his order. Like, do we look at 50 cent in his career musically different if the massacre isn't just okay with a couple hits versus the massacre might have hated or love it, how we do, everything he gave to Lloyd, everything he gave to Yale. And that's what I think is interesting where with, when Wayne has Nikki, Nikki was never to, in my mind, like we always knew it is, it's Lil Wayne, it's a and it's Nikki. 50 cent at a certain point

was his own man outside of Eminem. And that's not taking anything away from Nikki Minaj. It was just like 50 cent was that big where he's like, G-Unit, everybody in here can sell 500,000 copies of an album. If like that's, that's

ASAP for ASEAP Rocky could not get a Furr record to sell 500,000 copies. It's something we had not seen since honestly what? Master P? Right. I was gonna, I was a,

about to say there's some no limit energy where you could put anybody up and they'd sell half a million or a million he had mace he spread himself pretty thin dog he was sorry yeah dog there was a point where polly d and mace were signed to the same fucking record label it was insanity uh you mentioned something to me that i never thought of which is did in the club come too early in 50's career did he peak to early pop-wise and did it set him on sort of a pop star trajectory, you know, which for all his ubiquity, he can never quite get back there again with anything he did since. Do you think this song would have been better if it had come even a few years, a few albums into his major label career? Oh, absolutely. Because I think what Indy Club does,

Indy Club is like in the molds for me of Eminem before him, where Eminem learns very early on. that his rollout cycles are always kind of the same. He leads with this record that's going to play on TRL that is very poppy. You're going to hear it. You're going to hear it on black radio, white radio. You're going to see the music video. It is to crossover. And then everything that comes after, he'll have the, this is why I hate my mom.

And I grew up in the trailer park emotional record. Then they'll be like, oh, I need a record where I'm going at fucking the source and fucking Benzie. you know, like, but it always would start with that record. And what 50 gleans from that is like, oh, I always need an Inda Club. I need a, I get money. I need a candy shop. But to me, I'm like, when we think of what makes 50 great, Indy Club is not the best record

off of get Richard I trying. But if it comes so early, like 50 can't outrun it, I would compare it to what happens if Drake, Drake has hotline bling on Thank Me Later. It doesn't work. Even though we think of like Drake as this massive pop star who was making hits, there was a while there where he could hand out a hit. He could work with Rihanna and make it a hit. He would be on a hit with DJ Khalid.

But there was nothing on Thank Me Later. That was really what you could call a super, super crossover moment. It takes him a while. And then by the time you get to something like views and a control. or a one day, all this stuff, you're like, oh, he's ready for this moment. We've seen enough drakes. He's got a foundation. There's enough of a foundation here, even with Kanye.

Connie doesn't come out of the gate with a stronger or a heartless. We got the different eras of Kanye. And I would say, unfortunately, for 50, his eras were consigned to the mixtapes. His eras were consigned to, like, the things he was making fun of, like, Jadicus and Fat Joe for. I'm like, 50, you were just that local artist without, like, like, you were just there, you know? And I think what's even funny with Inda Club, he's like, I'm selling as much as F as Eminem now.

Fuck all y'all. And I'm like, 50 last year, you were them. So I do think if Inda Club comes a little later, I think we would have given 50 a little bit more leeway, where instead it puts him on this trajectory where if you don't have an Inda Club or a candy shop, this album is essentially a failure. Okay, so Indy Club is not the best song on Get Rich or Die Trying.

What is the best song on this album, Charles? I think if I'm like putting on my critic hat, I would say it's probably many men, which is like insane because they almost didn't put it on because many men to me is the one that ages the best, because I think if you're going to take away anything from Get Rich or Die Trying, which arguably like a top 15, top 25 debut of all time. Some of the beats and the moments,

I would even say if we're bringing up like someone like Drake, when you have artists that are that big and that are that popular, sometimes you're like, oh, this is exactly what 2002, 2003 sounded like. It's almost impossible for it to age well. Many men is the beat. Hmm. And the lyrics and the type of 50 cent where I was like, Oh, no, this was actually what you were the best at.

Like this mythologizing, this building yourself into a hero. I say that all to say. The actual greatest song is heat. I've listened to Heat a hundred times. It's Thursday now. I started really doing this like on Monday, like kind of going back. He is the fucking best song. There's a lyric, I think.

I might be getting this wrong where he's just like, he's talking to his fucking enemies. Like, hey, bro, you better come around because if you don't, you're wasting my time. I'm going to kill yo mama. So you need to, you can waste your time finding me. And I'm like, you can come looking for me. And I'm like, this is, this is what I want from 50. Like, this is the level of villainy of negativity that I thrive on to this day. It's my personal pick is heat.

What about you, Rob? Okay. I would probably say heat as well. You can play this motherfucking tape in court. I'll kill you. It's pretty hard to top. kill you. I think.

As a legal strategy, I think that's unbeatable. What is the worst song on Get Rich or Die Trying, Charles? Not the worst song. This is not the worst song. But it is the song as I return

to the album that I was like, we should have given him more shit for this. And it's insane that this is still one of his most stream song. P-I-M-P is terrible.

Like, it is, da-d-d-d-d-d-tun-d- it's just like the little island jam everything about PIMP is what I do not like about 50 cents and I get it it's a hit a bunch of people are going to be listening to this

and be like what I'm like go back and like listen to get Richard Dye trying from like front to back the minute you get to PIMP you're just like wait why did we love this wait why is this on this record it's just is it's so out of like

I just it's it was incredible how much I was like, this is age like an avocado in the sun. I don't know what happened to this. I used to love this song. Am I out of my mind, Rob? Are you going to be the P-I-M-P defender? I don't think I am.

21 questions is in a similar vein where the frivolity of it feels out of place. But I do. It's so goofy and it's so charismatic, you know, that I still love it anyway, despite myself. You know, and despite how out of place it sounds on the record. And so I think that applies to PIMP. I think it applies to 21 questions as well. I do have a soft side for 50 cents soft side. I respect that decision.

I respect your decision to just avoid it entirely. That may be the safest course of action. Let me ask you this. Do you think it makes it a way less successful record commercially? Do you think it makes it a better record if you take off PIMP and 21 questions? Because going back to the record, I was like, I understand that these were massive hits. this like we're talking i think get richard i trying is probably like a four four and a half out of five to me and i think it's a five star album if you get rid of kind of without those songs

are they going to kill us rob who's gonna nobody's gonna kill us nobody knows where we live well no one knows where i live at least um that's that's exactly i know what you're saying all right we saw how that went rob they're gonna shoot up they're gonna shoot up our mugger house and make us go look for them. Yeah, okay. I know what you're saying, but I do think that for this record to sell nine million copies or whatever it's sold, you need those songs. True. You know, and the story of this record for me is how universally popular and beloved 50 cents suddenly was. And I do think you need every side of 50 cents, you know, even the corny, you know, silly out of place sides. I understand it's a stronger, it's certainly a harder record, you know,

if you stop after heat or whatever, you know, on the track list. But I do think, I do think he, I don't, don't really think of him as well-rounded, but I do think you need every aspect of him at that time just to sort of elucidate how he suddenly became like a superstar overnight, like he said. So I think the other thing that we're also, I think circling with PIMP and 21 questions is just how if 50 cent is kind of like the last version of a certain type of New York machismo rapper, to me is also the last type of a certain LL Cool J style sex symbol in hip hop where I love my aunt to death. My aunt is one of the greatest.

Ever since I've become a music journalist, there's been one artist that she's been like, I don't care about the rest of those artists you interview. but if you ever get the chance to meet 50 cent, would you invite me? And I'm just like, I don't know if I have that type of pull. And this is like, she's asking this quite,

like years and years. This is years after Curtis. This is not recent. This is like, she's still asked me. She's like, have you met 50 cent yet? And I'm like,

I've met 50 cent. He's very, very nice. Next time you can hang out with him. I don't know if you can really explain to people how much overnight, 50 cent is not just the biggest rapper in the world. It's like, oh, he's GQ.

He's in ads like vitamin water, all this shit where I don't know. Like we don't have that. Like we have fucking built rappers now, but we don't have that type of rapper where it's like he is, we talk about him in the same way people talk about Brad fucking pit. In terms of like for that year run, it was just,

it was incredible. We haven't seen anything like you. I think the closest thing is Drake. And Drake is obviously very far. away in myriad respects otherwise. And so I think you're right that he was sort of the end of the line. Here, let me pitch this. Is Drake that far?

Because what I think, honestly, Drake perfects, and this is why I think he's a chip off the 50 cent block, is that 50 said thought that the beef and the sex symbol were two polar opposites. He was beefing with murder ink and basically any other rapper who would look his way. but then he was also making 21 questions. Also, right. Drake is like... Two halves. What if I, I treat my ex-lovers, like 50-cent, treated job. And he's just basically like, the way I'm going to be a sex symbol is essentially to be like, the beef and the romance are the same exact thing.

And I think it's probably one of the most genius things that happen to rap, but also kind of kills 50 cent, kind of where he stands, where you're just, like, oh, we actually what most of the want to hear is just their misogyny and their romance intertwined. They don't want to hear about how much you hate Jadakis and Officer Ricky. We just don't. Is this a bad take, Rob? No, it's that's very funny, but I think it's very true that Drake just figured out how to be as mean as 50 cents to his ex-girlfriends, you know, to various waitresses, et cetera. There's unfortunately a lot of truth to that. That's very funny and very grim at the same time.

Just to wrap this up, what do you, you know, you sort of mentioned, what do you make of his career since Get Rich or Die Trying? You know, we're talking about four records, you know, none of what, you know, that have a downward trajectory sales wise. The massacre is obviously huge, but, you know, then he's trying to do a sales feud with Kanye that doesn't go well, you know, it's pretty far downhill. From there, like, is his discography straightforward diminishing returns to you, or is he at all underrated artistically as a whole now?

So I do think it is quite clear that his discography is diminishing returns. The Massacre is not a great album. It has, like, great songs on it. And, like, 50 cents after the massacre has some good songs. It's just like the albums are just not, you can tell. I think what happens. And I was going back reading, like, profiles and interviews around the time the slippage starts. And I think what happens is that, A, we're living in a post-truth era in hip-hop.

You already kind of brought up Rick Ross, where the thing that people care about less and less is authenticity and more is this record hot. Is this, like, Rick Ross drops BMF. and we never really have to hear the corrections officer shit ever again because it's like what are you going to say bmf is just undeniable he goes on this run where 50 cent into club going back to kind of does it come too early in his career into club and get richard i trying because they are on that in my opinion that illmatic reasonable doubt level of when we think of iconic rap debut college dropout whatever they may be 36 chambers you think of that album think of that cover it puts 50 in amber where he never stretches his artistic wheels after that. He doesn't do the Kanye thing where it's like, Connie's like, with every record, I'm going to kind of switch this up. You're never going to kind of know where I'm going to go. Or with the Jay Z thing where it's like, Jay is very good at saying,

UGK's hot. All right, cool. Hey, jaw, like DMA. All right. Let's go. You can get a little Jay on this. Hey, y'all got some room for Jay. 50 cent is like, nope, you know what?

y'all need. Y'all need some shady. Y'all need some JigDG unit. Hey, we got some Dr. Dre beats. I got one for the club.

I got one for the ladies. I got the street anthem. Y'all want the street anthem. And we move past that as a culture. And then I think the other thing that happens is that 50, I think, falls out of love with music.

I think 50 falls in love with being the mogul who's like, I'm working with stars. I got, I got power coming out. Oh, I got vitamin water. water, I got this is 50. I got, at a certain point, I'm like, oh, what you always wanted to be,

50 was a mogul and a businessman, and the rapping was just the way to get here. And that's fine. Yeah, he gave us one undeniably classic record. And then we had, there's a couple things before we got. This man gave us how we do and hated or love it, and was just like, I'm so hot,

it's going to go on someone else's album. Like, I will never say anything bad. That's why he's underrated. I'm just like, there was a point when I thought Lloyd Banks was the greatest rapper ever. This is also tri-state area bias. You know, this Bieber Vens are valid. But there was a point when I was like, oh, of course, yes. Lloyd Banks is the greatest.

And then when we think of one of the greatest anthems of New York in the past 15, 20 years, hot nigger, that's a Lloyd Banks beat. He's signed to fucking 50. That's like, like, it's fine. If the albums aren't great, 50 has so many great songs. songs, so many great songs, then I'm like, it's fine. He gave us all we need. But I know I'm, you guys can cut this out. I'm going on my sermon. You had a question you didn't. Keep going. Keep going. Can we go into it right now? It's time to vindicate. Please. Jha fucking rule. Okay. Now, now, now, please, now. Please do. Did Jha lose the battle? Yes, absolutely. There's no doubt.

there's not one round of the battle that Jah won. It is the most lopsided rap battle in all of rapids. It's just like there's no point where anybody I was in the Tri-State area. Nobody's like, hey, Jock, I won it on him. Right. But I will say that. Jha to this day still gets spinned in my house. There was never a moment, there was never a moment where listening to Jha roll music became uncool to me.

It's like when I clean my house on Sundays, when I have my little. washed uncle mix. We got a couple jaw joints in there. We got some murder ink in there. All right? I would tell you in 2024, I probably listen

to more jaw rule music than I listen to 50 cent. Jow rule is not a better artist than 50 cent. His debut album is not better than 50 cent. But we will not disrespect Jha Ruel in this house.

51. Do you think you're an anomaly in that sense? Or do you think do you think that more people still love Jha Rul than are willing to admit it? what I think has happened, and I might be totally wrong, more people love 50 cents,

but I use this, but I'm not playing into club, in the whip with the shoddies. I'm just not. It's just like, they're just like, are you ancient? Like, there's no time in like, there's no time where I'm like going to be like putting candy shop on a sex bulls. It's just 50 cents music has gotten to that point where I'm like, hey, y'all, we're going to listen to heat alone. I'm going to be smoking a little weed. You know what I'm saying? I'm going to put on that G unit tank and this is this is solitary wash uncle time. J'all rule you could play in front of the

pretty ladies and they'd be like damn. I remember this. Let's do a little two step. Have you ever done a two step with the ladies. Charles do not introduce your aunt. I have not. I think you know the answer to that Charles. Charles do not introduce your aunt to 50 cents. That's what I want to get across you today. Don't do it. I don't, I know she doesn't, I know she wants you to do it. Don't do it. Don't do that to her. Don't do that to yourself. That was one of the nicest celebrities that I met, which also, I was just like, you're charming. I'm sure that's true. And nonetheless, yes. J.J.J. J.J. You. Sorry, you got to be hyped up. This is why my parents and want me listening to this shit.

We waited way too long to talk to Charles Holmes. the greatest cultural critic in America. Charles, thank you so much. Thank you so much, Rob. I love you. Thanks so much to our guests this week. Thanks, as always, to our producers, Jonathan Kerma and Justin Sales.

Thanks to Olivia Carey for additional production help. Thanks to Juliana Ress for fact-checking, and thanks very much to you for listening. And now I'd like you to go listen to In The Club by 50 Cent. We'll see you next week.