50 Cent Recalls Nas' Reaction To His Controversial 'How To Rob' Song

50 Cent has revisited Nas’ response when he first heard his industry-wide diss track “How to Rob,” which dropped over two decades ago.

In a new interview with XXL, the G-Unit boss told the outlet that the Queensbridge rap legend immediately wanted to know who made the track so he could reach out to him.

“Nas, when I first interacted with him, he was like, ‘Yo, who’s that?'” 50 remembered. “Cause the ‘How to Rob’ record got his attention. He’s like, ‘Yo, that’s like when I first came out. That energy is like raw.’ And he just wanted to see who I was. Just wanted me to be around and shit like that. Then, he let me come on tour with him and he didn’t have to do that.”

Released in 1999, “How to Rob” was 50 Cent’s bullish entry into the rap game. The track found the future rap star going directly at everybody who was on top of the rap game at the time, including JAY-Z, DMX, Diddy, Ma$e and Juvenile, to name a few. (Nas, somehow, avoided being mentioned in the song.)

“What Jigga just sold, like four milli? He got something to live for/ Don’t want a n-gga putting four through that Bentley coupe door,” he rapped, which famously prompted a response from Hov on “It’s Hot (Some Like It Hot).”

The fiery record was on the soundtrack to the 1999 crime film In Too Deep starring Omar Epps and LL COOL J. It was also set to appear on 50 Cent’s shelved 2000 debut album Power of the Dollar.

Elsewhere in his XXL interview, 50 Cent also reflected on touring with Nas back in the day and discussed his intellect when it came to making music.

“He was ahead of us,” Fif said. “What he had, and I was looking at it going, ‘You gotta be careful’ because he was smarter than the music he was releasing.

“He was smarter than things he was saying on the records because what he said on the records matched how things felt in the environment not who he was actually [in his head]. We’d be on the tour bus, and he’d be reading books and stuff.”

Furthermore, the Power mogul discussed his upcoming collaboration with Nas, which is called “Office Hours” and will appear on the latter’s Magic 2 LP (out July 21).

“Nas got a CD coming out, Magic 2, that I’m featured on,” he said. “I got a joint with him called ‘Office Hours’ we did together. We ain’t worked together since Power of the Dollar.”

He added: “It was cool to get in with him and do something like that. It’s interesting that the relationship is different because we in two different places now.”

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50 Cent ramped up the excitement for his feature on Nasty Nas’ new album earlier this week, taking to Instagram to confirm his cameo. which is dropping later this week.

“Yal ain’t herd me in minute, @nas felt like it was time so it’s done. Check us out Friday 7.21 MAGIC 2 (Office Hours) QGTM Boom,” he wrote while sharing the cover art and release date for Magic 2.

Nas also shared the news on Instagram, along with Hit-Boy, who appears to be reprising his production duties after scoring the first Magic LP in 2021, along with all three of Esco’s King’s Disease projects.

News of Nas and 50 Cent reuniting on wax was first revealed in February, with Billboard reporting that the G-Unit boss was set to make a rare appearance on what they believed was King’s Disease 4.

The Queens, New York legends last linked up musically in 2002 when they both were signed to Columbia Records, joining forces for “Too Hot” and “Who U Rep With” off 50’s Guess Who’s Back? mixtape.