Fat Joe and 50 Cent‘s beef is long in the past, and while he wouldn’t admit it at the time, the Terror Squad rapper can now say Fif’s Get Rich Or Die Tryin’ is one of the greatest albums of all time.
Joey Crack sat down for an episode of BET’s Diggin’ in the Crates ahead of the 2023 BET Hip Hop Awards, and he had some high praise for the G-Unit mogul’s debut studio effort.
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“One of the greatest albums of all time,” he began. “And it’s crazy ’cause I had beef with him and I wouldn’t allow myself to hear it, wouldn’t let DJs play it. But I knew that it was G-Unit. Recently J. Cole came out at his concert and said it was the greatest album of all time. Nas came out and said, ‘Yo this changed the game.’ And it’s a fact.”
He continued: “His flows, his melodies, his beats, the energy Hip Hop music had never felt. That energy that he was coming with, it was like yo, this is that — you got that dangerous thing to it. He teamed up with Mr. Professional, Dr. Dre and Eminem. See, 50 Cent woulda still been amazing but he’d have came with those New York beats that was really really good, but once again, Dr. Dre makes everything iPic. He makes everything crystal clear. He just gives you that professionalism like you on a podium or something.”
Once fierce rivals, Fat Joe and 50 Cent put their dislike for each other on wax with numerous diss tracks aimed at each other in the early-mid 2000s. The pair’s beef was inherited from 50’s bitter feud with Ja Rule, who the Terror Squad leader collaborated with on 2002’s “What’s Luv?” and 2004’s “New York” alongside Jadakiss.
Things then hit a boiling point at the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards, where Joe and 50 Cent exchanged shots in full view of the audience.
Joe threw the first jab by thanking G-Unit for the heavy “police protection” inside Miami’s American Airlines Arena while presenting Missy Elliott with the award for Best Hip Hop Video. Joey Crack later recalled G-Unit members confronting him and Terror Squad as they left the arena, but police were able to separate the two crews and avoid a fight breaking out.
The pair eventually buried the hatchet at the 2012 BET Hip Hop Awards, with the tragic death of their mutual friend, music executive Chris Lighty, inspiring a peace treaty between the rap rivals.
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Fat Joe’s longtime friend and collaborator Jadakiss — who also once had beef with 50 Cent — recently heaped big praise on Fif’s Final Lap Tour, claiming it’s the hottest ticket in town right now — hotter even than Drake and Beyoncé‘s respective tours.
