Today marks the 10th anniversary of 50 Cent’s Interscope/Aftermath debut Get Rich or Die Tryin’, and now, Complex has reached out to a host of emcees to give their thoughts on the LP’s success.
Roc-A-Fella alum Freeway recalled congratulating 50 on the success of Get Rich or Die Tryin’, saying that the two bonded while touring together early in their respective careers. The Philly emcee even revealed that Fif and Jay-Z maintained a cordial relationship during that time.
“We were always cool. He was on a mixtape tour so we were doing a bunch of shows together,” he said. “I remember when his album came out and it did all them numbers, I called him like, ‘Yo, your joint did a lot of numbers, it’s gone be crazy.’ He was like, ‘Don’t worry about it, your joint gon’ do the same thing when it drop…Jay[-Z] was cool with 50 because of the Roc The Mic tour. 50 used to always come to the dressing room, fuck with Jay, they used to always be cool. I remember when 50 first got the Vitaminwater deal, he came in and told Jay like, ‘Yeah man, I just did a deal with Vitaminwater. I’m about to get paid off this Vitaminwater.’ He would always come in and fuck with Jay, so it was always love.”
Houston veteran Bun B recalled first connecting with the Queens, New York emcee through producers The Trackmasters while Fif was still signed to Atlantic Records. He said that even though it was early in the rapper’s career, Fif maintained the same cocky attitude that he brought to his debut.
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“I had met 50 probably about two years, maybe even three, before [the album]. He was with Atlantic. I met him through Tone and Poke,” he recalled. “50 was originally with Tone back in those days. I had recorded with 50 prior to him getting stabbed and then shot. Seeing him come back through all of that to create a situation for himself doing the mixtapes, forming G-Unit, getting that crazy street buzz…it just seemed so larger than life at the time. Personally, I was just happy to see this guy persevere through everything. 50 was always a cocky guy. He always didn’t [give] a damn what anybody thought about what he said and he just rode that out.”
50 Cent is currently prepping the release of his fifth and final album with Interscope Street King Immortal, due out later this Spring.
RELATED:Get Rich Or Die Tryin’ Ten Years Later: An Oral History
