![]() Dre noticed his momentum and decided to take a chance by signing him to their Aftermath Records label. 50 Cent operated independently and built a buzz via the mixtape circuit. Columbia dropped 50 Cent shortly after the rapper was shot nine times while sitting in a car outside his grandmother’s house in Queens, New York. However, the project would go unreleased. Eminem (left) and 50 Cent (right) accept the award for best rap video at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards. Not to rob me, but reciting the line and asking me if I was still making money off Big’s LP.”įollowing the release of “How To Rob,” 50 Cent’s buzz increased across the music industry, and Columbia Records accelerated the recording of his debut album, Power of the Dollar. I was wondering if people would come up to me, and that’s exactly what happened. “He was talking about people should stick me up because I was making money. “I was a little bit scared when the record dropped,” Mister Cee recalled. and the anatomy of a conspiracy theory Read now Related Story On Tupac Shakur, The Notorious B.I.G. 50 Cent rapped, “ I’m hungry for real / I’m about to stick Mister Cee, that n-a still eating off BIG first LP,” which referred to Mister Cee being an executive producer on the multiplatinum hip-hop classic Ready to Die. Mister Cee, the longtime New York DJ who discovered the Notorious B.I.G., received a lyrical jab on the track. ![]() It was one thing to listen to and enjoy “How To Rob” from afar, but it was another thing to be mentioned in the song. Still, as Jay-Z explained later in a radio interview, he enjoyed “How to Rob” and told 50 Cent so backstage at Summer Jam before he proceeded to diss him in front of thousands. It was the most public rebuttal to 50 Cent’s controversial record. Related Story Verbal Armageddon: A story of hip-hop at an HBCU, 25 years in the making Read now 3 album, which was released in December 1999. And respond he did in a very public way.Īt Summer Jam in 1999, Jay-Z famously went on stage and rapped the lyrics, “ I’m about a dollar - what the f- is 50 cents?“ A reworked line also appeared on “ It’s Hot (Some Like It Hot)” off Jay-Z’s In My Lifetime Vol. In August 1999, Jay-Z was already a multiplatinum artist with Billboard-topping singles such as “Hard Knock Life.” Many wondered whether the Roc-A-Fella boss would respond. On “How to Rob,” 50 Cent’s lyrics hinted at something sinister: “ What Jigga just sold, like four milli? He got something to live for/don’t want a n-a putting four through that Bentley Coupe door.” Rappers Jay Z (left) and 50 Cent (right) perform onstage during Screamfest ’07 at Madison Square Garden in New York City on Aug. The line about Carey and Mottola was removed from the official single, but the original version can still be found on YouTube.Īnd then there is Jay-Z. The offending line - “ I’ll manhandle Mariah like ‘B-, get on the ground/You ain’t with Tommy no more, who gon’ protect you now?” - targeted the singer and her former husband Tommy Mottola, then chairman and CEO of Sony Music Entertainment, the parent company of Columbia. ![]() Singer Mariah Carey, then 50 Cent’s labelmate, heard the record and allegedly threatened to take legal action against her own label if the lyrics about her weren’t removed from the song. However, the release of “How to Rob” gave 50 Cent his first taste of industry notoriety and ruffled feathers at the highest levels of the music business.Īn early version of the song made its way around the Columbia Records office, the label 50 Cent was signed to at the time. The violence on wax never turned into violence in real life, thankfully. It was a perfect way to get attention.” Related Story As Tory Lanez heads to prison, hip-hop needs to have a conversation about accountability Read now “I think the record didn’t cause no problem because he went at everybody, so people didn’t take it personally. “He said a lot of crazy bars on the record,” Kid Capri recalled. 50 Cent’s lyrics poked at an endless array of rappers, singers, producers and DJs. 50 Cent hilariously threatened to rob Cash Money Records star Juvenile for all his jewelry, including his gold teeth. ![]() Husband and wife singers Bobby Brown and Whitney Houston were potential stickup victims, too (“ I’m about to stick Bobby for some of that Whitney money”). Diddy “ dance your a– down to the nearest ATM.” Missy Elliott and producer Timbaland were teased about their weight. He threatened to kidnap Lil’ Kim and hold her hostage unless P. The bars he delivered on the song were a mix of tongue-in-cheek humor (“ I had Busta and the whole Flipmode on the floor/He asked me if I had enough I told him gimme some mo”) and what sounded like actual threats of violence. ![]()
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