Feuding With 50 Cent: Rappers That Crossed Paths With Curtis

Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson has never shied away from controversy.

Since breaking into the industry with the name-dropping street classic, “How To Rob,” 50 has been stirring up trouble with records, interviews and public feuds involving numerous emcees.

He battled death and won after surviving nine gunshots, then began a meteoric rise that turned the “mixtape” into industry standard. Let’s take a look at some of the artists he’s beefed with, battled, and pissed off. Some wars he won, others he lost, a few didn’t have a clear victor but the constant outcome is that Curtis continues to rattle nerves and express his opinion without fear of consequence. This is 50.

“I’m about a dollar, what the f**k is 50 Cent?” No Hov wasn’t the first one to come at 50 but he did set off his career so to speak. Everyone heard “How To Rob” and artists such as Sticky Fingaz, Big Pun and Missy were offended and spoke up.

But no one expected Jay-Z to actually respond to the line that suggested that 50 would pop shots at his Bentley. It was almost paying homage considering some of the disrespectful bars that went at other celebs. Jay showed up at Hot 97 FM’s Summer Jam concert and said the aforementioned infamous line that got the crowd hype, then he put the same bar on his next album. It solidified 50 and showed the public that he had arrived.
Of course the two moguls settled their differences and recorded a commercial for Reebok together. That doesn’t mean that Curtis held his tongue about Jay’s “No one is scared of 50 Cent” comment after 50 criticized Jay for allowing Lil Mama to bogard his performance with Alicia Keys at the 2009 VMAs.

Fif also pointed out Hov’s habit of dodging beef when Jadakiss and Cam’ron had issues with him, he used Beanie Sigel and Tru Life as shields respectively.

Where do they stand today? They are probably stuck in a constant cold war and monetary battle that may or may not ever surface. Either way, Jay got the answer to his Summer Jam inquiry.

Raekwon and Ghostface weren’t happy about the shots taken at Wu-Tang on 50’s single. Not only did he insult ODB but he threatened to rob Rae, Ghost and RZA for their “funny a** rings.”

Although the Mad Rapper vowed that the song wasn’t serious on the chorus, Ghost and Rae used the music to attack the budding emcee. A distorted-voiced inmate named Clyde Smith (played by Raekwon) appeared on Ghostface Killah’s Supreme Clientele airing out his grievances. He called Fifty a broke a** that would have 500 wolves on him if he ended up in prison.

A few years ago Rae did an interview for Thisis50.com and declared he wanted to work with Curtis. Ghost also stated that the beef is dead. Stay tuned.

What may have seemed like a foolish chess move at the time, Curtis Jackson went for the king of the ghetto love songs and the reigning radio ruler and turned him into a pawn in less than a year.

Ja Rule could do no wrong in the early 2000’s, his videos topped countdowns, his sing-songy style crossed over effortlessly, and Murder Inc. was on a roll obtaining plaques.

50 claims that his Queens brethren shunned him at a video shoot, the two crossed paths at a studio where a stabbing occurred and fellow Murder Inc. artist Black Child was involved, and 50 then launched a full assault on Ja Rule. His songs took Ja’s signature style, he dedicated records, skits and interviews to him and they all referred to Ja as soft, fake and homosexual.

Needless to say, Ja’s fans began to switch sides and 50’s mixture of hard hitting joints and harmonizing singles stole the show.

The two have still not reconciled and Ja is currently heading to prison.

Curtis Jackson arguably saved The Game from the Aftermath Records purgatory that was ahead of him by signing him to G-Unit Records. 50 laced Game with three chart-topping singles, placing him in regular radio rotation and gave him a strong co-sign that made Interscope Records pay attention to the artist that otherwise sat on their roster.

Unfortunately they paid too much attention and pushed 50’s Massacre LP back for The Game. It was rumored that they bumped heads because Game was “disobedient” and wouldn’t declare war on 50’s enemies like a good soldier.

50 publicly dismissed Game from G-Unit on Hot 97 FM and the G-Unot campaign was launched shortly after. He even has a tattoo with the G-Unot logo (like that means something).

Songs were thrown out, mixtape covers were made, Busta Rhymes tried a reconciliation, Game and Young Buck had an altercation, Game apologized, it wasn’t accepted, Game took more shots at G-Unit, 50 fired more lines at him, Game reached out on Twitter, and no one responded.

The tension remains but since Buck is no longer a part of G-Unit, he and Game have linked up. Game is in interviews now mentioning 50 as someone he wants to work with. Why are we not surprised?

Ja Rule began to make a slight resurgence in 2004 with his song “New York” which featured Fat Joe and Jadakiss. Unfortunately, the two guests on the record had no idea that they had to get permission from 50 Cent to record with Ja.

50’s “Piggy Bank” record went at both Joe and Jada and they retaliated. At the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards, while Joey Crack introduced Daddy Yankee, he remarked, “I feel safe with all the police protection…courtesy of G-Unit.” Shortly after, when MTV switched to a commercial break, 50 Cent directed an obscenity at Joe, and 50 Cent jumped on stage as Fat Joe was leaving.

Joe’s Elephant In The Room CD might have actually made less noise than 50’s Elephant In The Sand mixtape.

Joe isn’t salty anymore but he still recognizes his rival’s falloff when it comes to sales. He told MTV, “You talk about album sales, he went from selling 10 million albums to not even going gold this last album. So, he lost nine-and-a-half-million fans in four years. I don’t really trip off him.”

The Terror Squad boss went on to state, “I would love to be in an airport, we bump into each other, we go in the men’s room, best man wins, that’s it.” That would be a good one.

Jadakiss released a fiery freestyle entitled “Checkmate”, and other joints targeted at Mr. Jackson including “Problem Child”, “Shots Fired” and “I’m Sorry Ms. Jackson” after “Piggy Bank” came out. Subliminal shots were fired back at Jada, but Kiss was more focused on who was better in the booth.

He challenged 50 to a battle on stage at Madison Square Garden for one million dollars but was declined. The two rap vets seemed to just be at odds due to a technicality since the feud never really escalated. They resolved their differences and even recorded a violent song entitled “Dump” together last year.

In 2007, 50 Cent said some negative things about Koch Records labeling it a graveyard for rap careers and during a Hot 97 FM interview with Angie Martinez, 50 was a guest in the studio while Cam’ron called up to clear the air. What started out as a conversation about 50’s ability to shut down the label turned into an ego battle, shouting match, and a record sale competition live on air.

Cam’s irate screams of 50 Cent’s government name turned into a diss record. Cam released a video for
“Curtis” and 50 flipped it into a marketing tool naming his 3rd album after himself. Fif then popped up with Jim Jones on BET sensing some division in the Dipset camp and he continued to make freestyles about Cam’s health issues.

Recently Cam told Rapflix, “I don’t have no problem with 50…50 cool with me…[The beef] was good for Hip Hop. We had our little Hip Hop beef or whatever you want to call it, but aint no problem.”

Fifty shared similar sentiments.

In 2007, the Southside Jamaica native told SOHH.com, “If Kanye West sells more records than 50 Cent on September 11, I’ll no longer write music. I’ll write music and work with my other artists, but I won’t put out anymore solo albums.”
Fifty tried public insults and attempted to bully fans into choosing, but he failed considerably on the release date showdown as Yeezy sold just under a million in one week while Fif boasted 691,000 units. Not only did Curtis back out on the bet, he claimed that Def Jam purchased copies for Kanye and that Interscope under-promoted Curtis.

50 released a video titled “Kanye West Gets His Style From The Gays,” on his website after a questionable interview that Kanye did. He also bashed Ye after the Taylor Swift incident. 50 talked about his own stage crash at the Grammys when Evanescence won an award he felt he should have received but Kanye’s crash was unwarranted. Ye and Fif are currently in competition but claim to not be enemies.

Shyne says his issues with Curtis Jackson began when he didn’t want to sign to G-Unit. 50 took offense and some diss records started surfacing after Shyne’s release from prison. The anti-Wanksta pranked a Shyne conference call that was intended for his fans and 50 filmed the ordeal as he yelled obscenities at the former Bad Boy artist and told him his music sucked.

Shyne told MTV from Belize, “Wow. That’s like an all-time low, I didn’t know he was so desperate. He’s gone from confidential informant, witness-protection program dude…Now he’s a stalker. I was in shock. He called up saying he was ‘Jamal from Harlem.’ He didn’t call up saying he’s Curtis Jackson, Hawaii 5-0. He’s a busta. I can’t believe it. I can’t believe he would stoop to that low. Then again, a guy in the witness-protection program, he has no shame.”

Young Buck became the newest victim of the G-Unit leader’s attacks when a phone conversation between the two of them was leaked to the internet in 2008. Buck cried during the talk on the phone about his monetary situation, his desire to remain in the group and most importantly how he would never release a diss record about his boss.

After the convo hit the world, “Taped Conversations” was released with lines that negated his promise, “…Look at 50, what he do just to get fame/ Record my phone call when I spoke from the heart/ That was a year ago, this was a joke from the start/ You a ho, I know/ The only people that record conversations is 5-0.”

Young Buck was kicked out of G-Unit for what 50 called “inconsistent behavior” due to a drug problem. Today the former Interscope Records artist is facing ten years for weapons possession since he is a convicted felon. 50 was asked if he would help his old protege to which he responded, “Hell no lol.”

This may actually be the first beef that 50 Cent did not initiate. On “Mafia Music,” Rick Ross spit, “I love to pay her bills/can’t wait to pay her rent/Curtis Jackson baby mama/I aint askin for a cent/Burn the house down/gotta buy another/don’t forget the gas can/jealous, stupid muthaf**ka.”

Apparently Rick Ross was unhappy about Fifty Cent’s child’s mother’s house being burned down and he blamed the Shady Records star. Then there was a comment that Trick Daddy made that opened up the investigation leading to confirmation that William “Rick Ross” Roberts was indeed a Dade County corrections officer.

Ross denied the allegations but a social security number match revealed that he was indeed an officer in 1995 when he was 19 years old. The “Officer Ricky” attacks began and it seemed like Ross was doomed since affiliation with the authorities in hip-hop is taboo.

More songs were released, and 50 Cent showed up with Ricky’s baby mother Tia Kemp to talk about his delinquent child support payments and Fif took her shopping in New York City. Def Jam put a gag order on Rick while Fifty continued to make cartoons and videos clowning the former corrections officer.

Some people feel that filming DJ Khaled’s mother took it a little too far but the battle never elevated to a physical confrontation. However, the war of words was suppressed when the Teflon Don, Ross’ fourth studio album hit stores and moved 176,000 copies in its first week.

50’s Before I Self Destruct only moved 160,000 records after seven days on the shelves and since then it has been his lowest-selling disc. Ross on the other hand has moved into somewhat of a top spot on the charts, radio and in speakers all across the country making undeniable music that has silenced the “Officer Ricky” allegations.

50 is still the obvious winner in the bread category but how long will that last with Ricky’s recent label endeavors. So who’s the victor in this ongoing battle? They both have quieted down and Ross claims the beef that was deeper than rap isn’t a priority anymore. Notice a trend?