“At the time, I didn’t think record sales and selling CDs were still a thing because of the digital explosion and Internet piracy,” Brooklyn rap pioneer Dana Dana says of his feelings at the turn of the century. “I felt a change was coming, that something was happening.”

Times were changing, but in early 2003, 50 Cent and his team mastered the old and new paradigms in order to make his debut major label album, Get Rich Or Die Tryin’, a commercial phenomenon. 

The build-up was years in the making. 50 Cent was signed to fellow Queens, New Yorker Jam Master Jay circa 1997 before breaking through in 1999 with the controversial single “How To Rob,” a wild fantasy where he rhymed about jacking everyone from Big Pun to JAY-Z. While some loved the song, others found it sacrilegious. When 50 Cent was shot outside his grandmother’s house the following year, it was widely assumed that his career was over before it really started.

50 Cent had other plans. After being dropped from Columbia Records, which released “How To Rob,” 50 Cent launched an unprecedented mixtape run, building his new G-Unit crew, and using a decidedly thugged out image to promote himself as he again dissed established rappers on his second rise to relevancy. 50’s confrontational single “Wanksta” announced to return to the major stage.   

“He was menacing,” says Dave Weiner, a veteran music industry executive who signed Master P and No Limit Records to Priority Records and also served as Strange Music’s Vice President for several years. “His history, the word on the street, his background, how many times he’d been shot, his artwork, his physique, it was a time where all that was required. The difference between now and back then was that you had to be from a certain pedigree. You had to be real. You had to be hard. The era of soft and pink and purple hadn’t come on yet. He was the pinnacle and the polished version of what would be a major label presentation of a menacing-ass rapper that had demonstrated that he was able to take out anybody at that point.”

50 Cent had mastered the mixtape game and was headlining his own tours independently by the time he signed with Eminem’s Shady Records and Dr. Dre’s Aftermath Entertainment in 2002. The G-Unit mastermind had one of rap’s most dramatic comebacks, a fact hyped up by rap fans around the country. 

“The name was popping, but the fact he got signed was the bigger deal,” says Chicago rapper E.C Illa, who owned and operated The Tip record store on the North Side of the Windy City during 50 Cent’s rebirth. “There was a folklore in the making. This guy was so hot with his mixtapes that everyone wanted him, and Eminem and Dr. Dre got him. So, people were curious before having ever heard his music.”

As 50 Cent, Shady, Aftermath, and parent company Interscope Records began promoting what would be 50 Cent’s debut major label album, they found themselves in a rare position of power. Even in the midst of the decline of physical music sales, Interscope didn’t give retailers such as The Tip a price break with 50 Cent’s album, Get Rich Or Die Tryin’. Whereas the typical album usually cost record stores between $10.50 and $11.50 to purchase from the distributor or one-stop, Get Rich Or Die Tryin’ was being sold at a premium, $13.39. This meant that The Tip’s profit was being reduced dramatically.

“You had to buy it because everyone was coming in for it,” E.C Illa says. 

But the increased purchase price wasn’t the only curveball retailers faced. A bevy a record stores wanted an unusually large number of copies of the project.  “Then,” E.C says, “there started being limits for how much they were going to sells to each store because the demand was so high.”

Consumers were steadily coming into record stores asking for 50 Cent. 

“Everybody was ready to buy it based on the story behind it,” E.C Illa says. “He got shot. He was this mixtape monster, whatever that even meant. It meant one thing in New York, a different thing in Chicago, and probably a third thing in LA. But it was all part of the story. You had Biggie and Pac. This was the next voice of street rap at the time. 50 was the Terminator, and Em and Dre cosigned it.”

“He was repping New York to the fullest, but people felt like he didn’t sound like he was from New York,” Dana Dane says. “I know he was from New York, but maybe it was the music, the sound of his voice, but I remember people saying he didn’t sound like he was from New York on a couple different songs.” 

“He took a different approach as a gangster for an East Coast artist,” adds Weiner, the music executive. “It was more like a West Coast presentation. The West was known for coming hard and the East was known for coming lyrical. Even though there was plenty of hard shit on the East Coast, the West Coast only had hard at that level, that made it to that level. What made the West Coast popular was gangster shit and 50 definitely incorporated that West Coast model of being hard and a gangster into what is traditionally lyrical and East Coast.”

This rare blend paid massive dividends with Get Rich Or Die Tryin’ lead single “In Da Club,” one of the biggest songs of late 2002 and all of 2003. The rest of the album equally was potent and diverse. “What Up Gangsta” shouted out West Coast gangs, “Patiently Waiting” teamed 50 with Eminem, and “P.I.M.P.” showcased his cold-hearted stance with the ladies. Dana Dane, though, gravitated toward “21 Questions,” a collaboration with Nate Dogg that featured 50 Cent asking his lady if her desire for him was genuine.

“I liked the flow and the groove of it,” Dana Dane says. “It was simple, but it moved well. It was entertaining and it reminded me of something Whodini would do.”

Get Rich Or Die Tryin’ debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart on February 6, 2003, selling more than 872,000 units its first week in stores. By the end of 2003, the project had sold more than 6 million units, going six times platinum. 

In the face of a rapidly changing music industry, 50 Cent showed with Get Rich Or Die Tryin’ that consumers would still buy physical product. 

“They took a real street dude, but had polished, top-notch production from the correct pedigree matching the perfect canvas to roll out a gangster-ass East Coast rapper that was able to challenge anyone in the country,” Dave Weiner says. “They were able to put a massive spotlight and monetize that level of bullying and gangster that nobody wanted a piece of. 

“It was just the perfect storm on all fronts,” Weiner continues. “He was the perfect canvas, the perfect candidate with the perfect background, perfect story, perfect look. It didn’t miss. Every box was checked on what he brought to the table.”