Get Rich Or Die Tryin' wasn't the critical or commercial success that 8 Mile had been, but it wasn't exactly a misfire for 50 Cent. In hindsight, it now looks like merely the first of many forays into scripted entertainment that would become a linchpin for the soon-to-be mogul's career. After Get Rich... 50's G-Unit Films would eventually morph into Cheetah Vision by 2009, a production company founded by 50 and Randall Emmitt. The company became famous for producing straight-to-DVD films starring 50, like Before I Self Destruct and All Things Fall Apart.
And those projects set the table for 50's push into premium cable television, as he landed his deal with STARZ in 2015 and launched the successful Power franchise on the network.
Get Rich Or Die Tryin' may fall more under "guilty pleasure" than "urban classic," but it's a film that, at the very least, kickstarted an entertainment empire. Regardless, in one powerful scene, it connected the grittiness of cinematic storytelling with the unapologetic thump of 80s street rap--an affirmation of the legacy of Boogie Down Productions' seminal first album.