That was Jay-Z back in 2013 on the Breakfast Club, after he was asked about which rappers he could see making it far as well as himself and why. His answer about 50 Cent was pretty accurate considering where we were in Hip-Hop back in September/October 2002. 50 Cent was coming like a hurricane–ready to wreak havoc on the entire industry.
Back then, I had just become a teenager. A huge rap fan, I was so eager to hear who was going to be the next big rap star out of New York. The year before, we had one of the most legendary battles in Hip-Hop history between Jay-Z and Nas. It seemed like New York had two kings running the rap game but there’s always hunger for what's new and hot. Who could potentially take that throne as the “King of NY” and be that star for the 2000s. Could it be Fabolous? Cam’ron? Could it be someone from Bad Boy Records? Could it be someone else from Roc-A-Fella other than Jay-Z? Possibly, but there was someone else entirely who was staking their claim for the title. Someone who had the streets on fire by the summer of 2002.
That summer, 50 Cent had the streets going crazy with mixtapes such as 50 Cent is the Future and No Mercy No Fear. I could remember hearing his music being played in the street and the radio a lot. One song in particular stood out and it would later end up being on the 8 Mile soundtrack and on the Get Rich or Die Tryin’ album. That song was “Wanksta.” It wasn’t just that “Wanksta” was a hot song; it was also the fact he was dissing Ja Rule, probably the hottest rapper at the time. But plenty of people (like myself) were getting tired of hearing the same old “thug love” music he was making at the time. I literally couldn’t stand it anymore. So, when 50 came out with “Wanksta,” I and many others felt like someone was finally addressing his music and could potentially knock him off as the top rapper. Whether you were driving and had the radio on, playing basketball at the park, hanging out at the block party, shopping at your favorite sneaker store, “Wanksta” was everywhere. You couldn’t ignore it. I’d just started the new school year and most of my friends would rap that song damn-near every day.
By October 2002, it felt like 50 Cent was on the radio 24/7. I could remember one day turning on Hot 97 in the afternoon and hearing “Wanksta,” then after midnight on DJ Kay Slay’s mixtape show they were playing “After My Chedda” from the No Mercy No Fear mixtape. I was just blown away at how hot this dude was. On top of that he had the “Work It” remix with Missy Elliot, “Realest Niggas” with the Notorious B.I.G. and “Dem Not Ready” with Sean Paul.
Watching my friends buy all of 50’s mixtapes, seeing his music videos and hearing his music everywhere I went was like an amazing spectacle. He had my block, my borough (Queens), New York City, and the world in a chokehold. He did all of this, and his album hadn’t even come out yet. Little did I realize at the time that 50 was changing the way mixtapes were being done. Before, it was just people freestyling to whatever hot beats; but when 50 blew up, people wanted to put songs on their mixtapes because they’d seen what it did for 50 Cent.
I was too young for the release of albums like Doggystyle or Illmatic or Ready To Die. I had always heard how highly-anticipated these albums were, so to see this firsthand as it was happening was crazy. One rapper could have that much impact in the last quarter of a year and have everybody fiending for their major debut album.
It’s January 2003 and the streets are buzzing. “In Da Club” comes out and is an instant hit. People couldn’t get enough of 50. When it was announced that the album was coming out in February, the streets couldn’t wait. So of course, bootleggers started selling the album a month before its release. A family member of mine bought the bootleg copy and when I heard it the first time, I was blown away. I probably listened to that CD for like two months straight. Every song was a banger. I knew it was going to be a major hit when it was officially released.
A week before Get Rich Or Die Tryin’ was slated to come out, some record stores on my side of Queens were already selling the album. I saw kids at my school who bought the album flaunting it like they’d gotten a new pair of Jordans. I remember asking one of my friends if I could look at it and he let me. Looking at the album cover and the booklet, I was impressed. I said to myself “this guy is going to sell a billion records in the first week.” He ended up selling close to a million in the first week: 872,000 records to be exact.
By the middle of February, it felt like the whole school had the album. Everyone’s CD player had Get Rich or Die Tryin’ in it (whether real or fake). For the rest of the school year, 50 was the talk of the town. Kids in my class talked about him like they knew him. Some of the stories I would hear about him would be funny because I couldn’t tell if they were true or not. What was true is that 50 Cent had taken over the rap game and it seemed like nobody else mattered. It probably wasn’t until early summer 2003 that it felt like it was safe for other rappers to put out new projects. For that 6-9 month run, 50 Cent was a storm that came and damaged everything– leaving very little for anyone to use after him.
