If you're an up-and-coming rapper, mixtapes are essential to create a buzz that you need. From Drake to Lil Wayne, to Wiz Khalifa, to Chance the Rapper, To Kendrick to J. Cole, almost every new-gen rappers use the streets to sell their mixtapes, make the names for themselves, and build a fanbase.
Whatever the formula is, believe it or not, 50 Cent was the one who pushed the art of mixtapes to the next level.
"Don't you ever forget it, n***a, I'm the reason why you made the mixtape, s***er!," Fiddy ad-libs on Eminem-featuring Murder One.
"From the 50 era, that's pretty much when it became a street album," legendary mixtape artist DJ Drama told Billboard in 2017. "Mixtapes destroyed the demo tape; nobody cared about your demo tape anymore, it was like, "What are you doing with your mixtape, and how are the streets selling it?""
Nine Bullets That Changed 50 Cent's Life
To understand how 50 Cent cemented himself as a mixtape genius, let's take a train of time to the year 2000, when nine bullets landed on 50 Cent's hand, arm, hip, both legs, chest, and left cheek.
"After I got shot nine times at close range and didn't die, I started to think that I must have a purpose in life," 50 wrote on his 2005 autobiography, From Pieces to Weight: Once Upon a Time in Southside Queens. "How much more damage could that shell have done? Give me an inch in this direction or that one, and I'm gone."
After the shooting, 50's label, Colombia Records, dropped him and scrapped his intended 2000 debut album, Power of the Dollar. Not only that, but he was also blacklisted from the industry because of one problematic song, Gettho Qur'an, saw 50 name-dropping drug dealers from the 1980s in his neighborhood of South Jamaica, Queens.
Then, 50 Cent Took The Streets to Build His Reps By Releasing Back-to-Back Mixtapes
The shooting impacted in 50s slightly slurred voice, which later became his signature sound. 50 didn't stop there after being blacklisted, instead, he flew to Canada with business partner Sha Money XL to develop mixtapes to build his reps.
Around 2002, he released a solo, 18-track mixtape, Guess Who's Back, with some leftover power from Power of the Dollar. Then, he linked up with his G-Unit partner in crimes, the lyrical genius Lloyd Banks and the energetic Tony Yayo, to develop three remix mixtapes, 50 Cent Is The Future, No Mercy No Fear, and God's Plan, over classic hits from A-list rappers like Jay-Z, Mobb Deep, Wu-Tang Clan, and many others.
It didn't take forever until Eminem, who was on the top of the world after releasing three classic albums back-to-back, gave 50 his one shot to seize. The rest is history.
"Hey Em, you know you my favorite white boy right? I owe you for this one," 50 shouted Eminem on Patiently Waiting.
"My manager (Paul Rosenberg) gave me a copy of Guess Who's Back, Eminem told Complex in 2017. "Every song he was doing was so crazy ... It was nothing to get rid of. It was nothing that we could even say, "Oh, that would be cool for a mixtape.""
"He took all the hottest beats from every artist and flipped them with better hooks. They then got into all the markets on the mixtapes and all the mixtape DJs were messing with them," Shady Records A&R Marc Labelle told HitQuarters.
Building the Image
In the late 90s and the early 00s, hip-hop fans were still mourning the deaths of their two biggest stars, Tupac Shakur and Christopher 'Biggie' Wallace, as a result of an escalated West Coast-East Coast rivalry. Hip-hop wanted peace, but not for 50. He marketed his gangsta image by rolling with a large heavily-armed group, picking fights, and wearing a bulletproof vest, which became his signature look later.
"It prevents people from playing," 50 talked about his tough-guy persona.
Get Rich or Die Tryin', A Street Hustler's Mantra
50 Cent wasn't playing around when he came up with a bold statement, Get Rich or Die Tryin, which also served as his debut breakthrough album's name in 2003. It's been 17 years since our favorite Instagram troll released his classic magnum opus with appearances from Eminem, Nate Dogg, Young Buck, Lloyd Banks, Tony Yayo, and Snoop Dogg on P.I.M.P.'s remix version. The album debuted atop the Billboard 200 chart with 872,000 copies sold within the first week, making it the best-selling album of 2003 and one of the most hyped hip-hop albums O.A.T.
Get Rich or Die Tryin isn't just an album's title; it's a lifetime mantra that every street hustler, including 50 Cent, lives their lives. 50 Cent proved it in later years, and in 2007, he became the second wealthiest man in hip-hop after Coca-Cola Company acquired Vitamin Water from Glacéau, a company he worked as a shareholder and a spokesperson, for $4.1 billion. Following his announcement of bankruptcy in 2015, he proved it once again after paying off $22m of debt.
People think he's softened up because of his fame, but he is now rich, so what's the need to die trying?
