5.
50 Cent – Get Rich or Die Tryin’
That’s the last CD I bought! What I like about 50 is that it’s his story that sold me. How he got shot nine times, and how he could have given up, and how he came through, and how all the doors slammed on him and he got rejected and no one wanted to know who he was. So out of frustration he did that tune ‘How To Rob’, and put everyone’s names in it, Jay Z, Fat Joe, everyone, and then Jay Z said something like "Who the f**k is 50 Cent?"
Things like that, quoteables, everyone started to reply back to him and it kind of made him bigger. He had his deal at the time, and then when he got shot he got dropped. There was this whole story that he could have given up and he didn’t, and he almost lost his life. And then to come back with that success… He’s still one of the top five rappers of the last ten years to have done it, it’s only Lil Wayne that’s sold just as much or more than him. And 50’s still making more money than him!
So I was sold on his story, so I’ll always be a 50 fan, even if he’s let me down with his music of late. I had all his mixtapes, I had all his stuff when he was coming through – I was just like, wow man, you can hear the hunger. When he got shot, you can hear it in his mouth, he’s slurring, ’cause the bullet lodged in his tongue, so he’s not rapping the thing – but he used it to his advantage.
I think that’s a lesson I’ve taken. I feel like I’m still struggling, much as people say ‘You’re a legend’, this and that – but I haven’t really gone anywhere yet! The journey’s still here, I hope to be someday in a position where I can be comfortable. I’m alright, but everyone thinks we’re millionaires, we’re not, we’re still grinding it out like everyone else is. You can even be alright for a moment but then, as you know, it’s like musical chairs. One minute you’re massive, the next you’re back at the bottom of the heap, like ‘How did I end up here?’ So I don’t take nothing for granted. 50 Cent’s story has been very inspiring for me, yeah.
