50 Cent Once Hinted He Made Jay-Z Retire for Three Years
50 Cent and Jay-Z have exchanged barbs over the years both verbally and in music. However, 50 Cent once claimed victory when he theorized that Jay-Z retired because of 50 Cent’s own rise to megastardom.
50 Cent once felt Jay-Z retired because of him
The “I Get Money” rapper has always explained that Hip Hop is a competitive form of music by nature. Because of this, at the peak of his career, he found himself competing with many rappers for Hip Hop dominance. One of those rappers was business mogul Jay-Z. But 50 Cent felt his contest with Jay-Z was necessary.
“You need someone to work off; everybody does, wherever you’re at. It doesn’t always have to be negative. I’m happy where I’m at, so why wouldn’t I be happy where he is,” 50 Cent once said in a Shade 45 interview (via MTV News).
50 Cent also implied that he might have played a part in Jay-Z’s initial retirement back in 2003.
“You gotta say, ‘Where was Jay Z from 2003 to 2006?’ I sold 23 million records between 2003 and 2006. He stopped making music and said I’m gonna go be the president of a record [company]. Like I quit,” he continued.
He later insinuated that Jay-Z presented a bigger challenge when he teamed up with his wife Beyonce.
“When he signed the Beyoncé contract and was like, ‘Yeah men lie, women lie, numbers don’t.’ That s*** is a tough one to beat,” he said.
50 Cent once claimed Beyonce confronted him about Jay-Z
Beyonce once showed that she was willing to run to her husband’s defense if the situation called for it. In a radio interview, 50 Cent claimed that Beyonce thought he was going to get into a physical altercation with Jay-Z. She stepped in to make sure that wouldn’t happen.
“One time [Beyoncé] jumped off of a ledge and came running over cause she thought me and Jay had issues,” 50 Cent said in an interview with The Breakfast Club (via Billboard). “And I’m like, ‘What the f***? Did she really just jump and run up on me like that?”
Both 50 Cent and Jay-Z found Beyonce’s reaction surprised but humorous.
“We was at the Cosmopolitan. She jumped out and was like this, ‘What?! That Bonnie and Clyde for real! You try this or what, boy?! I’m here!’ She bugged out at me,” he continued. “I looked and Jay starts laughing. He’s like, ‘Yo, you know what it is.’ I said, ‘Oh s***! What the f*** y’all got going on, man?’ Bey jumped down off of that joint like, ‘What?! Wassup?!’ Matter of fact, Floyd [Mayweather] was there. We were in the Cosmopolitan in Vegas and I was bringing him to say wassup to Jay because Jay don’t really like him.”
50 Cent once believed that he was bigger than Jay-Z internationally
50 Cent once felt that he was more popular around the globe than Jay-Z was. Speaking on Tim Westwood TV, the Power producer used statistics to support his claim.
“There ain’t never been no 50 Cent Jay-Z conversations questioning whether there was a competition between the two of us,” he said. “There’s a huge difference in energy internationally in 50 Cent and Jay-Z. In fact, his largest selling record sold 430 something thousand copies. My largest selling records, plural, two of them, sold 5 million. That’s Get Rich or Die Tryin’ and The Massacre. So there’s a huge difference in who we are with each other internationally.”
