Earlier this month, 50 Cent wrapped up his international The Final Lap Tour, which celebrated the 20-year anniversary of the New York MC’s iconic 2003 debut album, Get Rich or Die Tryin’. During his final shows on the tour, which included stops in U.K. towns like London, Birmingham, and Manchester, 50 stopped by The Rebecca Judd Show on Apple Music to speak with the British host.
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At one point in the interview with Judd, 50 revealed a surprising insight about Get Rich or Die Tryin’: He did not like “Many Men (Wish Death),” one of the LP’s most beloved tracks.
“‘Many Men’ was my least favorite at that point because, musically we was in the boom-bap phase,” he said. “We was in that hard-hitting intensity, the energy on the records, and it’s the slowest song on Get Rich or Die Tryin’. And it’s now the tempo that the artists are rapping to. So the fast tempo, hard-hitting beats, that was that era, that time period. And the whole album had it.”
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On Get Rich or Die Tryin’, 50 included many up-tempo radio bangers like “21 Questions,” “In Da Club,” and “P.I.M.P.“, most of which showcased the legendary rapper’s ability to include groovy harmonies into fiery hits. While “Many Men (Wish Death)” also displayed this to a degree, its more chilling, poised approach deviated from the over-arching atmosphere of the album, which 50 alluded to.
Many men wish death upon me
Blood in my eye, dawg, and I can’t see
I’m tryin’ to be what I’m destined to be
And niggas tryin’ to take my life away
Still, though, “Many Men (Wish Death)” found great success post-release, as it peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 as a single, and has since achieved 9x platinum status from RIAA. With 50 rapping about surviving gunshot wounds, millions of listeners resonated with the message of perseverance and revenge that the song promoted. This has continued to become evident as the years have gone by, with newer generation artists like 21 Savage, Pop Smoke, Polo G, Lil Tjay, and more either sampling or interpolating the song.
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