Why 50 Cent compared Eminem to his grandmother: “We’ve always had a connection”
50 Cent and Eminem have a long-lasting relationship both musically and as friends. The Detroit rapper signed 50 to Shady Records after discovering his 2002 mixtape Guess Who’s Back?, while also making him part of Dr. Dre’s Aftermath label in the process. The pair have collaborated numerous times over the years, including the songs ‘Patiently Waiting’ and ‘Don’t Push Me’ from 50’s debut album Get Rich or Die Tryin’.
Slim Shady has always been there for 50 Cent, whether he needs advice about music or just someone to chat to about life. The G-Unit boss values their friendship so much that, he once compared Em to his own grandmother in terms of importance to him.
“What helped me not have a big head at any point, was I had Eminem around,” he told XXL. “So when I’m doing 13 million records on my first album, I have the Marshall Mathers LP to look at that’s doing 23 million records. Em, I put him next to my grandmother and I’ma tell you why. He was always a place where I could go and just talk to him, and know that he has my best interest at heart.”
He added, “I would gather whatever I felt like was dope and then I’d come and just press play and I’d watch him. If I didn’t get no response out of him, I would really scrap the record. I wouldn’t use it if he didn’t respond to it and hear the record like it mean something, I’m like ‘Nah, I’m not suing that shit.”
The respect goes in both directions, with Eminem describing 50 Cent as “one of the best friends I’ve ever known” during a performance in Detroit in 2023. Em famously recruited 50 for verses on ‘Never Enough’ and ‘Spend Some Time’ from 2004’s Encore album, as well as ‘Crack a Bottle’ on 2009’s Relapse. Most recently, Ed Sheeran reunited them on his 2019 song ‘Remember the Name’.
50 Cent putting Eminem in the same conversation as his grandmother is no small statement; the rapper was brought up by his grandparents after his mother passed away when he was just eight years old.
“I love my grandmother and my grandfather,” he told Oprah Winfrey in 2012. “It’s a different thing with my grandmother. We’ve always had a connection. I used to sit there and rub on her feet, even paint on her toenails and stuff like that. For her, I’ll do that, because her feet swell up.”
His grandmother, who he called the “love of my life,” passed away in 2014 after being diagnosed with cancer. “I’ve seen a lot of people pass in the neighbourhood, I’ve lost them to motorcycles or altercations or drugs. But none of them impacted like when my grandmother died,” 50 Cent told The Big Issue.