The rock band 50 Cent hates and why he’ll never forgive them
50 Cent has formed a list of enemies over the years. Competitiveness in hip-hop, combined with the rapper’s confidence and fearlessness, has contributed to this. The usual suspects include Ja Rule and Rick Ross, but he’s also taken issue with a few others that are, on the surface, completely unexpected.
Arkansas rock band Evanescence, best known for their 2003 hit ‘Bring Me to Life’, have also felt the wrath of 50. Their issues date back to 2004, when the group beat 50 to ‘Best New Artist’ at the Grammy Awards in a category that also included Sean Paul, Fountains of Wayne, and Heather Headley.
After missing out on the award, 50 walked on stage alongside the band as they delivered their acceptance speech. But, instead of taking to the mic, he simply walked through the group and went back to his seat. Lead singer Amy Lee acknowledged 50 walking towards her and said, “Oh, what did I do? This is my first time. Thanks 50.”
Addressing the incident, Lee told The Daily Beast, “50 Cent hates my guts. It’s just one of those things. I mean, truthfully, we thought he was going to win, too. It was such a wild night. People are like, ‘What was it like to win a Grammy?’ and I’m like, ‘Stressful!’ I mean, it’s wonderful now, to have them, but it was surreal. I just remember thinking, ‘I don’t even think anybody in this room knows who we are.’”
At the time, 50 was fresh off the release of his debut album Get Rich or Die Tryin’, which topped the Billboard 200 chart with 872,000 copies in its first week. With hits like ‘In Da Club’, ’21 Questions’, and ‘P.I.M.P.’, it’s no wonder he thought he had the award in the bag.
On the other hand, Evanescence had just released their first album, Fallen, which was home to another hit, ‘My Immortal’. They also received nominations for ‘Album of the Year’, ‘Best Rock Album’, ‘Best Rock Song’, and ‘Best Hard Rock Performance’.
“You know when you’re just in shock? He didn’t do anything, he didn’t grab the mic, it wasn’t that bad. He just sort of like, made an appearance,” Lee continued. “It was like Zoolander when he thought he won. No, he never said anything to me, but he likes to talk about me and how he was robbed. I don’t want to start a beef with him. Everything around me was chaos and I was like, I’m going to stand here and see if this is real later, if I wake up or not.’”
16 years later, 50 still hadn’t forgiven Evanescence for beating him to the award. During his Hollywood Walk of Fame speech in 2020, he said, “You got the largest debut hip-hop album, [but] you don’t got no ‘Best New Artist’ trophy. The ‘Best New Artist’, they gave that shit to Evanescence. Can you find fucking Evanescence? I ain’t seen Evanescence since that night, since that night they gave them the trophy.”