A decade of collaboration: Why 50 Cent had to part ways with Dr Dre
50 Cent, Dr Dre and Eminem have been friends and collaborators for over two decades. Together, the three have created musical magic and have made a massive contribution to hip-hop. From Get Rich Or Die Tryin’ to the iconic 8 Mile movie, at each other’s sides, they produced nothing but hits.
However, everything must come to an end, and in the 2010s, 50 Cent and Dr Dre parted ways. Unlike the endings of many of the hip-hop world’s most potent partnerships, there was no bad blood between them, but as they pursued their separate business ventures, specific conflicts of interest began to arise.
50 Cent’s mainstream success was mainly due to his association with Eminem and 50 Cent. At the turn of the millennium, Eminem signed the Queens legend to Shady Records under Aftermath, and in 2003, he debuted with one of the most significant records in the music industry.
Still, as the three grew and became legends in their own right, they began to explore other areas of interest. Whether it was 50 Cent buying Vitamin Water or Dr Dre signing Kendrick Lamar, their focus began to shift. However, one endeavour that both 50 Cent had directly clashed with Dr Dre.
In 2006, Dr Dre, alongside his business partner Jimmy Iovine, decided to enter the world of electronics and launch a headphone company, Beats by Dre. The company would prove to be a massive success, and in an interview with GQ magazine, Iovine detailed why the pair decided to pivot from music, explaining, “Streaming was coming, we knew this from Napster – although the music industry was in denial and had tried to shut it down, the genie was out of the bottle.”
He continued, “Piracy on the internet was going to be a problem, and it was just a matter of time before more and more people listened to music through a streaming service. We came along at the right time with the things [people] needed.”
Although Beats By Dre propelled the Aftermath founder to mega-wealth, his other longtime friend, 50 Cent, had also begun to enter the electronics space with his own business SMS Audio. This became a problem.
SMS Audio was founded and run by the Curtis creator, which meant that although he and Dr Dre were friends, they were now competitors in the technology market, which was partially the reason why he and the business mogul had to part ways.
Speaking with The Telegraph in 2015, Fifty explained, “Everyone’s competitors watch the people they’re competing with, but there was a point when they were a little more conscious of me than I felt comfortable with because we’re friends.”
The emcee continued, “We have two companies that do the same thing, but so do plenty of other companies, so there was nothing to make him feel like he was supposed to be the only person in the category. They just identified how effective the marketing could be when I was connected to it, so it kind of made it difficult for me to work with him, and I had to leave the label.”
Although the pair never fell out over the split, after the creation of SMS Audio the partnership simply became untenable.