Yonkers rapper and former member of The Lox Jadakiss revealed in an interview that in 2020, he wanted to battle 50 Cent and even charge viewers $1million to watch the clash on pay-per-view.
Revealing why he wanted to have a lyrical clash with the rapper-turned-media mogul, Jadakiss (real name Jason Phillips) explained that battles are beneficial for the culture, explaining, “Battling is therapeutic for hip-hop, but you can’t take it serious. I mean, you got to take it because when you’re preparing your material for your opponent, but when it affects your heart or when you let it get too personal…you got to have fun with it.”
Phillips, who thought it was a great idea, unfortunately, had his offer rejected by 50 Cent (real name Curtis Jackson). However, Jada figured he would be able to win it hands-down, telling HipHopDX, “An easy payday.”
“You asking Floyd to fight somebody that had two fights,” he continued. “Not that same comparison saying Fif only had two fights, but lyrically, I thought—especially in the zone that I was in at that time, it was like, I hope one of these promoters or one of these fight guys call me and say, ‘Yo, we got the money. We need you to come do the weigh-in and sign.’ Gotta throw it out there.”
Jadakiss even claimed battling Jackson would have been easy for him, claiming, “I felt like that was a walk in the park for me.” Phillips has battled before and, in 2021, took on Cam’Ron, Jim Jones, Juelz Santana and Freekey Zekey during the LOX vs Dipset ‘VERZUZ’ at the Hulu Theatre at Madison Square Garden.
Concerning his desire to battle an Aftermath artist, during his interview, Phillips responded to Eminem name-dropping him on The Eminem Show‘s track ‘Till I Collapse.’ On which he references several lyricists, rapping, “I got a list, here’s the order of my list that it’s in; / It goes, Reggie, Jay-Z, Tupac and Biggie / Andre from Outkast, Jada, Kurupt, Nas and then me.”
Responding to the verse, Jadakiss stated, “It’s a beautiful thing when your colleagues and dudes like Em mention you in songs on that level, you appreciate it.” You can hear Jada talking about Eminem below.
