The rappers 50 Cent hates with a passion
Curtis ‘50 Cent‘ Jackson has built a reputation not only as a hitmaker and movie mogul but also as one of hip-hop’s most persistent agitators.
From the earliest days of his career, beef has been a tool and a weapon. Where most artists see feuds as distractions, 50 has always seen opportunity. Rivalries have driven publicity, sharpened his image, and kept him in the spotlight long after others faded.
For 50 Cent, hatred is rarely quiet. His grudges are loud, theatrical, and often cruel. He has mocked rivals on record, lampooned them in music videos, and, in the age of Instagram, turned trolling into an art form. Sometimes it has been personal, other times simply business, but the consistency is undeniable. Few rappers in history have thrived on animosity quite like him.
Here are five rappers who have felt the sharp edge of 50 Cent’s tongue and the sting of his relentless campaigns.
The rappers 50 Cent hates with a passion
Ja Rule
The feud with Ja Rule is hip-hop folklore. Both men came up in Queens, and the story goes that tensions began when Ja was robbed of his chain by someone from 50’s circle in the late 1990s. From there, the conflict escalated. In 2000, 50 was attacked at New York’s Hit Factory studio, stabbed in a brawl involving Murder Inc associates. This set the stage for one of the most venomous rivalries the genre has ever seen.
On record, the rapper tore into Ja Rule with ‘Life’s on the Line’ and later ‘Wanksta’, a track that many believe permanently damaged Ja’s credibility. Ja and his Murder Inc allies fired back with their own disses, but the tide had already shifted, and 50’s rise coincided with Ja’s fall, with many fans crediting the feud for changing the landscape of New York rap.
Even decades later, 50 refuses to let it rest. In 2018, he gleefully revealed he had bought out the first four rows of a Ja Rule show just to leave them empty. It was a stunt designed purely to embarrass his rival, proving that this particular grudge remains as alive as ever, but Ja Rule brought this back to bite him last June.
The Game
What started as a promising alliance ended in spectacular collapse. 50 helped launch The Game’s career, contributing hooks and verses to The Documentary and welcoming him into G-Unit. But disputes over credit and loyalty soon poisoned the partnership. The Game refused to take sides in 50’s other feuds, and the latter interpreted it as betrayal.
In 2005, 50 announced live on radio that The Game was out of G-Unit. Hours later, their entourages clashed outside Hot 97 in New York, and a member of Game’s crew was shot. From that moment, reconciliation seemed impossible.
The Game retaliated with his infamous “G-Unot” campaign, turning a hand sign into a cultural meme, and unleashed marathon diss tracks like ‘300 Bars and Runnin’. In turn, 50 responded with cutting remarks, skits, and taunts at every opportunity. Over the years, there were moments of truce, including a public handshake, but the peace never held. For 50, The Game became the symbol of treachery within his own house, and that bitterness has never really went away.
Rick Ross
If Ja Rule was the feud that launched 50, Rick Ross became the feud that defined his pettiness. The spark was trivial: 50 claimed Ross gave him a disrespectful look at the BET Awards in 2008. Where most would have brushed it off, 50 declared war.
He began by exposing Ross’ past as a corrections officer, branding him “Officer Ricky” and ridiculing his street persona. Then he crossed the line further, involving Ross’ ex-partner, Tia Kemp, in a series of humiliating videos and interviews. Ross countered with tracks like ‘Mafia Music’ and ‘Valley of Death’, but 50’s campaign was designed to wound beyond music.
The feud dragged on for years, with 50 delighting in every chance to mock Ross. When Ross suffered a health scare in 2018, 50 posted a clip from Rocky IV where Ivan Drago watches Apollo Creed die, captioned “If he dies, he dies”. More recently, he gloated about the poor sales of Ross’s collaboration with Meek Mill. For 50, Ross has always been a target of ridicule, and he shows no sign of letting it go.
Diddy
For 50 Cent, Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs has always represented a rival in business and in image. Both men turned rap careers into empires, but 50 has made it a mission to undermine Diddy at every turn.
As early as 2007, 50 accused Diddy of knowing more about the death of The Notorious BIG than he admitted, even going so far as to call him out on record. He later dismissed Diddy’s music as “garbage”, mocked his dance moves, and spread crude insinuations about his personal life. Their rivalry also spilled over into business. When 50 endorsed Effen Vodka, he turned Diddy’s Cîroc into the punchline of constant jabs.
In recent years, as Diddy is facing lawsuits and public controversy, 50 doubled down, filling his Instagram feed with barbed memes and jokes at Diddy’s expense. He even teased a documentary about the allegations. Diddy usually avoids responding, but 50’s obsession with needling him has become a saga of its own.
Fat Joe
Fat Joe became collateral in 50’s war against Ja Rule. In 2004, Joe featured on Ja’s track ‘New York’, which immediately drew 50’s wrath. On ‘Piggy Bank’, 50 dissed Joe alongside other rivals, and Joe hit back with the biting ‘My Fofo’. Their animosity boiled over at the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards, where insults traded onstage almost erupted into a brawl.
For years, the hostility remained, with 50 mocking Joe’s career and Joe branding 50 a bully. Yet this story found an ending unlike the others. In 2012, after the death of their friend and manager Chris Lighty, the two men reconciled. They shook hands at the BET Hip Hop Awards in Lighty’s memory and have since spoken with respect for each other.
It was one of the few times 50 Cent’s hatred softened, showing that even he can bury a grudge under the right circumstances. Just don’t expect Ja Rule to get the same treatment.
