50 Cent is known chiefly for his gangster image and hard-hitting lyrics. Having been shot nine times in the year 2000 and with songs such as ‘Many Men,’ the Queens rapper (real name Curtis Jackson) is notorious for his edgy image. However, in 2003, he decided to make a song to improve his love life.
In an interview with MSNBC’s Ari Melber, Jackson spoke about the single and unveiled it was his smash-hit ’21 ‘Questions’ that he wrote for love. Revealing that Dr Dre didn’t want the song on his debut album, Get Rich Or Die Tryin, Jackson stated, “[Dre] said, ‘I know what this is. It’s N.W.A with just one member and you really don’t need it. He didn’t know why I wanted to put the record on.”
50 Cent then explained that he “wanted ladies to feel like maybe they could fix me, and I had done so many push-ups. So I felt like, ‘This is gonna be good for my love life!’ I’m dead serious.” Even though Dre (real name Andre Young) was hesitant, the New York lyricist insisted it be on the album.
Fortunately for Young, Jackson was right as the song peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, where it remained for 90 days. Produced by Canadian beatmaker Dirty Swift, the instrumental samples the 1978 soul track ‘It’s Only Love Doing Its Thing’ by Barry White and resonated with a lot of people.
According to the ‘Candy Shop’ emcee, Dr Dre (real name Andre Young) described ’21 Questions’ as a “sappy love song.” However, he didn’t take that too seriously. The track featured the legendary west coast rapper Nate Dogg and was released as the project’s second single.
Earlier this year, Jackson celebrated the project’s 20th anniversary. Taking to Instagram the rapper wrote, “When you have a team like this it’s hard to lose. I’m so blessed to have worked with the best ever. you can re-write a book, you can re-write a song, but you can’t re-write history. The 3-headed monster EM, DRE, and 50 Cent.”
Since his epic and groundbreaking debut, 50 Cent has enjoyed a fruitful career as a producer, filmmaker, and actor, making him a rapper turned media mogul. However, he will forever be known primarily as a legendary rapper. You can watch his interview with MSNBC in the video below.
