Credit: Alamy

“You say you a gangsta, but you never pop nothin’. We say you a wanksta and you need to stop frontin’”. Strong words from 50 Cent. But what is a “wanksta”? And who is the “Wanksta” 50 Cent is rapping about?

“Wanksta” was the very first single released by 50 Cent upon being signed to Shady/Aftermath. It was originally on the G-Unit mixtape, No Mercy, No Fear (2002). Then it landed on the soundtrack of 8 Mile, the biographical film starring the founder of 50’s new label, Eminem. Finally, the song was added as a bonus track on 50 Cent’s 2003 debut album, Get Rich or Die Tryin’.

Following the album’s release, 50 Cent sat down for an interview with writer Jake Arnott. Arnott, a Brit, asked about the meaning of “wanksta”, and if it had anything to do with the British meaning of a similar term.

Arnott explained: “And another claim to fame: you introduced the word ‘wanksta’ into the language with your track ‘Wanksta’. That word sort of means something in England – does it mean the same in America?”

50 delivered his own verdict on the gruesome idea: “Nah, nah! ‘Wanksta’s like… we use that terminology to mean a fake gangster.”

To clarify Arnott’s point, “wanker” in Britain, according to the Cambridge dictionary, is “an offensive word for a very stupid or unpleasant person”.

So while unrelated to the British meaning, “wanksta” is an insult aimed at posing gangsters. Which, early on, 50 Cent said was not directed at anyone in particular. In a 2002 interview with Dubccn, he was asked if the song was written with someone in mind. But 50 replied, “Nah, nah man, it’s just, I mean in general. A lot of Wankstas out there. You gotta make records like that.”

But that’s not what 50 Cent said a few years later. In his 2007 BET Testimony, 50 Cent said that he had someone specific in mind when he was penning “Wanksta”.  50 was pretty quick to clear that up, too: “Well ‘Wanksta’, I wrote that record about Ja.”

“Ja” meaning Ja Rule.

50 Cent’s beef with Ja Rule is one of the most infamous and long-running in modern rap. Origin stories cite a member of 50 Cent’s crew robbing Ja Rule of a chain back in the 90’s. Things escalated in 2000 when 50 Cent was stabbed in a brawl at Hit Factory studio in New York by an associate of Ja Rule’s Murder Inc.

Ever since, the rappers have been slow to forget. As recently as 2018, 50 Cent bought the first four rows of seats at a Ja Rule concert just so it would appear empty. And Ja Rule’s status as the original “wanksta” did no favours for his career, while 50 Cent’s continued to rise in the wake of his debut album. 

Whether the song was originally written with Ja Rule in mind, or if 50 Cent ascribed it to him after the fact, we’ll never know. But ever since, the song has stood as a symbol for their unending beef.