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The 1990s saw the rise of many accomplished rappers, from Tupac Shakur at the turn of the decade to Eminem and 50 Cent in the late ’90s. Eminem and Tupac have each achieved legend status in the world of hip-hop for various reasons, which 50 Cent himself sought to explain and differentiate.
50 Cent explained how Eminem and Tupac were different
In a November 2022 interview with journalist Brian J. Roberts, 50 Cent broke down how race informed both Eminem and Tupac’s perspectives, using the examples of Tupac’s song “Dear Mama” and Eminem’s “Cleanin’ Out My Closet,” both of which spoke about their mothers.
“I’ll pick two hip-hop artists that have been profound and really prolific artists within our culture that were very similar but tapped into different responses,” he said. “So Eminem’s mom, the drug usage was part of it and he would do: ‘Sorry, momma / I never meant to hurt you / I never meant to make you cry / But tonight, I’m cleaning out my closet.’ And then 2Pac’s mom also has some drug usage involved in her experience, and he said: ‘Even though you was a crack fiend, momma / You always was a Black Queen, mama.’”
“I think the tones of anger and the difference in the two of them are that Em’s anger is coming from things were supposed to be right, and 2Pac’s statement almost has terms of endearment in there because he’s like, ‘Well, we still all had,’” 50 continued. “The expectations of things going right from a white American perspective versus accepting the idea of things not going right from an African American perspective are what make the difference in the tones of those records.”
50 Cent’s friendship with Eminem
50 Cent went on gush about Eminem, his longtime friend who signed him to his Shady Records imprint in 2002.
“I love Em and I don’t think people credit him for everything. The growth of our culture should be also a trophy for Eminem,” he said. “Me personally and my career is a reflection of my association to Em. Prior to my record coming out, the most I’ve seen a Black male solo hip-hop artist sell was five million copies on 2Pac’s All Eyez On Me. It was a double CD, it was the first I saw something go diamond. And to have my first album sell 13 million records, if you discredit or disassociate that fact that I’m in association to Eminem who’s selling 23 million records on The Marshall Mathers LP, you just a f***ing idiot.”
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“I don’t think that they actually credit more people being involved in the culture and willing to consume it and make purchases [because of Eminem],” he continued. “I love him to death … He’s in a tight second spot in my life for people who’ve done things for me that they didn’t have to behind my grandmother taking care of me and looking out for me.”
In 2022, two decades after 50 Cent first signed to Eminem’s Shady Records and Dr. Dre’s Aftermath Entertainment, he joined the two rap icons — along with Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige, and Kendrick Lamar — in an Emmy Award-winning Super Bowl halftime show.
Eminem had immense respect for Tupac
For his part, Eminem doesn’t think of himself more highly than the legendary Tupac Shakur. In 2020, the “Lose Yourself” rapper crowned Tupac as the greatest songwriter of all time on his Shade45 radio special Music To Be Quarantined By.
“This next song is from an artist who I feel like might be the greatest songwriter of all time,” he said while preparing to play Tupac’s 1995 song “If I Die Tonight.” “Debate what you want about MC skills and all that, because he had that too. This is one of them songs by 2Pac that, to me, he was showing you, ‘I can write heartfelt s*** and I can write lyrical, crazy s*** too.’
“‘They say p**** and paper is poetry, power and pistols / Plotting on murdering muthaf***as ‘fore they get you’ — like, the play on the ‘p’ words and all that s*** and how he was doing it was so crazy,” Em continued. “Mixed with the feel that 2Pac could give you, which is constantly why I feel like he was saying, ‘Can you feel me?’ Because you felt ‘Pac. You can’t just listen to ‘Pac, you feel ‘Pac.”
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