Rap Battle 00's Bracket Round 1: 50 Cent (7) vs TI (10)

dnc · July 2018

Rap history is full of stars that burst onto the scene with one dope album only to flame out before long, but none of them disappointed me the way Fiddy did. When Wanksta dropped I thought Fiddy was dope (fueled perhaps because I hated Ja Rule with a fiery burning passion). By the tim I heard Get Rich Or Die Trying I was convinced this dude was going to be one of the the games GsOAT rather easily. The fact he was coming up under Slim and Dre sealed the deal for me. Fiddy was the one that was going to restore rap to it's mid 90's pre Pac and Biggie assassination glory. The slight lisp thanks to a bullet to the jaw made him real as fuck.

And he did, for a minute. In Da Club was fire, Many Men was gangsta, PIMP was the greatest rap song in at least five years and Patiently Waiting was hard as fuck. 21 Questions was overrated and overplayed but that was easy to overlook. This is easily one of the greatest albums ever put together. If Wanksta was on the album and not just the mixtape/8 mile soundtrack it might have a claim as the greatest album ever assembled.

And then, nothing. What's his best song since GRODT, Candy Shop? For a career that seemed so promising I never imagined it would flame out so quickly. Add in all the weird bankruptcy, posting shots of cash, claiming it's not his kind of shit and the dude who seemed baddest of all out the gate just kind of went out with a wimper. If ever there was someone whose legacy would have benefited from a perfectly timed and placed bullet it would have been Fiddy. Sigh.