Photo: My prized possession.
Today marks the 10th anniversary of one of Hip-Hop’s greatest and highest selling albums — 50 Cent’s Get Rich Die Ttyin’. The album officially released (it hit stores a couple of days early due to high demand) on February 6th, 2002 and changed the genre forever. The impact was so high that the album is now considered a certified “classic” by both fans and critics and has sold in excess of 8 million copies to this day.
Complex reached out to some of 50’s peers and fans from the music world to take their thoughts on the album’s impact where exactly they were when it arrived in stores.
Pusha T:
“.. And it made me have a whole other outlook, because I’m like, ‘Damn, I can love this and I can like this and I do see the greatness in it without it being what I strive for.’ 50 Cent made me look at music and writing differently.”
Funk Flex:
“I remember being in the club and the vinyl was still popping then and you could play six or seven records off that album and send the club into a frenzy.”
Bun B:
“Personally, I was just happy to see this guy persevere through everything. 50 was always a cocky guy. He always didn’t a damn what anybody thought about what he said and he just rode that out.”
DJ Drama:
“You know, what 50 did, what Kanye did, what Jay-Z did, what Drake did, what Jeezy did, those were those moments when it’s just that one artist and he is hip-hop for that moment. Clearly when Get Rich or Die Tryin’ came out there’s no argument anywhere, about anything. It was Fif’s world, period.”
Juicy J:
“I was a fan. I love Get Rich or Die Tryin’. That was one of my favorite albums. It’s a classic. I was really, really listening to that album. Then he had the G-Unit thing going on and Young Buck was a friend of mine. I been knowing Young Buck forever. So I was happy for Young Buck as well, because he’d been rapping so long and he finally got his big break in G-Unit. I think it’s a blessing for people coming from the street to do something that they love and actually make a living off it and feed their families and stuff. That’s very important. It’s important to work together.”
Tech N9ne:
“50 probably ain’t gotta do shit no more [to make money]. To still see him doing music, it lets you know that that shit is inside you because he ain’t gotta do it, ever again. To see him keep doing it, it lets me know that when I think about retiring, [I can’t]. When I hear a dope beat it makes me want to fucking go. I can’t stop. That’s all I can think of when I see 50 still doing his thing. It must be in his blood, he don’t wanna let it go. He ain’t gotta do it, especially if he bought Mike Tysons house with one song.”
Sha Money XL:
“I never wanted to be an engineer but we didn’t have any money to pay anybody. Even when we got the check, he was still a cheap bastard, and he didn’t even want to have to hire an engineer. So I had to engineer the record too, at an all-in fee. But it was a get rich fee. That fee made me a millionaire at 26. So I thank 50 Cent for that, because I got rich and I didn’t die trying.”
Mike WiLL Made It:
“I bought the album. I remember when me and my mom were riding around, we used to bump that shit. My mom used to know the words to all the 50 Cent songs, we used to bump ‘Many Men’ so much.”
Head to Complex for more artists expressing their love & opinion.
Sidebar: Infographic put together by Thisis50.
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