50 Cent Shoots Down Claims The Game Wrote ‘What Up Gangsta’ – ‘You Wasn’t Even Around’
50 Cent is shooting down claims that The Game wrote the Get Rich or Die Tryin’ track "What Up Gangsta."
On Friday (Aug. 13), 50 Cent appeared on Power 105.1's The Breakfast Club and debunked a claim that The Game penned the 2003 song "What Up Gangsta." The Power Book III: Raising Kanan producer said that's not the case.
"[The Game] said he wrote 'What Up Gangsta,'" 50 said at the 16-minute mark in the video below. "I'm like, 'C'mon, bro. You wasn't even around when we did that. That was before you even came into the picture."
"That was Get Rich or Die Tryin’. We didn’t even know who he was until after," he continued. "There’s a point when you [reach] desperation and you’ll say anything."
Actually, it was The Game's manager Wack 100 who made the ghostwriting assertion. Back in March, during a Clubhouse session, Wack revealed it was the Compton, Calif. rhymer who wrote Fif's explosive opening track on Get Rich or Die Tryin'.
"I'm going to speak on something [The Game] don't ever speak on," Wack reportedly said before quoting the infectious hook from "What Up Gangsta." "What up, cuz? What up, blood? What up, gangsta? Who you think wrote that? I'm going to leave it alone."
50 would later confirm he wrote several tracks on The Game’s 2005 debut album, The Documentary, including "Higher," which Charlamagne Tha God noted that Fif's reference track recently leaked online.
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Elsewhere in The Breakfast Club interview, 50 revealed he passed on signing J. Cole early in his career because he wasn’t sure if fans were ready to hear conscious rap in the early 2000s.
"As dope as they are, it's smarter rap, smarter music," he explained. "The logic is: 'sit down, be humble.' We supposed to already know to sit down and be humble. But when they put that there, it’s almost the conscious side of it."
"I'm like, 'Yo, it was cool, but I didn’t really know if everybody was ready for it because of how strong they were embracing what we [G-Unit] were doing."
50 Cent also talked about YK Osiris joining the Power world, his run-in with Beyoncé and more in the interview.