Then And Now: 50 Cent and Beef

Recently, I came across a song I'm really feeling at the moment called "Start It Up" by G-Unit vet Lloyd Banks which contains guest appearances by Kanye West, Swizz Beatz, Ryan Leslie, and Fabolous. While such a track at face has nothing to do with 50 Cent, it did bring about a few revelations that I feel are noteworthy in today's Hip-Hop climate. Remember the days when Fif had beef with virtually EVERYBODY and restricted himself to collaborations with just a few individuals (most of which were from his own camp?) Things have changed... quite extraordinarily.

Lloyd Banks, the right-hand man to the G-Unit ensemble, has openly collaborated with two well-known foes of 50: Kanye West and Fabolous. If you recall, 50 promised to retire from Rap if his album Curtis sold less records than Kanye's 808's and Heartbreak when both artists released their respective projects on the same date (a battle which 50 did indeed lose but proceeded to release another studio album since). Also reference the jabs 50 took at Kanye following 'Ye's release of "Love Lockdown." And pertaining to Fab, these two took swipes at each other over a Tweet of all things after Fabolous pointed out that 50 Cent's offering to a variety of artists to perform at a thisis50.com event would seem proposterous in 2005 at the height of 50's heavy involvement with beef. 50 replied by discrediting Fabolous as an artist and suggesting he would not work with him.

On to 2010. It seems as if in the past, 50's presence in Rap had a heavy influence on who G-Unit surrounded themselves by but things seem to have changed. With the recent success of Lloyd Banks's Gold-certified track "Beamer, Benz, Bentley" (which featured another foe of Fif's, Juelz Santana), Banks is exhibiting a little independence from the G-Unit head honcho. Is this just a sign of Lloyd Banks attaining more freedom to work with anyone in Hip-Hop or is this a sign that the tactics used in 50's past are just not working anymore? You be the judge.



ATM