On “Back Down” in 2003, 50 Cent dissed Ja Rule and Murder Inc., but the song’s original version allegedly also targeted JAY-Z, Nas, R. Kelly and Cam’ron.
The 20th anniversary of Get Rich or Die Tryin’ coincides with the release of a new documentary by Diverse Mentality that dissects each song from 50’s debut album.
One of the project’s producers, Sha Money XL, recalls 50 Cent ranting about other rappers on unreleased version of “Back Down” and explains how his mind works when it comes to aiming for listeners.
“That record is his traditional patterns of ‘How to Rob,’ your ‘Life’s on the Line,’ ‘Ghetto Quran. Certain names is being mentioned, certain nerves being pinched. That’s his marketing tool – Fif has a marketing tool within music. He knows how to make records that’s gonna get you to talk, listen and f–k with him.” Sha Money XL said.
Then he continued: “This is one of the ones that I don’t know anyone else that did a record to it. Like, Dre had records that other people do… Rakim or D12. This one, nah. This one was fresh. Fresh. And we went to my crib, cut that s–t. Fif had no filter.”
“Get to L.A. and played it, Dre put the filter on him, like, ‘Hold up, bro. Hold up, bro. Nah, bro. You going too far, man. And we had to re-record that s–t. I still got the version where he’s spazzing, man.” he added.
The narrator goes on to say that the original version of “Back Down” took aim at Kenneth “Supreme” McGriff, JAY-Z, R. Kelly, Nas, Cam’ron and others. At the end of the track, he also invited Dr. Dre to jump in and say “f–k you” to the competition.
Instead, Dre had 50 Cent redo the track as a filtered version only going at Ja Rule and Murder Inc.
“That s–t was blackdown, he was going black on that, blacking out, bro. Whylin’ on these muthaf–kas. The s–t he was saying, it was like, ‘Bro, you can’t say that, what you doing? Yo, come on, Nas is still the homie.’ But he wanted to take everybody, man. It was like, ‘You can’t go after the God, bro.’ Everybody’s getting it. Cam, everybody. Back the f–k down. And that s–t was well-received, man. That s–t was hard as f–k.”
You can watch the documentary below:
[VIA]