50 Cent dissed Ja Rule and Murder Inc. on “Back Down” in 2003, but the original version reportedly also took aim at JAY-Z, Nas and Cam’ron.
As part of the 20th anniversary of Get Rich or Die Tryin’, Diverse Mentality has launched a documentary breaking down each track from 50’s debut album.
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One of the producers on the project, Sha Money XL, recalled 50 Cent firing off at other rappers on an unreleased version of “Back Down,” while detailing how his mind works when it comes to targeting listeners.
“That record is his traditional patterns of ‘How to Rob,’ your ‘Life’s on the Line,’ ‘Ghetto Quran,'” he said. “Certain names is being mentioned, certain nerves being pinched.
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“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 fuck with him.
“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 shit. Fif had no filter.”
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However, Dr. Dre apparently wasn’t prepared to release the track with the amount of shots 50 Cent was taking.
“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,'” he said. “And we had to re-record that shit. I still got the version where he’s spazzing, man.”
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 “fuck you” to the competition.
“You’re acting all gangsta and tough/ You must’ve forgot when the director yelled cut,” 50 reportedly rapped on the original version, referring to Cam’ron’s acting in Paid in Full.
Instead, Dre had 50 Cent redo the track as a filtered version only going at Ja Rule and Murder Inc.
“That shit was blackdown, he was going black on that, blacking out, bro. Whylin’ on these muthafuckas,” Sha Money XL continued. “The shit 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.
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“It was like, ‘You can’t go after the God, bro.’ Everybody’s getting it. Cam, everybody. Back the fuck down. And that shit was well-received, man. That shit was hard as fuck.”
Revisit “Back Down” below.
