50 Cent said that he identified his targets as he was writing his 1999 single “How To Rob,” which included the Queens, New York rapper rhyming about Ol’ Dirty Bastard, Foxy Brown, Jay Z and Big Pun, among others.
“It wasn’t just random,” 50 Cent said of “How To Rob” in a story that XXL published on its website today (August 8) and that was originally published in XXL Magazine’s December/January 2010 issue. “People came to mind based on what rhymes. Once I was able to say it in different orders, I said the verse to Rich Nice. Before I brought it to him, I’d been doing it over a Beanie Sigel beat, other tracks. I was just playing with the concept in my head… It wasn’t hard to come up with the concept of robbery, when you’re not in a great financial space. It kind of felt like I was being rejected during that time, while I was trying to make music. And after it got even worse.”
50 Cent also said that he was not concerned about the reception the song would receive.
“I was doing what [rappers] were afraid to do at that point,” he said. “They were actually afraid to mention each other’s names, because Biggie and Tupac had kinda gotten out of hand… [When] Rich heard the lyrics, the whole song was done. I laid both of the verses, and then it was time for us to record the chorus. He got D-Dot…to create clarity, to show that it wasn’t a dead-serious attack at them. Without D-Dot, it was straight robbery lines. There was nothing that said whether you dead serious or you ain’t… I kinda went after everybody who was relevant, and it was really like doing my own [version of Biggie’s] ‘Dreams Of Fuckin’ An R&B Bitch.’”
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To read the full “Check Out How 50 Cent Put Together ‘How To Rob,’” story, visit XXL.
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