50 Cent has confirmed Nelly’s story about stepping in to defend Ashanti during the height of 50’s feud with Murder Inc.
On Saturday, June 28, 50 took to Instagram to share a clip of Nelly recalling the moment on Fat Joe and Jadakiss’ new podcast. Back in the early 2000s, as 50’s beef with Ja Rule was heating up, Ashanti—being closely tied to Irv Gotti and Murder Inc.—got caught in the crossfire.
Nelly explained that Ashanti encouraged him to speak up, so he approached 50 at an event and asked him to ease up, saying she had nothing to do with the drama. 50 responded by saying “anything is fair in war,” but eventually issued a loud public apology to Ashanti—something he confirmed in his IG caption.
“This is true no detected,” 50 wrote. “I always liked Moe he took off when I got hit. I was hurt I couldn’t do nothing but watch the TV. @50centAction.”
Out of all the rap beefs 50 Cent has had, Nelly was never one of his targets. In fact, 50 has even credited Nelly as an inspiration.
Back in 2023, 50 revealed that he borrowed elements from one of Nelly’s biggest hits to help create a smash for Lloyd Banks. “I would be able to look at someone else’s record and be able to make my version of the record when the right production came around,” he said. “When Nelly was going ‘It’s getting hot in here so take off all your clothes’… That’s how Banks did ‘On Fire.’ I wrote the chorus for that.”
He continued, “It’s the same record […] It’s just new melodies, new production, and let Banks do it.”
