50 Cent believes the recent celebrations surrounding Jay-Z’s album anniversary were driven by “great marketing” rather than anything else.
During a conversation with his Street Fighter co-star Andrew Schulz for an Interview Magazine interview published on Friday (October 9), Fif discussed power and influence before taking a jab at Hov, beginning with his well-known “Basquiat haircut.”
“That’s how we see the person’s personality after they settle in. After they’ve been there for a while, you see who they actually are,” he said. “And if not, we see the gimmicks. We see things like the Basquiat hair. When that comes, you go, ‘No, it was intentionally grown out for a Tiffany ad.'”
Without being prompted, 50 Cent then shifted the conversation to how strong relationships with touring companies can create opportunities that might not be available to other artists. Appearing to take another shot at Jay-Z, he brought up the rapper’s wife, Beyoncé, before referencing the 2010 Home & Home Tour featuring Hov and Eminem.
“If you have a strong enough relationship with the tour companies, they’ll do a touring deal with you because they’re securing the tour deal with Beyoncé,” he said. “When they have to do things to broaden your audience, they may do New York and Detroit. He’s done this before. He’s done the stadium in New York. Him and Em[inem], they matched him up with the biggest rapper in the world like they’re the same.”
“We do your hometown and then my hometown. That’s just to change perception and make him appear as big as Eminem,” he added. 50 Cent then took aim at Jay-Z’s debut album, 1996’s Reasonable Doubt. Although the project didn’t perform particularly well commercially when it first dropped, it eventually grew into what many consider a classic.
“Bro, the album showed up number 23 on the chart when it debuted,” 50 pointed out. “It was not a fucking big deal then. Why is it a big deal now? It’s great marketing.”
Roc Nation spent months celebrating the 30th anniversary of Reasonable Doubt and the 25th anniversary of The Blueprint. The campaign included JAŸ-Z30 subway advertisements, a Spotify-sponsored takeover of the J and Z trains, specially designed transit maps, and commemorative Brooklyn Public Library cards.
Pop-up events across Manhattan and Brooklyn attracted long lines of fans hoping to get their hands on exclusive merchandise. Target also released limited-edition white vinyl alongside anniversary CDs and cassettes, while Jay-Z’s official store offered premium collectibles, including a roughly $1,500 crate featuring 13 of his albums, a $300 cassette box set, and $400 Yankees jerseys from a collaboration with the team.
The anniversary campaign also featured an eight-part HBO docuseries, three concerts at Yankee Stadium, and several performances across Europe.
