50 Cent relived the harrowing 2000 shooting that nearly ended his life and reshaped his future during a revealing sit-down on Fox & Friends, tying the life-altering moment to the creation of his multi-platinum debut album Get Rich or Die Tryin’.
The Queens-born rapper was just 25 when he was shot nine times outside his grandmother’s home in South Jamaica. The ambush left him with bullet wounds in his legs, hands and face, and forced him into months of recovery. The violent attack also cost him his record deal. That adversity became the fuel behind Get Rich or Die Tryin’, released in 2003. The album’s standout track, “Many Men (Wish Death on Me),” directly references the shooting and became an anthem of survival and defiance.
50 Cent’s resilience didn’t begin with that attack. He lost his mother in a fire when he was just eight years old, a tragedy that left him to navigate a rough upbringing in one of New York’s toughest neighbourhoods. His early years were marked by street life and drug dealing before he pivoted to music.