Has 50 Cent Been Coming For Diddy’s King of The World Hip Hop Crown All This Time? (2024)

There should be nothing funny about the profound downfall of Sean “Diddy” Combs, which started when former girlfriend Cassie Ventura sued him over claimed abuse last November and turned into a brush fire when a video leaked to CNN in May removed all doubt about those claims.

But leave it to grandmaster sh*t-spewer Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson to squeeze some funny out of that rancid fruit. While the rest of us wrestle with a mixture of anger and a sense of betrayal at Diddy’s actions, Fif has elicited uncomfortable chuckles by making cracks at Diddy’s expense every chance he gets – even going so far as selling to Netflix a documentary on Diddy’s misdeeds, presumably the likes of which finally clipped R. Kelly’s dirty wings five years ago.

Now, 50 Cent has beefed with more celebrities over the last two decades than I care to recall. But Diddy isn’t the public beef type, and I’ve wondered for a while what he did to court Fif’s ire – or at least whatever irreverence that’s motivated him to stay on his ass like a chronic hemorrhoid.

I landed on the likelihood that Fif’s approach to Diddy is simply an ultra-petty method of jacking his crown to become the next hip-hop superpower now that the Bad Boy Records founder won’t be able to sell so much as a quarter water for a good while. It’s like the drug game, but for folks who rhyme “n***a” with “trigga.”

It tracks when you consider that 50 Cent has played second fiddle to Diddy for a generation. Two decades ago, Fif was hip-hop’s golden boy, coasting on the ubiquity of his now-classic 2003 debut “Get Rich or Die Tryin’.” It was a post Diddy held some seven years earlier during Bad Boy’s ascendancy following Biggie’s death.

But just as Diddy’s music hitmaker star started falling as Fif’s was rising, Fif himself cooled down musically near the end of the century’s first decade…never again reaching his “GRODT” apex. As Diddy did with his numerous other business ventures outside of music – including his wildly successful Sean John apparel line – Fif realized that music wasn’t the end-all and put his money elsewhere, famously partnering with Glaceau’s Vitamin Water in 2004 (remember the Formula 50 grape flavor?).

When Coca-Cola purchased Glaceau for $4.1 billion, Fif allegedly netted $100 million and set a precedent for Hip-Hop endorsem*nt deals. He since locked in several other business ventures, including ownership of Sire Spirits, which makes Le Chemin Du Roi champagne and Branson Cognac.

But Fif’s net worth, which Forbes had at $155 million in 2015, took a hit that same year thanks to a bankruptcy filing to get out of a $17.5 million trademark infringement order as well as a $5 million judgment to Rick Ross’ child’s mother Lastonia Leviston because he allegedly leaked her sex tape. Fif told Rolling Stone in 2022 that he’s dropped $23 million on legal fees alone throughout his career.

Internet estimates floating around put 50 Cent’s current net worth at around $40 million. It’s leagues above most rappers who were popular in the early aughts but still well short of Diddy, who’s still hovering at billionaire status despite bidding adieu to several business ventures including Revolt Media and Cîroc vodka. Diddy’s been making real money about a decade longer than Fif has, so it might take the latter a good while – or one patented cure for cancer – to catch up.

Perhaps 50 Cent’s biggest shot at achieving Diddy’s business highs is in television production: He inked a multi-year deal with Starz in 2018 worth allegedly $150 million that gave us the “Power” universe and “BMF” that has since dissolved (publicly and loudly). He massively expanded his G-Unit Studios in Shreveport, La. earlier this year.

This might be why, amid his scorched-earth approach to social media, Fif has offered uncharacteristic deference to Tyler Perry. When The Root posited the question of if 50 Cent is attempting to come for Perry’s crown, he posted a response insisting that he wishes to learn from Perry, not compete with him. Days later, he shared an image outside of Perry’s Atlanta studios.

Hip-hop is, by design, steeped in competition and territorial pissing — 50 Cent has shown us since his first big single “How to Rob” that he’s about the smoke. Unlike Diddy and Fif’s eternal arch enemy Rick Ross – both multihyphenate hip-hop titans — Perry has never been anyone’s rapper, so perhaps that spirit of competition doesn’t carry over. Plus, Fif knows that he’s playing in Perry’s backyard and simply wants to learn how to master the craft from an elder statesman.

Amid all the social media controversies and money doled out to lawyers, 50 Cent is a demonstrably shrewd businessman. But he also hails from the streets, and in leaning on Diddy likely views himself as Marlo Stanfield coming for Avon Barksdale’s crown. Unless he has some sh*t waiting to pop out of his closet, he might just take that crown.