50 Cent on ‘Get Rich or Die Tryin” turning 20, his least favorite track on the album and more

50 Cent‘s debut album, Get Rich or Die Tryin’, is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, surpassing the hopes he had for the record.

“If you had asked me to make a wish in 2003, I would’ve just wish that my music was a hit,” he tells Apple Music’s Rebecca Judd, noting he didn’t think that far ahead at that point in his life. “I’m just that at the moment for it to work.”

Get Rich or Die Tryin’ released on February 6, 2003, featuring 16 tracks. It included “Many Men (Wish Death),” which 50 reveals is his least favorite song on the project. 

“’Many Men’ was my least favorite at that point because musically we was in the boom-bap phase. We was in that hard-hitting intensity, the energy on the records, and it’s the slowest song on Get Rich or Die Tryin’,” he explains.

Also featured on the album is his hit “In Da Club,” which is sometimes played for him on his birthday. “Sometimes I like it,” he says of those instances when it’s played in honor of his special day. “I hear that’s almost the birthday song outside of Stevie Wonder‘s ‘Happy Birthday.’ And it’s interesting because every day is someone’s birthday, so it doesn’t really get old.”

What didn’t make the final Get Rich or Die Tryin’ track list, however, was “Magic Stick,” which 50 originally wrote with the intention of working with Trina. After “they messed it up,” he eventually passed it on to Lil’ Kim.

“’Magic Stick’ was spot-on for her,” 50 says of giving the song to the Brooklyn rapper. “That was the right thing.” He’s featured on the track, which appears on Kim’s La Bella Mafia album.

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