Throwback Thursday: 50 Cent – “How to Rob” (featuring Madd Rapper)
TBT selections are that much easier when they fall on an artist’s birthday, and today, 50 Cent becomes two years shy of 50.
Born Curtis Jackson, the rapper’s stage name was inspired by an ’80s gangster named Kelvin “50 Cent” Martin. The original 50 Cent was serial armed robber and was particularly known for robbing celebrities. 50 the rapper was so inspired, he didn’t stop at the stage name — his debut single, “How to Rob” (featuring Madd Rapper), is an homage to Martin.
Released in August 1999, “How to Rob” is a series of scenarios where 50 Cent robs everyone from Jay-Z to Missy Elliott to Big Pun — shit, even Boyz II Men weren’t spared. Click here for a full list of the famous victims on the song.
At the time, 50 Cent was signed to Columbia Records, and the song included a line about the label’s biggest star, Mariah Carey. He not only raps about robbing her but makes reference to the label’s head and her ex-husband, Tommy Mottola, who she had divorced just a year prior (and who was also actively making her life hell at the time). As the story goes, Mariah caught wind of the song before its release and was having none of it. She threatened to leave the label if her name remained in the song, so 50 picked a new victim for that particular line: R&B singer Case.
Mariah would end up leaving the label anyway within the year, and the original version of the song would eventually see the light of day in 2017, when 50 Cent included it on his greatest hits album, Best of 50 Cent.
That second version of the song appeared on the In Too Deep soundtrack and was to appear on 50’s would-be debut album, Power of the Dollar, but the album was shelved and he was dropped from the label shortly after the May 2000 shooting that almost claimed his life. He was scheduled to shoot a video for his second single, “Thug Love” (featuring Destiny’s Child), three days after he got shot
“How to Rob” is based on a sample of KC and the Sunshine Band’s “I Get Lifted,” an album cut from the group’s self-titled sophomore LP — and get this, that album was released on the very day 50 Cent was born.
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