50 Cent is explaining just how close he came to missing out on the 2022 Super Bowl halftime show, saying his surprise performance might not have happened if it weren’t for fellow rapper Eminem.
“They wanted to leave me out of it. They didn’t want me there,” he said in a Hollywood Reporter interview published online Wednesday, referring to entertainment company Roc Nation. “Eminem wouldn’t do it without me. That’s how I ended up on the show because he was not coming if I didn’t do it.
“When that happens, you go, ‘Damn, so you just lost Eminem because you didn’t bring 50? Damn. All right. Bring 50 then.’ But if it was up to them, they would not have me there.”
People at the SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, were stunned when 50 Cent, whose real name is Curtis Jackson, appeared upside-down to perform “In da Club,” just as he did in a 2003 music video. In addition to Eminem, hip-hip stars Dr. Dre, Mary J. Blige, Snoop Dogg and Kendrick Lamar also performed.
The halftime show was produced by Jay-Z’s Roc Nation. 50 Cent has had a long-running feud with the “99 Problems” rapper, previously saying on social media that he resembles a “gay painter” and sharing a photo of Jay-Z alongside an image of late neo-Expressionist Jean-Michel Basquiat.
50 Cent has downplayed their rivalry in the past, saying in 2011 that “It’s not like we have something against each other to make us enemies.” But he said last year that Jay-Z and his team “still harbor some energy towards me.”
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The 2022 halftime show came after Roc Nation entered into a “long-term partnership” with the NFL in 2019, a move that faced criticism due to the league’s treatment of Colin Kaepernick.
Kaepernick, who played for the San Francisco 49ers, had famously protested against racial injustice and police brutality in 2016 by refusing to stand for the national anthem before games. He eventually opted out of his 49ers contract and settled a legal case against the NFL in 2017.
Eminem similarly took a knee during his Super Bowl performance, shortly after 50 Cent’s appearance. The Detroit icon, whose real name is Marshall Mathers, first signed 50 Cent to his record label in the early 2000s.
“50 is like a brother to me,” Eminem told The Hollywood Reporter. “50 has proven again and again that there’s really nothing he can’t do, and nobody gets in the way of him getting it done.”
Read more at The Hollywood Reporter.