The Life of a Hunted Man

he story of the shooting of 50 Cent spread throughout hip-hop and made him seem mythical, even unkillable. But as soon as Columbia heard, it dropped him. "I wasn't sure if the industry was ever gonna embrace me again," he says. In January 2001, he began spending every day at Sha Money XL's studio, making songs for the underground mix-CD world. He released five albums of material within months, flooding the market as no MC ever had. "I thought, 'This dude got shot, got back up and is still poppin' shit?' " says Eminem. "He came back stronger than ever. That made me stop."

Eminem flew 50 out to L.A. for a meeting. "When everyone else was afraid to work with me for reasons outside of music, he looked straight past that," 50 says.

"One of the things that excited me about Tupac," Eminem says, "was even if he was rhymin' the simplest words in the world, you felt like he meant it and it came from his heart. That's the thing with 50. That same aura. That's been missing since we lost Pac and Biggie. The authenticity, the realness behind it."

Back in the hotel room, it's almost morning, and 50's still telling stories, first about when Foxy Brown came to visit him in the hospital, then about an old friend with such bad luck he got arrested almost every time he left home. It's almost time to leave, so he slips on his bulletproof vest and begins pulling the Velcro straps tight. He's richer than ever, but he's being hunted. "Niggas out there sellin' drugs is after what I got from rappin'," he says. "When you walk into a club, and the bouncer stop doin' whatever the fuck they doin' to let you in and say, 'Everybody else wait. He special' -- that's the same shit they do when you start killin' niggas in your hood. This is what we been after the whole time. Just the wrong route."

Everyone turns when Marquise's mom holds up a tailor-made kiddie-size navy-blue bulletproof vest that her son will wear onstage this summer at his father's shows. There's something cute and funny about it, but no one laughs.

[From Issue 919 — April 3, 2003]