If there’s one thing hip-hop fans like doing, it’s ranking which rappers are the best. Well, 50 Cent has gone ahead and offered a partial list of his own today by saying that when it comes to the best rappers ever, he’s somewhere in the top ten.
He shared a promotional video for his own Branson Cognac on Instagram today and wrote alongside it, “Smile my next album might be my last [laughing emoji]. I terrorized hip hop for 14 years,don’t believe me Nielsen, the numbers will never lie but i’m nobody’s favorite Smh [facepalm emoji] Nah [devil emoji] I’m Top 10 dead or alive and i’m not done.”
As for where 50 believes he is in the top ten, he didn’t say. If he feels the same way now that he did 18 months ago, though, it’s not in the No. 1 spot. In June 2020, he shared a photo of Eminem and himself and wrote on Instagram, “this combination will always work, I think it has something to do with EM being the best rapper in the world but i’m not so bad. LOL.”
While claims about who is the best at what in music are of course subjective, 50 has an impressive resume. His 2003 debut Get Rich Or Die Tryin’ is one of the best-selling rap albums ever and has been certified 9-times Platinum. Furthermore, it sold 872,000 copies in its first week of release, which was a record for a debut album at the time. That remains one of the biggest first weeks for an album in hip-hop history. The album also spawned two of 50’s three No. 1 hits, “In Da Club” and “21 Questions.” All in all, each of his five studio albums has peaked in the top five of the US charts.