50 Cent And The Game: G-Unit Reunion Possibly In The Works

Recent social media activity has sparked rumors of a possible reunion or collaboration between 50 Cent and The Game. Both 50 Cent and The Game were at the video shoot for DJ Drama’s “Wishing,” and Instagram posts by Pharaoh Jackson implied that 50 Cent and The Game may be putting their over-decade-long feud to rest.

One of the rap world’s ongoing feuds is between 50 Cent and The Game. The tension between 50 Cent and The Game allegedly started when the release of 50 Cent’s album, The Massacre, was put on the back burner to focus on The Game’s new album, The Documentary, back in 2005. The fact that The Game was brought into G-Unit, the rap crew led by 50 Cent, instead of organically welcomed was indicative of the issues 50 Cent and The Game would later experience.

Originally, The Game was signed to Dr. Dre’s Aftermath Entertainment until Jimmy Iovine, the co-founder of Interscope Records, suggested he join 50 Cent’s G-Unit. Aftermath is a subsidiary of Interscope Records. Iovine believed The Game could raise his profile and prosper by creatively working with the popular group, which had 50 Cent at the center.

In fact, G-Unit was originally made up of three childhood friends, 50 Cent, Lloyd Banks, and Tony Yayo. Young Buck later joined the group, and presently, Kidd Kidd is also a member. G-Unit was able to use the success of 50 Cent’s debut album, Get Rich or Die Tryin’, as a launch pad for the group’s debut album, Beg For Mercy, released in late 2003. G-Unit, propelled by the attention of 50 Cent’s first record, helped launch the careers of its other members as well.

The importance placed on The Game’s debut album over 50 Cent’s sophomore record reportedly soured the relationship. By the time The Game started filming the music video for the single “Hate It Or Love It” which featured 50 Cent, tensions ran so high that 50 Cent allegedly refused to sit next to him in the car during the video, opting to sit in the back seat instead. As MTV News reported, the beef between 50 Cent and The Game was further stoked by the fact that The Game wasn’t interested in participating in the group’s feuds with other rappers. The Game even wanted to collaborate with the artists feuding with 50 Cent and his crew. As MTV News also noted, 50 Cent had begun to resent all the energy he had put into helping The Game’s solo career at the expense of his own work.

The issues between 50 Cent and The Game led to 50 Cent kicking The Game out of G-Unit on the radio before even breaking it to The Game. 50 Cent cited The Game’s disrespectful antics. The falling out between 50 Cent and The Game foreshadowed all the future conflicts among G-Unit’s members for which the group is well known.

Both 50 Cent and The Game released countless diss tracks aimed at the other in the years following their falling out. Most famously, 50 Cent claims to have written a number of the tracks on The Game’s debut album, The Documentary, which The Game denies, reported Billboard Magazine. In 2005, The New York Times wrote about the violence resulting from the feud between 50 Cent and the Game, most notably the shooting at the Hot 97 radio station’s studio.

Earlier this year, The Game posted a photo of himself on Instagram with former crew member Lloyd Banks. The photo suggested a possible reunion between The Game and G-Unit members. 50 Cent’s reaction to the photograph was ambivalent. But the people who refused to give up hope of a reunion between The Game and 50 Cent may yet be rewarded. The presence of both 50 Cent and The Game at DJ Drama’s music video filming hints at a possible reconciliation and potential collaborations between 50 and The Game.

One of The Game’s crew members, a young signee Pharaoh Jackson, posted photos on Instagram from the set, baiting eager fans with one caption alluding to 50 Cent and The Game that read, “The BEATLES AKA ‘G-UNIT’ are joining forces again…NOW what’s gone (sic) happen when we do the ‘G-UNIT movie with all the drama…G-UNIT aka the Hip-Hop Beatles TOOK OVER THE WORLD, BUT EGOS CAUSED THEM TO BREAK UP PREMATURELY.” His several hashtags included both 50 Cent and The Game.

[Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images]