With the release of his debut album, “Get Rich or Die Tryin’,” 50 Cent shook the foundations of mainstream hip-hop, yet one standout song almost wasn’t included.
The G-Unit leader’s gut told him that Dr. Dre didn’t think the Nate Dogg-assisted “21 Questions” was a good match for the celebrated 2003 project, but this was confirmed by 50 during a recent visit on Big Boy’s Neighborhood.
“He said, ‘I don’t know why you want?’ Why I wanted the record,” he explained. “I’m like, ‘Damn, I gotta do all these muthafuckin’ push-ups?’ Dre would say this is N.W.A… ‘We didn’t do that.’
“Like they didn’t have to reach to make a commercial record or anything that sounded like a commercial record. And that’s just in his DNA. Like on his path, he’s like, ‘We don’t need that.’”
The narrative love ballad, which was produced by “Dirty Swift,” would confirm 50’s intuition, and “21 Questions” would become his second Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 hit. The song topped the chart for four weeks and stayed at No. 1 for 23 weeks.
Dre supposedly didn’t see how a love song could fit into 50 Cent’s gangster persona, but 50 Cent always aimed to keep a dual personality and broad commercial appeal.
