50 Cent Turned Down $1.3 Million Record Deal From Universal Music Group
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50 Cent once turned down a seven-figure recording deal with Universal Music Group in a strategic attempt to circumvent rival Irv Gotti sabotaging his career.
In a recent interview, the 47-year-old spoke on the impact his opposition had on his decisions to decline the lucrative offer, which came during the massive bidding war he created in 2002.
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“Irv [Gotti] was talking in the interview and he was talking about he was blocking me,” Fif said in reference to previous comments made by the Murder Inc founder. “Like he was blocking everything. He said, ‘I blocked him into a good situation.’ And it just went off. And, I saw the situations I didn’t feel where he felt he was blocking me at that point. But I wouldn’t do business with anyone who had direct associations or any influence to the things that they had that was working.”
Yet, according to Fif, UMG was initially undeterred by his hesitation, offering the mixtape stalwart upwards of $1 million to sign with the label. “So they offered me a million three to do a G-Unit and my solo album at Universal and I just turned the deal down,” he continues.
“[Tony] Yayo didn’t understand he was like, ‘What? A million three you not gone do it, what? That’s like saying we hit the lottery and you not going to pick up the ticket.’ And I’m like, ‘Nah it’s not the right deal,’ because it’s in the Universal system. Def Jam and those guys was already making money from that system. Where they could influence and sabotage everything that I had going.”
In 2020, during an appearance on Atlanta’s Hot 107.9, Irv Gotti admitted his attempts to blackball 50 Cent and G-Unit during the early aughts, telling radio host B. High about his efforts in derailing his fellow Queens native’s trajectory to stardom.
“I blocked the ni**a until he fell into Em and Dre’s lap,” Gotti said at the time. “Labels would call me. And I was so hot with — I was just the hottest thing. So I’d be like, ‘Yo, if you f**k with him, I ain’t f**kin’ with you.’ And they’d be like, ‘We ain’t f**kin’ with him then, Gotti. Forget it.'” He continued, adding, “I should’ve let some of the bullsh*t a** labels, or not bullsh*t labels, but just not labels with Em and Dre behind ’em. He had a deal with Sony before. It wasn’t movin’ like that. I block that ni**a into a dream situation.”
