It's hard to understand the impact 50 Cent had on culture when he first dropped. But like he often does, Jay-Z might have described it best when he said, "50 came through like hurricanes do." This whirlwind of influence is still being felt as the inner-bands of 50's debut album continues to cause damage.
Last week, Spotify named 50 Cent's "Many Men" the most influential song of 2020. Despite the track being nearly 20 years old, "Many Men" gives fans the same feeling they first felt when Fif named Darryl "Hommo" Baum as his shooter. While it's timelessness is undeniable, new life was breathed into "Many Men" when acts 21 Savage and Pop Smoke put their twist on the record. This moved Fif to thank the younger generation for keeping his music alive.
"They made it that for me," 50 told Carl Chery, Spotify’s Head of Urban Music. "The younger artists doing it over, they made it that. And it's because they feel the same way."
Critics used to think that 50 Cent destroyed the New York rap scene, and in a way he did. Yet 17 years after he unleashed his wrath on the city that turned its back on him, it's hard to say that today's New York rappers aren't offsprings of the trolling, aggressive, but playfully entertaining style he birthed.
"You can't make a person decide to write a song that's influenced by a song. Creative, it just them going, 'You know what? This is how I feel right now. The energy and the tones of what's going on match the record," 50 continued before saying that he believes that the emotion he puts into his music make more artist want to mirror his approach.
Watch 50 Cent speak about the impact of "Many Men" above.
