50 Cent and Fat Joe put their differences aside to enjoy the Milwaukee Bucks vs. New York Knicks game together on Christmas Day.
The rappers, whose now-squashed beef dates back to 2004, were seated next to each other courtside with fellow celebrities and New York natives Chris Rock and Tracy Morgan close by. A viral clip from the scene shows Fifty and Joe bobbing their heads to 50 Cent's breakthrough hit "In Da Club," which turned 20 this year. Attending the game with the East Coast rap legends were their children: Joe with his daughter, Azariah Cartagena, 17, and Fifty with his youngest son, Sire Jackson, 11.
The moment shocked some millennials, who can recall the two dissing each other at the 2005 Video Music Awards, which cost Joe a deal with Jordan Brand, which he reflected upon in his 2022 memoir The Book of Jose.
“Lost about $20 million by not getting that deal. I lost out on other endorsements too," Joe wrote. "Promoters definitely didn’t book me and 50 Cent on the same shows. Everybody had to keep us separated. But as fate would have it, after the VMAs, we didn’t see each other again in person for almost a decade."
However, the two would settle their issues in 2012 following the untimely death of music executive Chris Lighty, which Joe revealed on a 2021 episode of the podcast People's Party with Talib Kweli. “When I show up to the BET Awards, we on point. We super focused,” Joe said on the podcast. “That’s the only way I can explain it legally. They say rehearsal. I perform ‘Lean Back’ and then 50 Cent comes out. He ends up right by where I’m at. And when the music stops, he puts his hands out, and says ‘Peace for Chris Lighty.’ Chris Lighty wanted peace.”
Since then, Fifty acknowledged to Rolling Stone that he was "buggin'" for bringing Fat Joe into his longstanding feud with Ja Rule, and later invited Joe as a special guest on the Brooklyn date of The Final Lap Tour in August. Another one of Fifty's former rivals, Jadakiss, also hit the stage that night.
