50 Cent, or “Fiddy,” ended his beef with The Game, only to begin one with Jadakiss and with Fat Joe in his track “Piggy Bank,” on his new album.
I know rap singles can be a bit hard to understand, so in order to bring clarity on the subject and allow all to better understand the underlying themes of the controversies between these artists, I offer the following ad hoc translations.
The section where Fiddy unleashes his lyrical barbs goes as such, “The fat n—a thought Lean Back was In Da Club / My s–t sold 11 mill, his s–t was a dud / Jada don’t f–k with m ae if you wanna eat / ‘Cause I’ll do your lil’ ass like Jay did Mobb Deep.”
The lyrics roughly translate to the untrained ear as, “The much larger Fat Joe thought his and Terror Squad’s summer hit was the equivalent to my chart topper, ‘In Da Club,’ but it surely was not. My song sold 11 million copies, while Fat Joe’s single did not sell as well. And, Jadakiss, you should not mess with me if you would like to eat on a regular basis, because if you do, you will share a similar fate as the rapper Mobb Deep when he confronted Jay-Z, which was the loss of all food privileges.”
Jadakiss answered back with his song “Checkmate,” taking a beat used by Fiddy on a previous album. He stabbed at Fiddy saying, “Most likely your CD is / Bunch of love songs, 100 percent pure garbage / You should just sell clothes and sneakers / ‘Cause out of the whole camp, your flow’s the weakest.”
For those less attuned with the lyrics, they translate, “I really think that your CD will be, at best, a bunch of love songs that will amount to no more than garbage. Fiddy, you should stop rapping and move into the retail business because of all the members in your group, G-Unit, your rapping ability is by far the worst.”
Fat Joe follows suit on his track “My Fo-Fo” with the following attack, “50, meet 50 / He’s the fakest thug you ever seen / He stays locked up in the house and sh– / Steroided up, and he won’t come out that bitch / Is it me or does ‘Candy Shop’ sound like ‘Magic Stick’?”
Once again, this lyrical barrage is more understandable under the following translation, “Fiddy, take a good long look at yourself and you will see the fakest rapper that you have ever laid eyes upon. You use illegal performance enhancing drugs to gain physique and you never come out. And is it me or does your newest single sound a lot like his hit ‘Magic Stick.’ Fiddy, this I say as an insult to your ability as a rapper.”
While this was intended to add humor to a topic that has and will be taken seriously, it is not an attempt to downplay it at all. It is aimed to show that while rappers can and will attack each other lyrically, it should not spill into their personal lives. Hopefully this beef will go the way of Jay-Z and Nas’s and not the much more devastating than that of Biggie and Tupac.
Allard can be reached at dallard@campustimes.org.
