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Roots & Influences
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50 Cent may have stacked chips in the club, but he got his seed money in the streets. Always a diligent student, he soaked up game by digging older gods like Iceberg Slim, who provided the reformed mack image, blue wit, and red-light jazz that blazed a path for 50 to spin his "Ghetto Qua'ran." A disciple of Jam Master Jay, 50 learned the importance of both the old school and honey-sticky hooks early on. But it was LL Cool J whose "Around the Way Girl," with its candy-girl come-ons and nursery-rhyme-worthy melody, established the sensitive-thug template that 50 perfected. At his core, 50 is the Queens-raised street disciple weaned on the grizzled and bullet-scarred rap of the mid-'90s; lurking behind limo-tinted glass is the spirit of Mobb Deep's "Shook Ones, Part II," with its jagged horror-flick synths and grime-caked drums. Yet 50's always been so much more — interpreting the roly-poly syllable slaps of the Notorious B.I.G., the nihilistic fury of N.W.A., the raunchy humor of Dolomite, and the warrior-philosopher mentality of Makaveli.