Why 50 Cent Never Respected Jay Z

Hip-Hop is a pressure cooker environment. Every movement is scrutinized, and when you’re operating at the top of the game, the stakes are always exceedingly high. Whether It's a friendly gesture or an unexpected cold shoulder at an event, everything in hip-hop can be construed as a power play. So, whether you’re on your way up or trying to retain your position, keeping your competition at arm’s length can be best. Although both men have long since passed the prime of their career as artists, 50 Cent and Jay Z seem to have kept up a tenuous relationship that at any moment, can slip back into mudslinging from 50 or subtle, almost microscopic jabs from Jay Z who, although he likes to pretend he’s above it, will still twist the moment when the situation merits it. But how did the feud between the two get started? And why did it intensify once 50 Cent began his ascent into the hip-hop stratosphere and, in some ways, surpassed some of Jay Z’s accomplishments in the commercial realm?