50 Cent Pt. 2: Federal Raids, a Stabbing in the Studio, and a Dead Man’s Game

Summary

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DISGRACELAND: “50 Cent Pt. 2: Federal Raids, a Stabbing in the Studio, and a Dead Man’s Game”

Original Air Date: September 9, 2025
Host: Jake Brennan (Double Elvis Productions)

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Episode Overview

The second part of DISGRACELAND’s deep dive into 50 Cent charts Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson’s rise from the streets of Queens to rap superstardom, set against a backdrop of violent criminal underworlds, a legendary artist’s near-death experience, and a life-or-death war for credibility in early-2000s hip hop. This episode exposes the gritty real-life drama fueling 50 Cent’s music and persona: stickup kids, feuds with Murder Inc., brutal studio confrontations, a shocking assassination attempt, and the infamous federal raids that brought down powerful music moguls connected to crime. Throughout, Jake Brennan draws dramatic connections between hip hop’s mythmaking and the hard truths behind it, culminating in a showdown that changed rap history.

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Key Topics & Insights

1. The Origin of “50 Cent” and Street Legacy ([03:22]–[08:00])

• Kelvin Martin: The OG 50 Cent

  • In the late ’80s, a notorious Brooklyn stickup kid—Kelvin “50 Cent” Martin—cemented his legend as a merciless robber, feared by gangsters and rappers alike.
  • “If you saw 50 coming, you crossed the street because chances were you were going to get robbed. And that’s if you were lucky. With a .357 Magnum in one hand and a Colt .45 in the other, 50’s reputation preceded him.” (Jake Brennan, 05:10)
  • Martin’s death in 1987 rippled through NYC, “but by the time that word spread one borough over to Queens, the streets were reckoning with even bigger news. Kenneth ‘Supreme’ McGriff was being released from prison.” (07:15)

• Curtis Jackson Adopts the Name

  • Curtis Jackson, a young Queens hustler inspired by the OG 50’s code and notoriety, rebrands himself as “50 Cent,” forging a new legacy atop the old.
  • “Curtis Jackson took up the mantle of the city’s ultimate stick up kid … The new 50 Cent had no beef with LL Cool J. His beef was with these new corporate gangsters.” (Jake Brennan, 11:30)

2. Murder Inc., Supreme McGriff, and the Street-Music Nexus ([08:00]–[16:00])

• Kenneth “Supreme” McGriff and Murder Inc.

  • Supreme, once a feared drug lord, now allegedly bankrolls Irv and Chris Lorenzo’s Murder Inc. Records—a label whose gangster image is both authentic and aspirational.
  • “Here’s a record label whose very name, as well as the nicknames of its owners, gave a wink and a nod to gangsters both past and present.” (Jake Brennan, 10:50)
  • NY authorities suspect Murder Inc. is laundering Supreme’s drug money as it pushes artists like Ja Rule.

• 50 Cent Chooses a Different Path

  • Rather than align with Murder Inc. or Diddy’s Bad Boy, 50 Cent forms G-Unit—a self-made, guerrilla-style rap crew.
  • “Curtis was the opposite. He was the fly in the ointment, the nail in the tire, the stick up kid fucking up your corporate machinations.” (Jake Brennan, 11:00)

3. The Roots of the Ja Rule Beef and Studio Violence ([17:07]–[25:15])

• A Chain-Snatching, Studio Stabbing Escalates War

  • The infamous feud begins: a friend of 50’s snatches Ja Rule’s chain, souring any relationship and igniting a war of words.
  • “It didn’t matter. It was 50’s guy who did it. So it might as well have been 50 himself … Ja didn’t see a bridge, he saw a wall. And then he started talking shit to anyone who would listen.” (Jake Brennan, 18:00)
  • March 24, 2000: At the Hit Factory in Manhattan, Ja Rule, Chris Lorenzo, and Black Child confront 50 in the studio. A brawl breaks out in darkness; Black Child stabs 50 Cent in the chest, collapsing a lung.
    • “Black Child lunged forward, jabbed and sunk the knife right into 50’s chest. 50 howl. The pain consumed him…” (Jake Brennan, 22:30)

• Aftermath: Nine Bullets

  • Just two months later, 50 Cent survives an assassination attempt—shot nine times outside his grandmother’s house.
  • “It was the totality of these two incidents happening so quickly back to back that cemented 50 Cent not only as authentic, but dangerous.” (Jake Brennan, 24:15)
  • Columbia Records, fearing the fallout, drops 50 Cent and shelves his debut, Power of the Dollar.

4. Media Manipulation and the Mixtape Counterstrike ([27:26]–[31:00])

• Murder Inc. Tries to Discredit 50 Cent

  • Irv Gotti appears on Hot 97, claiming 50 Cent is “soft,” a “rat,” protected by police:
    • “He makes himself all cozy with the NYPD and that guy is not authentic … a fucking snitch, per Irv Gotti thinking.” (Jake Brennan, 27:38)
  • Jake clarifies: “50 Cent was no snitch ... There was an order of protection, but it had been issued by the NYPD on behalf of 50 Cent.” (28:00)

• 50’s Mixtape Response: “I Smell Pussy”

  • 50 flips the script, calling out Irv, Ja Rule, and Black Child on G-Unit’s I Smell Pussy.
    • “Is that you, Irv? I smell pussy. Is that you Ja Rule?” (29:16)
  • The move boosts 50’s reputation—Eminem hears his mixtape and brings him into Dr. Dre’s Aftermath, leading to a million-dollar deal.

5. Federal Raids, Arrests, and the Takedown of Murder Inc. ([31:00]–[38:00])

• Federal Raids Orchestrated

  • January 3, 2003: The FBI and NYPD simultaneously raid Murder Inc.’s Manhattan office and several associated homes, targeting money laundering operations tied to Supreme.
    • “A surge of federal agents and NYPD detectives came flooding out ... They seized computers ... anything they could use to trace the dirty money back to Preem.” (Jake Brennan, 33:20)
  • Within days, 50 Cent releases “In Da Club,” which explodes to 9 weeks at #1.

• The Real Power Struggle

  • The Lorenzo brothers and Supreme face racketeering, trafficking, and murder charges. Their defense: Supreme was present for “street cred,” not finances.
  • During the trial, a prosecution witness claims Supreme orchestrated the hit on 50 Cent, though the jury never hears this due to its “explosive” effect.
    • “[John Reagan] recalled how Preem came ... He just wanted receipts ... to prove he’d been in Brooklyn ... and not in Queens, where just an hour before, nine bullets ripped through 50 Cent’s body.” (Jake Brennan, 36:25)

6. Aftermath: Legacy, Loss, and Reinvention ([38:00]–[End])

• Fates Sealed

  • Chris and Irv Lorenzo are acquitted in 2005—but their careers and Murder Inc. are never the same. Irv Lorenzo dies of a stroke in 2025.
  • Supreme McGriff receives life in prison without parole in 2007.
  • “Despite the jury not hearing the testimony ... Preem was not so lucky. In February 2007 ... Supreme McGriff was sentenced to life in prison without parole.” (Jake Brennan, 42:45)

• 50 Cent’s New Era

  • 50 Cent’s career soars: his third album, Curtis, sells over 1 million copies in its first six weeks.
  • “50 Cent called the album Curtis. Perhaps a surprisingly vulnerable move to acknowledge the person he was before he took a dead man’s name and his own … a dead stick up man who led a nasty, brutish and short life of disgrace. Unlike 50 Cent, who’s still breathing.” (Jake Brennan, 44:10)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “This is a story about Kenneth ‘Supreme’ McGriff, the Lorenzo brothers, Ja Rule, and most importantly, Curtis Jackson aka 50 Cent. It’s a story about great music. Unlike that clip I played for you at the top of the show. That wasn’t great music.” (Jake Brennan, 03:22)

• “If you saw 50 coming, you crossed the street because chances were you were going to get robbed. And that’s if you were lucky.” (Jake Brennan, 05:10)

• “Curtis was the opposite. He was the fly in the ointment, the nail in the tire, the stick up kid fucking up your corporate machinations.” (Jake Brennan, 11:00)

• “Black Child lunged forward ... and sunk the knife right into 50’s chest. 50 howl. The pain consumed him ... breathing in, breathing out. It hurt like hell.” (Jake Brennan, 22:30)

• “[50 Cent] played by the rules of a dead man.” (Jake Brennan, 18:45)

• “50 Cent was no snitch. Irv Gotti was only half right.” (Jake Brennan, 28:00)

• “Four days later ... 50 Cent pulled that G Unit guerrilla move of his … His smash single ‘In Da Club’ was released ... it set a Billboard record as the most listened-to song in radio history.” (Jake Brennan, 35:00)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

| Timestamp | Segment Description | |------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------| | 03:22 | Introduction, legacy of street 50 Cent (Kelvin Martin) | | 10:00 | Supreme McGriff/Murder Inc. & the corporate gangster era | | 17:07 | Ja Rule feud origin, chain-snatching incident | | 22:00 | Hit Factory studio stabbing incident | | 24:30 | 50 Cent shot nine times; label fallout | | 27:26 | Media slander, 50’s mixtape response (“I Smell Pussy”) | | 31:00 | Federal raids on Murder Inc.; In Da Club released | | 36:25 | Trial revelations: Supreme allegedly orders hit on 50 Cent | | 42:45 | Aftermath: Supreme sentenced to life, Lorenzos acquitted, legacy | | 44:10 | 50 Cent releases Curtis, closing reflection |

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Final Notes

Jake Brennan weaves a cinematic, tightly-scripted narrative—the language is vivid, pulpy, and unapologetically dramatic, matching the high stakes of early-2000s East Coast hip hop’s real-life criminal entanglements. Major themes include authenticity vs. image, the crossing of criminal and musical worlds, and the personal cost of pursuing greatness in a world where life, death, and reputation are always on the line.

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For further reading or source details, visit: www.disgracelandpod.com

Transcript

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[Jake Brennan]

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[Jake Brennan]

Disturbing to some listeners.

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Please check the show notes for more information.

[Jake Brennan]

Disgraceland is a production of Double Elvis this is a story about power, about a stick up kid who became a king and a crime kingpin who wanted to stay in the game. It's a story about music moguls who wanted to be gangsters and gangsters who wanted to be music moguls. About reputations in the street and assumed identities on the stage. About mixtapes, attempted murder and four FBI raids in one day. This is a story about Kenneth Supreme, McGriff, the Lorenzo brothers, Ja Rule, and most importantly, Curtis Jackson aka 50 Cent. It's a story about great music. Unlike that clip I played for you at the top of the show. That wasn't great music. That was a preset loop from my melotron called Gold chain cha cha mk1. I played you that loop because I can't afford the rights to Lose Yourself by Eminem. And why would I play you that specific slice of Mom's spaghetti cheese? Could I afford it? Because that was the number one song in America on January 3, 2003. And that was the day that federal agents raided the offices of Murder Inc. Records looking for dirty money. Four days before the hip hop label's main adversary, 50 Cent released his single in the club, which would become the biggest song of the year. On this episode, Raids, stick up kids, crime kingpins, music moguls, MIS, mixtape wars, attempted murder, and part two of our story on 50 Cent. I'm Jake Brennan and this is Disgrace. If you happen to have a copy of Eric B and Rakim's classic 1987 debut album paid in Full, go grab it and turn it over there on the back cover, you'll see a small picture of nine guys posing outside the Jacob Javits center in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan. There's Eric B with a giant gold medallion hanging from his neck. And there's Rakim, AKA the God mc. And yeah, I know, it's crazy, he's actually smiling. And then there's the rest of their crew. Real guys, a mixture of rappers, hustlers and stick up men, including the kid crouched in the bottom right hand corner with the red Adidas hat and the thick gold rope chain. If you know anything about hip hop, especially the foundational years of the 1980s, that chain will look awfully familiar to you. But more on that in a minute. This kid with the Adidas hat and the gold rope chain, they all called him 50 Cent, but he's not the 50 Cent. 50 Cent you're thinking of. That is not Curtis Jackson, who was just 12 years old when Paid in Full. This record that we're talking about with the photo on the back was released, incidentally, it was the first record that he ever bought. But I'm getting ahead of myself. This 50 cent, the OG 50 cent, the dude on the back of Paid in Full was a guy named Kelvin Martin, who despite his vertically challenged 5 foot 2 frame, was at the time one of the most prolific and feared stick up men in Brooklyn. It didn't matter if you were John Dillinger or Billy the Kid or Tony fucking Montana. If you were a pimp, a dealer, a doper, a rapper, you could be his sworn enemy or his good friend. If you saw 50 coming, you crossed the street because chances were you were going to get robbed. And that's if you were lucky. With a.357 Magnum in one hand and a Colt.45 in the other.50's reputation preceded him. He had no fear, no regrets. And at only 23 years old, he lived by a code that protected himself above everything and everyone else. Some said he shot down some of Brooklyn's biggest hustlers in a hail of bullets like a Western gunslinger of old, just to make sure that reputation of his was kept spit shined and airtight. Some even said that he stole the gold rope chain right off of LL cool J's neck, LL's iconic chain. And that LL was relieved of said chain by the persuasive force of 50's twin long barreled revolvers. Whether or not that particular story is true, it's hard to say. LL Cool J, for one, had his own reputation to maintain. And LL was Hard as hell. So Lloyd wasn't saying. But plenty of others saw 50 cent again. The original 50 cent. Pull a piece and live to tell. On one particular afternoon, every liquor store owner on a long stretch of Myrtle Avenue in Brooklyn heard the front door of their shop open and the jingle of that little bell go ding a ling. And looked up from behind the counter to see not a customer, but this short stack of menace cocking one pistol and then another. And then that face. Not 50's actual face, but the face of the Halloween mask that 50 was wearing. The Count from Sesame Street. Or maybe it was a Richard Nixon mask or something like that. And by that time, the store owner was way ahead of him, popping open the register drawer and handing the masked neighborhood menace all of his cash. But 50 Cent's exploits, his crimes, his unwavering code in which he got rich or died trying to. Again, I'm still talking about the original 50 Cent. It made him a lot of enemies. It all came to an inevitable end In October of 1987, just months after Paid in Full hit the shelves. This time the barrel was aimed at 50 cent. Multiple shots fired. One to the back of his head. The plume of gun smoke, the scattershot rhythm of sneakers tearing ass down several flights of stairs and then hitting the pavement and fading into the night. They found 50 Cent bleeding out on the seventh floor stairwell in an Albany projects building in Brooklyn. He was rushed to the hospital and then moved to the ICU. Four days later, he was dead. Word of 50's death rippled through the streets of Brooklyn, through every liquor store that he ever held up and to the ears of every person he ever double crossed. But by the time that word spread one borough over to Queens, the streets were reckoning with even bigger news. Kenneth Supreme McGriff was being released from prison and coming home after serving eight years of a 12 year sentence. Preem, as he was better known, was a ruthless gangster and the leader of the Supreme Team, a notorious criminal organization and crack cocaine distributor based in Queens. Unlike the last time Preem got out of the joint, this time it was going to be different. At least that's what was believed to be true by the feds who were continuing to monitor Preem's every move. It was suspected that supreme had entered the increasingly lucrative world of hip hop by striking up a relationship with a brand new record label and that he was using that label to launder his drug money. Murder Incorporated Records was named after the cold blooded triggermen of the Syndicate. The infamous organized crime group from the mid 20th century, the one we're talking about here in Queens was founded by the Lorenzo brothers, Chris and Irv. Though they wanted to be known around town as Chris and Irv Gotti, a nickname bestowed upon them by none other than Jay Z. So here's a record label whose very name, as well as the nicknames of its owners, gave a wink and a nod to gangsters both past and present. And again this is alleged by the feds. They were being bankrolled by the deep dirty pockets of the Queen's drug lord, Kenneth Supreme McGriff. Little future Irv Gotti's growing up in Queens, growing up in the shadow of the supposed Preem and Lorenzo partnership, were inspired by the sheer magnitude of this new endeavor by a record label that wanted to be bigger than the streets. Like the rapper Ja Rule, who was one of Murder Inc. S first and brightest stars. But not every kid in the city looked up to the Lorenzos and Tupreme with that kind of awe. One such outlier was Queens native Curtis Jackson. When it came time for Curtis to level up from hustling on the streets to hustling on the airwaves, he did so not by aligning himself with the likes of Murder Inc. But the Lorenzos, Preem and even Sean Puffy Combs. In the eyes of Curtis Jackson, these guys didn't represent what was real. They weren't the streets. They repped that hubris life. They were all corporate bullshit so far removed from the streets that they may as well have been living in a castle in the sky. Curtis was the opposite. He was the fly in the the ointment, the nail in the tire, the stick up kid fucking up your corporate machinations. When it came time to assemble a crew, he called it G Unit. Not G as in gangster, but as in gorilla, as in a scrappy independent group that battled much larger stronger forces. And when it came time to take a stage name, Curtis Jackson didn't look to the Gambino family for inspiration as Chris and Irv Lorenzo did. Instead, Curtis Jackson took up the mantle of the city's ultimate stick up kid. For his first commercial single How To Rob, released on Columbia Records in 1999, Curtis Jackson, now 50 Cent, gave a wink and a nod to his new name and his place in the hip hop hierarchy. See, the single was included on the soundtrack of the film In Too Deep, which starred none other than LL Cool Cool J himself, long since rumored to be one of the victims of the OG50 cent. And LL's face was featured on the single's artwork. It was genius. Unlike the late Kevin Martin, the original 50 Cent, the new 50 Cent had no beef with LL Cool J. His beef was with these new corporate gangsters, the Lorenzos, the Prims, and the Puffies. Mostly for the little guy with the rough voice that was now putting Murder, Inc. On the map. So, how much money do you have? Weird question, right? But can you answer it? Sure. You know probably roughly how much money you have. 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[Erin Moriarty]

In 2013, two brutal murders left the city of Davis, California, paralyzed in fear.

[Jake Brennan]

The victims were an elderly couple. It was up close and personal.

[Erin Moriarty]

I'm 48 Hours correspondent Erin Moriarty. I thought I had seen it all until I encountered the mastermind behind those murders.

[Jake Brennan]

He's, I think the Word is psychotic.

[Erin Moriarty]

This is 15 Inside the Daniel Marsh Murders. Follow and listen to 15 Inside the Daniel Marsh Murders on the Free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Jake Brennan]

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For context, that's more than two cups of broccoli. And it tastes better than broccoli. There's the Gruni Smith apple flavor. Okay, that's my new go to. That's the Grun's fall flavor. I'm here for it. It's only available through October. It's got the same full body benefits that you know and love from Gruins, but this time tastes like you're walking through an apple orchard in a cable knit sweater. Getting those New England vibes, all that warm apple cider. You know, those apple cider donuts. Maybe you're buying a little corn on the cob for later that day. You know what I'm talking about. Groons ingredients are backed by over 35,000 research publications. I love groons. They taste great. They are super convenient, and they are chalk filled with healthy benefits. Grab your limited edition Groony Smith apple Groons, available only through October. Stock up because they will sell out. Get up to 52% off. You use the code. Disgraceland. It all began with a stick up one of Curtis Jackson's now 50 cents friends flashed his piece and told Ja Rule to fork over his chain. Ja got this rumble deep down in his gut, a feeling that fell somewhere between embarrassed and insulted. What the hell was he gonna do? He slowly peeled the chain from around his neck and handed it over. The next time he saw 50, ja gave him all kinds of shit. The fuck 50 thought. He didn't rob Ja. It didn't matter. It was 50's guy who did it. So it might as well have been 50 himself. 50 tried the water under the bridge thing, but Ja didn't see a bridge. He saw a wall. And then he started talking shit to anyone who would listen. And the gist was always the same. 50 Cent was a fake rapper. This is when 50 was on the come up, when he was trying to establish himself. He couldn't be derailed by some wannabe gangster running his mouth. But if Ja Rule wanted a fight, then a fight was what 50 Cent was gonna give him. Some say that 50 Cent didn't fight fair, but fairness had nothing to do with it. 50 Cent played by the rules of a dead man. March 24, 2000. Midtown Manhattan. The small studio inside the hit factory was loud as hell. 50 was rhythmically bobbing his head up and down, lost in the music and letting the deep bass of this track wash over him. He worked out a verse in his head, the rhymes coalescing into that trademark smooth, casual flow. A small but mighty crew looked on. A couple of dudes sitting on the couch, heads nodding in sync and an engineer working the board. The track ended and 50 Cent told the engineer to rewind it and start it from the top again. But this time hit record. 50 was ready. He stepped up to the mic and began to rap his verse while the music played. His debut album for Columbia, Power of the Dollar, was scheduled for for release in four months in July. But 50 was already thinking three steps ahead. You had to be prepared if you wanted to blow up without selling out. Take that rap money. Don't shake hands with it. The song how to Rob in particular was all the rage, with emphasis on the word rage. It was supposed to be a joke, a piece of cutting satire. But more than a few few of the 40 or so famous rappers and singers that 50 Cent fantasized about taking for all they were worth in his lyrics. They weren't laughing. No one could take a joke. Ja Rule wasn't included in that song. But 50 Cent made sure the Murder Inc. Star didn't feel left out. The string of Diss tracks that 50 was releasing straight to the streets in advance of his major label debut put Ja Rule in the crosshairs. And then 50 Cent took aim at the guy that the FBI and the NYPD thought was really in control of Murder Inc. S purse strings. One of the songs from 50's upcoming Power of the Dollar album, Ghetto Quran, leaked, and soon it could be heard pouring from speakers throughout the five boroughs. The track aired the dirty laundry of the Supreme Team and of Kenneth Premium McGriff. And this was something that you just didn't do. The door to the small Hit Factory studio flew open and three men walked inside. Ja Rule, Chris Lorenzo and another Murder Inc. Rapper Rommel Gill, AKA Black Child. They weren't there to check out the new 50 was working on. 50 stopped rapping right away and took a step back as the uninvited visitors came at him fast. If only he had some of that Kelvin Martin hardware on him. Someone hit the lights and the whole room descended into chaos. 50's boys were up off the couch, up from the engineer's chair, jumping into the fray. Fists swung in the darkness. Lorenzo or Ja? Someone was coming at 50 now, knuckles out. So 50 Cent retaliated wild quick stabs of self preservation. In the scuffle, a pair of hands grabbed one of the speakers from the top of the recording console and lobbed it through the air. It slammed Lorenzo right in the head. He screamed in pain and also because it pissed him off. The blood gushed down the side of his face. 50 Cent stumbled, tried to catch his breath. Black Child flashed a knife. 50 saw it gleam in the darkness like it was winking at him. This all knowing, all seeing beacon of impending doom about to all fuck up. Black Child lunged forward, jabbed and sunk the knife right into 50's chest. 50 howl. The pain consumed him, breathing in, breathing out. It hurt like hell. He slumped to the floor, teeth clenched, eyes squeezed tight, while Lorenzo, Black Child and Ja Rule scurried out the same way they'd come in. Minutes later, 50 Cent was in the back of an ambulance, racing down the streets of Midtown to St. Louis Luke's Roosevelt Hospital, where doctors treated his gaping chest wound along with a partially collapsed lung. Two months later, after getting back on his feet, 50 Cent was shot nine times by an unknown would be assassin and nearly killed. It was the totality of these two incidents happening so quickly back to back that cemented 50 cent not only as authentic, but but dangerous. So dangerous and so hot that Columbia Records got cold feet. He may have survived those nine bullets he took outside his grandmother's house in Queens, but he wouldn't survive his first relationship with a major label. Columbia pulled power of the dollar with no intention to release it or any other 50 cent album for that matter, and right at the moment when he was supposed to be blowing up by executing that stick up strategy, by taking that rap money instead, 50 Cent's Deadman game left him dead in the water. We'll be right back after this.

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[Jake Brennan]

Murder Inc. Made sure to hit 50 Cent while he was down. Irv Gotti went live on Hot 97's the Star and Buck Wild morning Show. Irv told all in New York that 50 cent had gone soft that 50 had turned tail. The 50 cent was a rat. So 50 cent, you're never gonna believe this when went and got himself an order of protection against Irv Gotti and Ja Rule. This is what IRV Gotti told Pot 97, that 50 Cent was essentially acting like a little bitch. That's him talking, not me, also him talking. A guy does that, he makes himself all cozy with the nypd and that guy is not authentic. And that guy is essentially a fucking snitch, per Irv gotti thinking. But 50 Cent was no snitch. Irv Gotti was only half right. Whether he knew it or not, there was an order of protection, but it had been issued by the NYPD on behalf of 50 Cent. And no matter how much Irv Gotti and Chris Lorenzo and Preem tried to discredit their rival, their strategy continued to backfire, only adding to 50 cent's suddenly larger than life profile. Which in turn was how one of his mixtapes ended up in Eminem's Walkman and then to a million dollar deal with em in Dr. Dre's hip hop empire. And so as 50 Cent's debut album was once again back in the pipeline and being prepped for an early 2003 release, he doubled back to respond to the guys who had left him for dead and were now trying to bury him alive. To be clear here, I'm not talking about the guy who shot him nine times. As 50 would make known on the track Many Men Wish Death from his debut album Get Rich or Die Trying. The shooter was a stick up kid from Fort Greene named Darrell Hamo Baum who was killed just weeks after he tried to ice 50 Cent. When I say left him for dead and we're now trying to bury him, I'm talking about the shit that went down at the hit factory and the subsequent slandering of 50 Cent's name on the airwaves. But as usual, 50 is three steps ahead of his antagonists. Just weeks after Irv got Gotti called 50 a snitch. In December of 2002, 50 Cent and his rap trio G Unit released an independent mixtape titled the Future Is Now. One of its standout tracks was I Smell Pussy. And it flipped Irv Gotti's script by calling out Irv Ja Rule and the guy who stabbed 50 Cent by their names. As in I smell pussy. Is that you Irv? I smell pussy. Is that you ja rule? 50 Cent didn't go after Preem on this particular track, but the notorious crack kingpin was having enough Problems of his own. Earlier in the year, supreme had pleaded guilty to a weapons possession charge, and he was currently out on bail and awaiting sentencing. And the shocking recent murder of Run DMC's Jam Master Jay had brought more unwanted attention from the cops. Since some of Jay's close friends, friends like 50 Cent who was mentored by Jam Master J, they weren't going out of their way to say that Preem hadn't had anything to do with the shooting. And so as G Unit's I Smell Pussy kept the cold December streets of New York City red hot, Preem was laying low down in Miami Beach. He checked into the Lowe's Hotel under an alias, paid with cash, and then quietly slipped into a room with walls as white as the outfits at a Sean Combs Labor Day party. But his quiet reprieve didn't last long as Preem sat there alone. His hotel room door was busted down from the outside with a bang. Splintered wood paved the way for FBI agents and their trademark windbreakers. They grabbed Prem's arms and twisted them behind his back, locking his wrists and cuffs. What the fuck was it this time? Preem shook his head. He didn't know who did. Jam Master J, but it wasn't him. Now it was the Fed's turn to shake their heads. They didn't care. They weren't here for that. They had Prem on another weapons charge, one from a few years back when he brought a machine gun to a shooting range. What's this? One of the agents wanted to know. We're rocking and rolling tonight. Are we Prem? As he said it, he was holding up a baggie of Viagra in another baggie full of ecstasy that were found right there on the night nightstand next to a Murder Inc. Pager. And that's where the Feds were headed next. Straight out of this Miami safe house and back to New York, where not even a week later, the record company that they believe, Preem Bank World, was about to be taken down. January 3, 2003. Manhattan early the elevator doors opened on the 29th floor of the Worldwide Plaza building on 8th Avenue. A surge of federal agents and NYPD detectives came flooding out. Vests strapped tight, weapons locked and loaded, warrant in hand, they crashed through the front door of Murder Inc. S corporate offices and began to turn the place upside down. They seized computers, boxes of files, two way pagers, anything they could use to trace the dirty money back to Preem. Cut to New Jersey, where more FBI agents, agents and NYPD officers were raiding the house belonging to Cynthia Brent, murder Inc. S accountant. And then to Westchester County, New York. Irv Gotti's house raided. And then Wexford Terrace in Queens, the home of Joe Reagan, one of Preem's longtime associates raided. All four places were raided simultaneously by the feds that morning, along with a fifth location, Crisco Scotty's apartment at an undisclosed location. And then with an affidavit filed with the U.S. attorney's office, the United States government officially made the claim that Preem was the, quote, true owner, unquote, of Murder Inc. And that he provided the Lorenzo's and the label with muscle, AKA threats, violence and intimidation. Four days later, while Ja Rule's record label was trying to peel the G men off their backs, 50 Cent pulled that G Unit guerrilla move of his, swooping in and taking that rap money. He hit Murder Inc. Where it really hurt. On the charts and in the minds and hearts of the record buying public. His smash single In Da Club was released on January 7, 2003. It spent nine consecutive weeks at the top of the Billboard Top 100. And during its time in the number one slot, as quick as a Kelvin Martin liquor store stick up, it set a Billboard record as the most listened to song in Radio History. 2005. Brooklyn. Chris and Irv Lorenzo sat inside a federal courthouse watching nervously as one of Pream's former close confidants walked slowly to the witness stand. The brothers were on trial for laundering more than $1 million in drug proceeds through their Murder Inc. Record label. In total, nine individuals and two corporations have been charged with everything from racketeering to cocaine, heroin and crack trafficking to homicide. Chris and Irv Lorenzo considered it a win early on when a judge granted their request to try them separately from Prem, who they continued to maintain was in their orbit for street cred only, but did not contribute financially to their business. If they were guilty of anything, they said, it was guilt by association, plain and simple. But even though Prem was not in the corner courtroom with them, you could nevertheless feel his shadow casting pall over the proceedings. The allegations, the charges that the Lorenzos were facing were serious, career ending, life altering charges. And so, as they watched while former Preem associate Joe Reagan sat down in the hot seat next to the judge, their pulses quickened. The prosecuting attorney asked John Reagan if he could recall the events of one day in particular, particular some five years earlier, May 24, 2000. Reagan nodded his head. He had a mind like a steel trap. He remembered that day like it was yesterday. Reagan was no longer as close with Preem as he'd once been. And with the feared crime mogul now on the hook for a laundry list of offenses, including two murder for hire homicides, Reagan really didn't care if what he said incriminated his one time ally. So Reagan began to talk. He recalled how Preem came by his auto garage in Brooklyn that afternoon. Preem had come all the way from Queens and he had two other guys with him. Now, the reason that they went all the way to Brooklyn in the first place was to buy a bunch of stuff from stores. They were on a shopping spree, you could say. And it's not that Preem was in a shopping mood or anything. He just wanted receipts, pieces of paper to prove that he had been in Brooklyn during the afternoon and not in Queens, where just an hour before, nine bullets ripped through 50 Cent's body. But of course, Preem had actually been in South Jamaica, Queens that day, according to John Reagan's recollection. Reagan testified that Preem told him they'd just come from Queens, where 50 was shot coming out of his grandmother's house and then left to bleed out. Just like the OG 50 Cent, Kelvin Martin. How he had bled out on that seventh floor stairwell some 13 years earlier. Now, John Reagan further said that while Preem ordered the hit, that he hadn't pulled the trigger. But that was one of the other two guys who showed up at Reagan's garage that day. And that dude's name was Robert Son Lyons. Again, this is alleged by John Reef. But wait, you're thinking. Jake, you told us earlier that 50 Cent ID'd Daryl Hammobaum as his shooter in a song. Yes, that's correct. And it's also true that the primary book that we used for researching this episode, Ethan Brown's excellent Fat Cat, 50 Cent and the Rise of the Hip Hop Hustler, also claimed quite definitively that the shooter was indeed homo. The distinction of who the trigger man was exactly may not really matter in the end. Because the big bombshell here in John Reagan's testimony was that Preem was the one who'd been behind the attempted assassination of 50 Cent. It was not some random stick up kid. It wasn't some low key street beef or whatever. It was the mastermind of a New York criminal empire, the chief of the Supreme Team, the alleged muscle of a record label with which 50 Cent had been publicly feuding. So to recap, 50 Cent claimed Hommo was the shooter in his song, Many Men Wish Death. At the Lorenzo brothers 2005 trial, John Reagan testified that Robert's son Lyons pulled the trigger on behalf of Prem, who sat by and watched as 50 Cent was sprayed with gunfire. Now this was one one man's testimony. This was talk from a guy who we can assume had fallen from grace and fallen out of favor with Preem at some point. And so who knows, perhaps John Reagan had something to gain from saying something like this. And perhaps that gain was just to hurt Preem or to hurt the Lorenzos. It's important to note that like many aspects of Preem's relationship with Murder Inc. This particular act allegation has never been proven in a court of law. But here's the thing. Before the jury could hear John Reagan's story, the defense attorney, the Lorenzo's attorney made this argument to the judge and I quote, this 50 cent artist is at the height of his popularity and this is an explosive issue. It's fundamentally unfair. I believe this to be outcome determinative. This would be like a plot to assassinate Bond, Bob Dylan. In other words, people would lose their minds if they knew that one of the biggest leaders of New York City organized crime, Kenneth McGriff, aka Supreme, aka Preem, put out a hit on one of the biggest rappers in the world. That it would be a quote unquote explosive issue and that the public wouldn't be able to handle it. So the judge did not allow the jury to actually he hear this explosive testimony from Joe Reagan implicating Kenneth Supreme McGriff, aka Prem, as the mastermind behind the assassination attempt on 50 Cent. Less than two weeks later, on December 2, 2005, Chris and Irv Lorenzo were acquitted of the federal charges against them. But despite this, their reputation was already damaged by the cross criminal allegations and by their ties to Preem. So much so that their careers and their Murder Inc. Label were never the same again. Their beef with 50 Cent was never really squashed. And in the years that followed, Chris Lorenzo co founded Ad Ventures, a digital distribution platform aimed to give artists more control. And Irv Lorenzo eventually went into TV production before suffering a massive stroke and dying in early 2025. Kenneth Supreme McGriff, aka Prem he on the other hand, despite the jury not hearing the testimony from Joe Reagan incriminating him as the one who ordered the hit on rapper 50 Cent back in 2005, was not so lucky. In February of 2007, following his own trial for murder, conspiracy and drug trafficking, Kenneth Supreme McGriff was sentenced to life in prison without parole. During his trial he he was asked by prosecutors about his role in the attempted assassination of 50 Cent. Preem straight up denied any and all involvement and said that the government and the media made the whole thing bigger than it actually was. But to the hip hop community at large, the Preem 50 beef was an iconic conflict which shaped rap music in the early 2000s and helped define who $0.50 was. Later that same year, as Preem began serving his life sentence, 50 Cent released his third studio album. It debuted at number two on the Billboard album chart and within a month and a half it sold over 1 million copies. 50 Cent called the album Curtis Perhaps a surprisingly vulnerable move to acknowledge the person he was before he took a dead man's name and his own. A dead stick up man who led a nasty, brutish and short life of disgrace. Unlike 50 Cent, who's still breathing and who took that money without ever shaking hands with it. I'm Jake Brennan and this is Disgrace Foreign. Thanks for rolling with me in this 50 Cent Part 2 episode of Disgraceland. Apple Podcast listeners, make sure you have auto downloads turned on. Listen, I want to know from you guys 617906-6638 which hip hop star would you most want to sit down and have a drink with, chill out with, talk with, ask questions to share some stories? Is it 50 cent? Who is it somebody else? Let me know. It could be any hip hop star from any era. Not looking for rock stars, not looking for pop stars here, looking specifically for hip hop stars. Which one would you most want to hang out with? Let me know. 617-906-6638 Call me with your answers. Leave a voicemail, send me a text and you might hear yourself on the next episode of the afterparty coming up right after this at the scracelandpod on the socials. If you want to get at me on anything else, disgracelandpodmail.com I gotta take off. Here comes some credits. Disgraceland was created by yours truly and is produced in partnership with Double Elvis. Credits for this episode can be found on the show notes [e-mail] if you're listening as a Disgraceland All Access member, thank you for supporting the show. We really appreciate it. And if not, you can become a member right now by going to Disgracelandpod.com Rate and review the show and follow us on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and Facebook Disgracelandpod and on [e-mail] Disgracelandpod Rocka Rolla He's a bad bad man. Listen. That's the sound of the fully electric Audi Q6E Tron. The sound of Captivating electric performance, dynamic drive and the quiet confidence of ultra smooth handling. The elevated interior reminds you this is more than an EV. This is electric performance redefined. The fully electric Audi Q6E Tron.