What happened between Fat Joe and 50 Cent? Complicated history between the 2 explained as the former wishes latter on his birthday

50 Cent is famously known for feuding with fellow rappers, including Fat Joe for a time, but the two rappers have since buried the hatchet and moved on, with the latter even wishing him well on his 50th birthday.

On July 6, 2025, Fat Joe (real name Joseph Antonio Cartagena) took to Instagram to wish 50 Cent (real name Curtis Jackson) on his milestone birthday, referencing their complicated history in the caption.

“Curtis Jackson aka I went to war with him. It’s funny how a so-called enemy can become an incredible friend. God bless you my brother 50 more hbd king @50cent,” Fat Joe wrote.

For the unversed, their feud began because of Fat Joe's association with Ja Rule, one of 50 Cent's biggest rivals. The apparent animosity between 50 Cent and Fat Joe intensified after the latter collaborated with Ja Rule on his 2004 track New York.

This collaboration seemingly offended Jackson, who believed Fat Joe had taken Ja Rule's side in their feud. For context, Ja Rule and 50 Cent's rivalry became one of the more popular and long-running rivalries in hip-hop, lasting to this day, albeit with less intensity.

50 Cent and Fat Joe ultimately decided to put an end to their rivalry after the death of their mutual friend Chris Lighty in 2012. The two even reunited for a tribute performance at the BET Awards.

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Exploring 50 Cent and Fat Joe's complicated history

50 Cent's feud with Fat Joe was an extension of his already existing rivalry with Ja Rule, which began in the late 1990s. In 2004, Joe and Ja Rule collaborated on the latter's hit single New York, which many believed was a diss track targeting 50 Cent.

This prompted the In Da Club rapper to respond with Piggy Bank in 2005, where he dissed Joe over Lean Back, a 2004 Terror Squad song featuring Fat Joe and Remy Ma. For the unversed, Terror Squad is a hip-hop collective co-founded by Joe in New York in 1998.

"That fat n***a thought Lean Back was In Da Club, my s**t sold eleven mill’/ His shit was a dud," 50 Cent rapped in Piggy Bank.

Joe fired back at 50 Cent with his track My FoFo, accusing the latter of being fake. He also responded to Jackson's Piggy Bank diss with:

"You dissed Lean Back, said my s**t was a dud/ Now tell me have you ever seen him up in the club?/ Nope, nope, no shawty, that's right/ You singin' more than you rappin' now 50 that ain't right."

The rivalry between Fat Joe and 50 Cent came to a head at the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards, where Joe's Terror Squad and 50 Cent's G-Unit nearly got into an altercation. In his 2022 memoir, titled The Book of Jose, Joe detailed the incident, claiming 50 Cent gestured at him while he was onstage presenting an award to Missy Elliot.

Joe claimed Jackson's behavior seemed like he was daring him to get off the stage and "physically confront" him. He continued that Jackson got onstage during commercials and stood a few feet away, leaving Joe to wonder if they were going to get into an altercation on live TV.

“I was saying to myself, 'Okay, we’re about to fight. We’re about to get it on right here at the VMAs.' When the show came back on—this is live TV, mind you—he went back to his seat. The G-Unit started yelling at me while I’m reading off the teleprompter. The Terror Squad, offstage in the wings, started barking back. That’s when I dropped my jab: ‘I feel safe with all the police protection courtesy of G-Unit.’”

According to Complex, 50 Cent reportedly did not take the jab well and fired back at Joe during his own performance, closing his VMA medley by saying onstage: "Fat Joe is p*ssy, man. P*ssy boy. F**k boy.”

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Fat Joe wanted to squash the Ja Rule/50 Cent beef

50 Cent and Fat Joe reportedly reconciled following the death of Chris Lighty, who was also Jackson's manager. The two have since repaired their once-contentious relationship and become close friends over the years.

In a 2023 interview with Rolling Stone, 50 Cent admitted that he was "bugging" when he began the rivalry with Joe over his association with Ja Rule. Jackson added that Joe was "loyal to a default," which made him a good friend.

In his July 2024 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, 50 Cent reflected on the feud, saying he regretted wasting "too much time" arguing with Joe and Cam'ron. He added that the rivalry grew out of the "competitive nature" of hip-hop.

"Regretted? Look, I think we wasted too much time arguing, me and Fat Joe, me and Cam’ron. There’s other guys like Jada[kiss], we cleared it up easier. But we wasted time because it was just the competitive nature. It wasn’t like we crossed paths and had real heat for each other. It went on more with Joe because he’s more like me, he’s closer in character to me," he said.

Meanwhile, in an October 2024 interview on Club Shay Shay, Joe stated that he had wanted to squash the rivalry between Ja Rule and 50 Cent. However, both Irv Gotti and Ja Rule allegedly declined to put the feud to rest.

"I had it, I was squashing the beef. I had it. And Irv and Ja was like, 'Nah, we ain't squashing s**t.' Yeah, I swore I had it. I don't want to put it on [50 Cent], but I think 50 was almost like, 'Yo, Joe, whatever you want to do.' So I had that, and then when I went to them. They was like, 'F**k that.'"

He also added that it was "dumb" to extend the rivalry for decades, saying it was best for both rappers to "squash their beef" and move on.

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In other news, Fat Joe was recently accused of planning a hit on 50 Cent during their early-2000s feud. This accusation surfaced in a lawsuit filed last month by Joe's former hypeman, Terrance Dixon, who also alleged that his ex-employer engaged in s*xual activity with three underage girls.

50 Cent denied the alleged assassination plot on Instagram at the time, dismissing the claim as "baseless."