Get Rich or Die Tryin’ is one of the most teflon hip-hop albums of all time. 50 Cent really built his mythology with the impact of his debut album. After getting shot 9 times and living to tell the tale, the record sounds like an impenetrable villain emerging from the shadows.
One of the songs that led to this unstoppable aura was “Many Men (Wish Death)”. He depicts himself like Denzel Washington in Training Day, except 50 actually walks away unscathed in his story. In a sense, it acts as the core of Get Rich or Die Tryin’. In order to build 50 Cent as truly bulletproof, “Many Men” has to set the tone of his survival. People didn’t want him here, and yet he endured anyway.
However, surprisingly, the song almost didn’t make the album. It wasn’t until Dr. Dre intervened personally that “Many Men” stayed on the album. Why?
50 Cent Explains Why “Many Men” Almost Didn’t Make ‘Get Rich or Die Tryin”
Apparently, 50 Cent had a vision to keep the energy as high as possible. “Heat” sounded brash, loud, and fast. “Wanksta” was shiny, glimmering, and quick. “In Da Club” chugged along at a steady rate. “Many Men”, by comparison, seemed to halt the album’s momentum too much. If the album plays too dark and slow, you lose the audience’s attention. However, thankfully, someone saw the song’s real potential and told 50 Cent to keep it. Ever since, “Many Men” has been one of the defining rap songs of all time.
“The only song that almost didn’t make the album was ‘Many Men’. It was because of the tempo. It was slower than the other records, and I wanted to keep everybody up. Then, Dre was like ‘nah, that gotta go. You gotta keep that one.’ Then we put it. That was the end of it,” 50 Cent told Big Boy in an interview.
“Many Men” is also important to keep on Get Rich or Die Tryin’ because it was a common refrain during his interviews at the time. In an interview with BBC News in 2002, 50 stressed that the success meant people wanted him dead even more. However, with the title of the album in mind, all of this just fueled his drive even further. “When you listen to that title, it might feel a little negative, right?” 50 Cent said. “But if you’re a working-class person and you say ‘get rich or die trying,’ then it means that you’re determined.”
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