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More than two years after 50 Cent surprised the world with his appearance at the Super Bowl LVI halftime show, the “In da Club” rapper and media mogul is opening up about how his unannounced appearance almost didn’t happen.
Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter for a new cover story on his career, 50 Cent, 49, addressed the star-studded halftime show, which featured Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. Blige, and Kendrick Lamar performing on the field at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California on Feb. 13, 2022.
However, according to the successful TV producer and multi-hyphenate star, Roc Nation — the entertainment company founded by JAY-Z, which produced the halftime show — didn’t want 50 Cent involved.
“They wanted to leave me out of it… [Roc Nation] didn’t want me there,” he told the outlet. However, despite this, it was 50 Cent’s friend and fellow super star Eminem who made it happen.
“Eminem wouldn’t do it without me,” 50 Cent shared. “That’s how I ended up on the show, because he was not coming if I didn’t do it. When that happens, you go, ‘Damn, so you just lost Eminem because you didn’t bring 50? Damn. All right. Bring 50 then.’ But if it was up to them, they would not have me there.”
According to 50 Cent, that’s why he was “the surprise” at the event and why he was “not on the bill.”
Looking back, it’s hard to imagine 50 Cent not being part of the act, especially considering his dramatic and memorable introduction. In one of the biggest surprises of the whole night, he made an unexpected appearance in an even more unexpected way: hanging upside down in a recreation of a nightclub. Suspended from the ceiling of one of the white trailer stages the show was held on, the rapper brought another beloved hit to the field, performing “In Da Club” upside down. It wasn’t long before he got himself down, and his appearance was an integral part of the 15-minute spectacle.
After Super Bowl LVI, ET spoke with Jesse Collins, executive producer of the halftime show, and he reflected on what it was like to make such a memorable event really come to life.
“We’ve been in development of this since last September, just talking every week, every single moment, and we’ve been in hard rehearsals probably for the last three weeks,” Collins reflected. “I think the hardest part of it was getting it [down] to 13 minutes.”
“I mean, you’ve got monster catalogues and trying to figure out how to make this work… I mean I could think of 10 records that I wish they would’ve done,” he added. “But we had to make the best decision possible.”
The final show was nothing short of amazing. Beginning with Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg performing together across a series of all-white trailer/stages that were designed to represent the homes and businesses of nearby Compton and South L.A., the show then welcomed the cavalcade of icons.
“We got in in less than eight minutes and we got off in six, which was the goal,” Collins said of the elaborate caravan of trailer stages and set decorations. “We had to do that, there was no choice. And that’s a massive set… It was quite a challenge, but we made it happen.”
Ultimately, Collins felt that the show was more than just a live music event, but instead a significant message about the role hip hop plays in the fabric of the nation.
He noted: “We proved tonight that hip hop is part of the Americana, it is part of our culture. Just like rock n’ roll, country, hip hop is right there and it’s never going away and it is Americana, period.”
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