50 Cent has used the sellout success of his revived G-Unit sneaker to take another shot at longtime rival Rick Ross.
The G-Unit x Reebok G6 returned Thursday (August 20) in its original white, red, and blue colorway, marking the comeback of a sneaker first released more than two decades ago. Priced at $130 and recreated to match the 2003 version, the G6 was offered through Reebok, JD Sports, and Finish Line before selling out within two hours.
The G-Unit mogul couldn’t resist using the moment to troll Ross, who had reportedly downplayed the sneaker’s return ahead of its release. “Sold out, fat boy,” 50 said in an IG video showing off the shoes.
Fif also claimed New York was largely responsible for driving the demand and questioned whether others could generate comparable numbers by relying on support elsewhere.
“It was all New York,” 50 said in the reel. “So they want to compare themselves to that later because they think the South will support them. But your fucking numbers don’t support it. It’s so much of a landslide. It does, it’s not even a thing.”
Ross wasn’t 50’s only target. During the same video, he revisited his long-running issues with Ebro Darden including audio from his Thursday night interview with the veteran radio personality, where he accused Ebro of hurting New York hip-hop rather than helping it.
Ebro “always fuck up the culture,” 50 said in the interview. The remarks add another chapter to years of public exchanges between the two, with 50 previously criticizing Ebro’s influence and approach to supporting New York artists.
Beyond the trolling, 50 sees the G6’s rapid sellout as proof that the sneaker still resonates more than 20 years after its debut.
“Look at the response now,” he told Footwear News. “We sold out within two hours, and our design held up. That tells you we got it right the first time. I might have some fun with new colors and different versions now, but the OG? I wouldn’t mess with that. I still wear it.”
50 credited the original sneaker’s success to how closely involved he and G-Unit were in its creation. “It was authentic. I wasn’t just putting my name on somebody else’s shoe and calling it mine,” he said. “I was involved. The design, the marketing, the way we presented it — it all felt like me and G-Unit.”
In an interview with Complex, 50 discussed the shoe’s impact on culture. “The G6 created a whole new category in sneaker culture and opened up new opportunities in the music space,” he explained. “It gave hip-hop artists a platform to go beyond being just artists. It wasn’t the norm back then.”
The original G6 arrived in 2003, the same year 50 released his blockbuster debut album Get Rich or Die Tryin’. The G-Unit partnership with Reebok ultimately moved millions of pairs, becoming a major piece of the group’s early-2000s dominance.
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