Young Guru Recalls Jay-Z Warning Rappers in His Camp About 50 Cent

In an appearance on Math Hoffa’s My Expert Opinion podcast, Young Guru recalled how Jay-Z warned rappers he was working with at the time about 50 Cent before “In Da Club” dropped.

Shortly after the release of the film State Property, in which Jay-Z made his feature film acting debut, Hov dropped by the studio where Guru was working to issue a warning.

“There’s a point where Jay walks in the studio, and it just so happened that everybody was in the studio," Guru said, as seen in the video up top. "I think we were working on The Blueprint 2... And Jay walked in the studio, he said it before but I'm telling you how impactful it was. He walked in the studio and he was like, 'Yo, this dude 50, y'all gonna have to deal with him in the next couple months. He said it to the whole crew, 'You have to deal with him.'"

He described the moment as a “warning,” that “another power is coming.” Guru went on to praise 50 Cent’s music from that time, and stressed that Jay knew that Fif was going to be big very early on. “Jay acknowledged it early, he was like, ‘Y’all gonna have to deal with this dude, he’s coming.’ … State Property got trapped in the Dame and Jay break-up,” he continued.

As Guru pointed out, Jay-Z spoke about his warning ahead of the arrival of 50 Cent during a 2013 interview with The Breakfast Club. “I remember one time walking in the studio… I was like, ‘I’m telling you man, y’all got a chance right now to flood it, put out a lot of music, because 50 Cent is coming,’” he said. “Four months later, ‘In Da Club’ hit and it was over.”