50 Cent is not turning his back on DaBaby.
While some of his peers including Dua Lipa and Questlove have spoken out against him, 50 Cent remains supportive of the embattled rapper following his homophobic comments at Rolling Loud Miami last month.
Amid the backlash, DaBaby was removed from several festival lineups including Lollapalooza, Governors Ball, and Day N Vegas, while brands like boohooMAN severed ties with him. A remix of Kanye West’s song “Nah Nah Nah,” featuring DaBaby and 2 Chainz, was also pulled from streaming services.
DaBaby apologized to the LGBTQ+ community for his “hurtful and triggering comments,” but the statement was later removed from his social accounts.
While many have called for his cancelation, 50 Cent remains in his corner. Speaking with E!’s “Nightly Pop,” 50 was asked whether he thinks DaBaby will be able to bounce back from the controversy.
“Yeah, he will,” he responded. “As long as he keeps his consistency with the music. Remember they canceled Chris Brown like five, six times?”
He praised him as a “really talented, special artist,” while giving him a pass for not realizing the power of his words. “He just transitioned from being in that pool that everyone’s in, as a rap artist. They didn’t notify him that he’s turning into a superstar. There’s nobody that tells you, ‘now you’re being held to these standards that are mainstream standards that you can’t say things, you can’t do these different things.’”
50 claims DaBaby’s delayed apology is because he didn’t have a publicist advising him. “He didn’t have a publicist involved. This is why the response took so long. The first apology, the attempt at it, was what made it worse.”
He also blamed his lack of experience and media training for his blunder. “He’s only two years into his career. There’s no artist development, there’s no strong A&Ring, and there’s definitely no media training.”
50 previously announced that he was mentoring the 29-year-old rapper following the death of his protégé Pop Smoke. “I lost pop before he could get it, This one already got it and he listen,” said 50 following his hours-long meeting with DaBaby. “I’m a teach him all the mistakes i made, so he can be better than me. THIS IS HIP HOP!”