Here's Everything That Happened Between 50 Cent, His Son + His Son's Mother That Made Things So Ugly
50 Cent has more beef than a burger factory. Just in case you didn't get the memo, there's even a "feuds" section on his Wikipedia page to help you keep track. From Diddy, Floyd Mayweather, Rick Ross, Ja Rule, Nas, and even The Game, Fiddy has tangoed with the best of 'em.
But none of these compare to his infamous tiff with baby momma Shaniqua Hopkins and 19-year-old son, Marquise Jackson. It's natural for relatives to disagree every now and then, but there's no end in sight with this family feud. Things sparked up over the weekend when Fiddy posted a photo on Instagram boasting a smack-filled caption directed at his ex-lady, guaranteeing that the squabbling will continue into the foreseeable future.
This has all been going on for so long that it's easy to forget how it all began. We've tracked the fight back to the very beginning to try to make sense of it all. Maybe by tracing it back to its source, we can find a way to help them all make peace!
A Fiery Break-Up With Marquise's Mother, Shaniqua Tompkins—Spring 2008
Marquise and 50 Cent initially shared a close relationship. Fiddy even got his name tattooed his right bicep following his birth on October 17th, 1997. He also cites fatherhood as "the motivation to go in a different direction" with his career—i.e., be successful. "When my son came into my life, my priorities changed, because I wanted to have the relationship with him that I didn't have with my father." So it started out rosy.
The feud between father and son really began when things went south with mother Shaniqua in spring 2008, when Marquise was 10 years old. A major portion of their dispute centered around 50's $4 million Long Island mansion that Shaniqua claimed he promised her. Despite the alleged promise, 50 attempted to evict her in the wake of their breakup, leading to a lengthy court battle. It's sad, but kind of thing happens all the time, right?
Here's where it gets weird. On the morning of May 30th, the disputed house burnt to the ground in a blaze that the authorities classified as "suspicious." 50, for his part, was in Arizona filming a movie. But Shaniqua insists she heard "someone" enter the house just before fire broke out around 4 AM, and made claims in the press that 50 was trying to murder her. “He said that he was going to have someone come kill me, and see what he does? This is what he did,” she told TMZ.
That's a pretty bold claim. Is it true? We can't say. Did it effect Marquise's view of his dad? Definitely. “My relationship with my son is changing because he and his mom aren’t friends anymore,” 50 told MTV a few weeks later.
50 Cent Threatens To Remove Marquise From Will—November 18th, 2012
“If I died today would it matter to you? I’m changing my will. It’s a simple question.” This is the amazingly emo text that 50 Cent sent to his then-16-year-old son in November 2012. Much about their relationship hasn't been revealed, but he was known to share some tough-love tweets like this one.
It's cool to instill a work ethic in your kids, but the texts were a little much. Marquise responded with some fightin' words: “And this is coming from someone that didn’t wish me a happy birthday.”
Ooooh damn. That did it for Fiddy. “I’m taking you and your mother’s daughter out of my inheritance,” he wrote.
To which Marquise said: “I don’t care about money, that’s my last concern, of course we all like nice things but it’s not everything.”
And 50 kept on going. “I need a blood test cause that d-ck sucking b-tch you call mom was f-cking the hole time [sic]” is another highlight. You can read the entire hour-long back and forth here if you’re so inclined.
But these messages didn’t surface in public until after…
50 Cent's Text Feud Heats Up—January 2013
A poorly-coordinated custody visit triggered this next round of word warfare. Marquise refused to come to the door when his father arrived at the house, so 50 went full Alec Baldwin and verbally assaulted the boy through messages on his phone. To whit:
50 Cent: Are you f-cking stupid. You had me drive over there why do you think I needed a address sh-t head. I saw the lights go out then some one playing in the blinds and there no party going on. F-ck you to [sic]. You your mother and your sister f-ck all of yal.
Marquise: I might dumb, come thru then, no need to get upset
Marquise: Stop by and say hello too [sic] ur son
50 Cent: What the f-ck are you taking about I’m not f-cking with you after this I leave Atlanta in the morning.
Marquise: So come thru then
50 Cent: F-ck you
This kept on going for some time, culminating in the epic "I don't have a son anymore." Ouch. The messages leaked in July 2013, setting the headlines on fire.
In a series of tweets, 50 admitted that the messages were sent from him, but claimed that they were intended for Shaniqua, who was using her son’s phone.
Shaniqua Tompkins Accuses 50 Of Not Seeing Marquise For Years—January 2014
This misunderstanding really did a number on their relationship, because Shaniqua went to the press in January 2014 to say that father and son had not spoken since the text altercation, and hadn't seen each other face to face since May 2012—over a year and a half!
It was revealed around this time that 50 had another child named Sire, who was born under great secrecy in the fall of 2012 to his girlfriend, Daphne Joy. According to Shaniqua, Marquise felt replaced by the baby, who was getting all of the attention.
50’s camp fired back saying that, as usual, it’s all about the Benjamins.
“This is all driven by Shaniqua being threatened her son will not be the only heir,” a source close to Fiddy told RumorFix. “Shaniqua clearly doesn’t have her son’s best interest in mind to drag lies into the media, her main focus is always how anything will affect her son’s potential inheritance.”
Regardless of motive, it does appear that 50 was a ghost for much of these years—and Marquise wasn't happy about it.
50 Speaks Out On Philly’s Morning Show With Shamara and Laiya—April 14th, 2014
50 appeared on the highly-rated Philadelphia radio program to speak his piece on the drama with his son. Pointedly, he blamed his ex for poisoning his son's mind against him. “He’s completely embraced his mom’s perspective on me," he said.
He also accused both mother and son of being entitled brats. "Everything in his life, I have provided for him regardless of if I’m there or not. She hasn’t worked since 2000...Her being in the actual home since 2000 living off of what I provide for him is enough for her not to go to actual work."
“She still would feel like destroying the actual relationship is her way of getting back,” he continued. “She was getting a half a million dollars a year.”
Judging from Marquise's Father's Day Facebook status, the financial help is no substitute for the presence of a dad.
50 Cent Is A No Show At Marquise’s Graduation—May 18th, 2014
Looks like 50 was serious about the whole “I have no son” thing, because he bailed on Marquise’s high school graduation ceremony in May 2014. The graduate posted the above photo on Facebook with a pretty depressing caption: “Yea I broke down. I was really excited to see my pops at my graduation today, but he never showed up smh. My sister and mama is always there for me, just know that you wasn’t. I did it without you.”
Master of damage control, 50 told his press-friendly friends that it didn’t go down like that. Apparently he went to a charity event in NYC that weekend after being told that he wasn’t invited to the ceremony.
Shaniqua then stopped by V-103’s Ryan Cameron Morning Show to shed some light on the situation. Which is code for "tear him a new one."
“I didn’t know a parent needed an invitation to the graduation, she said. "I think you make time for what you want to make time for. You know your son is in the 12th grade. You know that children graduate May-June-ish.”
And she was just getting started. “He is privy to the same information that I am privy to as a parent. You can call the school , you can ask. Or have your assistant call. There were no tickets. It was on the lawn of the school. And being that he says he pays tuition, which he doesn’t, he should have had a first class ticket. He doesn’t pay tuition, he pays child support.”
Marquise Gets Buddy Buddy With Floyd Maywhether—September 2014
50 Cent has been clashing with his former friend Floyd Mayweather for years now, but his son doesn’t feel the same animosity. Perhaps desperate for a strong male figure in his life, Marquise posted a photo hanging with the heavyweight with the caption “With Tank And Floyd #TMT.” He also called him “an inspiration" a short while later.
Just a week before that, he was seen hanging with another of his father’s enemies, Slowbuck.
50 Discusses The "Complex" Situation With Angie Martinez—March 6th, 2015
Fiddy stopped by The Breakfast Club, where Martinez asked him some pretty direct questions about his eldest son. “I haven’t spoken to him,” he admitted. “With him, that situation is so complex. I think over time, [Shaniqua]'s installed her entitlement, even in being a privileged child."
He also gave his thoughts on his son's association with "enemies," Mayweather and Slowbucks. “His mother’s views, he’s embraced it. You see him sitting next to Floyd when he thought I had problems with Floyd, you see him sitting next to Slow[bucks]. It’s too cool to not be Little 50 that he’s associated to everything around me but me.”
But when asked if he'd consider burying the hatchet with his son, he didn't completely shut it down. “Possibly. I’d be listening to see what he’s saying.”
50 Cent Kills His Own Son...On Power—August 8th, 2015
It could be argued that this actually has nothing to do with Marquise. Who cares that 50 Cent's character Kanan shot and killed his (fictitious) son Shawn in cold blood during the lead up to the season finale of Power? That scene was written by a staff of writers headed by Raphael Jackson Jr. & Damione Macedon. It's just a coincidence that 50 is having a heated fead with his son in real life, right?
But the fact that Fiddy also serves a the producer on the show makes us a little more concerned. Is someone acting out their inner demons on the small screen? We don't want to speculate. But it's certainly interesting, especially considering...
50 Threatens To Shoot His Son On The Gram—September 20th, 2015
Get ready for some life imitating art, y'all.
Things between Fiddy and Marquise mostly calmed down for the better part of a year, until the youngun uploaded this not-so-subtile subliminal on Instagram in September.
Clearly the words are directed to his dad, who picked up on the message and responded with some questionable emojis.
“Word to Mommy Hun!!!??? don’t play with me boy. Kanan”
The most chilling part? He signed off as "Kanan," AKA his Power character who shot his son to death just a few weeks before.
Err, at least they're talking again...?
Marquise Reveals He Has Never Met His Baby Half-Brother—October 11th, 2015
Bossip was able to get some time with Marquise on the red carpet of the 2015 BET Hip Hop Awards, and they asked whether or not the pair were any closer to making up. “Actually, our relationship is still strained,” he said. “But, as far as on my end, it’s all love. I don’t have any problems. But maybe one day we’ll figure it out, and everything can be well. But as of right now, our relationship is still strained.”
Perhaps even more tragic, he revealed that he had yet to meet his three-year-old half-brother, Sire. "I would love to meet him, though. I would love to.”
50 Posts Instagram Saying Marquise Will "Hate His Mother"—December 19th, 2015
Maybe the holidays have 50 feeling a certain kind of way about family, because on the 19th he shared a throwback photo (since deleted) of himself with his son as a little boy. Though the image tugged at the heart strings, the caption was something else entirely—yet another declaration of war against his ex.
“This kid is gonna hate his mother when he realize what she did to him. He has to make it on his own like I did. SMH GOOD LUCK,” he wrote.
If he thought he was going to get away with that without a fight from Shaniqua, he was sorely mistaken. Ms. Thompkins responded with an extremely lengthy note posted to her own Instagram page, in which she dismisses 50's entire rap personae as a “fictitious character," calls him out for lying about the number of times he was shot, and accuses him of mentally abusing their son.
“You don’t have a relationship with my child because you choose not to, you want to bully him, threaten him, and talk about his mother in a disparaging manner,” she wrote. “I don’t try to mentally abuse my son like you do! I don’t talk about you your actions speak for themselves. Who threatens to shoot their son on Instagram?”
All solid points. So far 50 Cent has the last word, posting the following message (with bonus comment section commentary!).
UPDATE: February 2016
50 Cent got into another spat with Shaniqua on Instagram, where she called him "miserable" and "unstable."
It stemmed from 50 wishing his son well as his 20th birthday approaches, but nothing was happy about the exchange that followed.
UPDATE: February 29, 2016
50 posted the following to Instagram today and it's most likely directed to Shaniqua. He wrote the following in the caption field: "So that's the crazy b-tch you said, said I can't talk. YES SIRE,I TOLD YOU I DONT WANT YOU RESPONDING TO NONSENSE. Oh I'll never say anything to her, ummm ain't her child support over? YES (LMAO)"