Before rapper 50 Cent amassed an estimated $250 million through music, lost it all, and reemerged as a Hollywood executive and serial entrepreneur, he was a hustler in Queens, New York’s South Jamaica district, terrorizing people up and down Guy Brewer Boulevard.
Fif was a street guy coming up in the ranks and understood one lesson in that unforgiving realm: loyalty reigns supreme.
This enduring value is at the heart of the latest social media storm involving the “Get Rich or Die Tryin’” superstar that seemingly threatens to take one of his biggest shows off the air.
50 Cent flipped out recently after seeing a series of pictures and videos showing Terry “Southwest T” Flenory and his son mingling with the son of 50 Cent’s archenemy, Kenneth “Supreme” McGriff.
Supreme was the leader of a drug family called the Supreme Team, a notorious trafficking organization based in Queens, New York, during the 1980s. The gang was known for its violent tactics and control over the crack cocaine trade.
At its peak, the Supreme Team’s operations included extensive drug distribution networks and a hierarchical structure as the group grew into a powerful criminal enterprise.
Kenneth “Supreme” McGriff, Kurtis Blow, & Wall “Ghost” Corley. South Jamaica, Queens. 1984.
— Boss (@_ValTown_) March 17, 2023
$100 Million flowed in the Southside by The Corley Brothers, Feurtado Brothers, Fat Cat, & Supreme Team.
Wall is allegedly an inspiration for the character Ghost on Power. Rarely seen. pic.twitter.com/tklZsc0eVA
In one clip posted over this past weekend that scuffed Fif’s Timberlands, Supreme Jr. is talking to the father and son. He said the “moment is monumental” because it brings both drug families together. The clothes designer gives T a shirt that says “Free Preme/ Free Meech,” and tells him that he drove nine hours to make sure that the three of them meet.
T graciously accepted the shirt and said that he respected the elder Supreme, calling him an “honorable” man.
In response to the video and the photos. on Tuesday, June 18, 50 Cent wrote, “Hey I know T feel like he is not making the money @lilmeechbmf is making but I thought they would all be happy for him.”
“It’s not like I didn’t help your family make millions,” he continued. “Cool when STARZ start suggesting the wrong moves, I’m simply going to sit and watch. Don’t worry you will be off the air in no time.”
The post 50 shared includes a screenshot of a comment where one social media user told T, “so you came home to a series started by 50 about your family and I’m sure check came behind that and it helped your transition home.”
“And you go take these pics with this clout chasing kid who is allegedly supreme son and you know the history with preme and 50,” the user continued. They also noted that T has been pulling antics such as this fir years “trying to antagonize 50 I see why Meech wasn’t messing with you.”
Why does the co-founder of one of the biggest drug families in Black American history care about 50 Cent’s feuds? The connection runs deep.
While T and his brother, Demetrius “Big Meech” Flenory, were incarcerated, 50 Cent transformed their BMF (Black Mafia Family) saga into a household name with a hit series on Starz. Not only did 50 Cent get a letter from Big Meech giving him permission to tell the brothers’ story, but he effectively transformed T’s nephew, Lil Meech Flenory Jr., into a celebrity.
As a seasoned street figure, T should have been well aware of claims about the alleged attempt by Supreme to have 50 Cent killed in the infamous incident where the rapper was shot nine times while sitting in a car outside his grandmother’s home.
According to an affidavit connected to the Murder Inc. investigation, the motive behind the attempt on his life is widely believed to be a 50 record called “Ghetto Quran.” The track referenced Supreme, the infamous drug lord who once ruled the Baisley Park projects, who is now serving a life sentence for drug trafficking, racketeering, and murder.
New York Magazine reports the affidavit says, “McGriff was involved with the shooting of another rap artist, ‘50 Cent,’ who wrote a song exposing McGriff’s criminal activities.”
Supreme Jr. has denied these allegations, though the rumor has existed for decades.
Adding to the complexity, Supreme’s son has been stirring controversy over the past few months by suggesting that 50 Cent’s mother, who tragically died when 50 was 8, might have had a relationship with Supreme — hinting that Supreme Jr. and the rapper could be brothers — and joking that he is going to have a DNA test with 50’s estranged eldest son, Marquise Jackson.
Another reason 50 Cent feels disrespected by T and his son stems from a personal connection. Big Meech himself allegedly said that the show strengthened the bond with his 24-year-old son, who portrays him on the series.
“The significance in him being able to play his dad, for me, the point I get really excited about is his dad,” 50 said in an interview with XXL in 2022. “When he’s on the phone, he’ll call and talk and say, ‘I don’t know if you’re conscious to this when you was doing this but you moved him closer to me. Because he’s spending more time thinking about things that we experienced, things that we did, and he not going to jail.'”
In 2007, Big Meech pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 30 years in prison for maintaining a continuing criminal enterprise and money laundering. An order filed on Feb. 27 reduced Big Meech’s sentence from 324 months to 292 months.
That same year, McGriff, who also had close ties to 50’s other rap enemies, Ja Rule, received a life sentence for Racketeering, Double Murder-for-hire Homicides, Narcotics Trafficking, and Laundering Drug Proceeds.
Black Mafia Family cocaine kingpin Demetrius "Big Meech" Flenory, whose life inspired the Starz crime series "BMF," is on the cusp of leaving prison after a federal judge shaved almost three years off of his prison sentence https://t.co/Mbw74iaUF9 via @detroitnews
— Robert Snell (@robertsnellnews) February 28, 2024
50 Cent’s “BMF” series has just wrapped its third season and has been renewed for a fourth.
