50 Cent Jabs Rick Ross Over Early Sales Projections for Set In Stone

In hip-hop, the numbers always arrive before the dust settles, and 50 Cent wasted no time turning Rick Ross‘ early projections for Set In Stone into fresh ammunition. On Tuesday, July 21, he went after Ross across a string of Instagram posts after apparently seeing first-day streaming figures for the rapper’s 12th album. There’s no confirmation of where 50 got those numbers, but that didn’t slow the posts down.

What’s floating around online right now does not tell the full story. An X account, Kurrco, reported that Set In Stone is projected to land outside the Billboard 200 top 20 with fewer than 26,000 units. Those figures are not verified by a legitimate source, and the final sales total will not be available until next week, since the album arrived on July 17.

Still, 50 treated the speculation like fact. He shared four posts aimed squarely at his longtime rival, beginning with a photo of himself smiling and the caption, “I just saw your records sales ! LOL 2,000 WTF.”

He followed that with another image, this time of himself eating popcorn, and wrote, “So when your tickets don’t sell and your album don’t sell what do ya do? Promote car a shows and sell chicken wings.LOL”

Elsewhere, he posted a clip of Ross saying the album was going to “be a bomb,” then twisted the quote back on him: “That sh*t was a firecracker only friends and family got it ! LOL”

The last jab came with a fan video breaking down the first-day streams. 50 captioned it, “Yo [ninja emoji] had 20 features and it didn’t help. alright now pack it up it’s over officer. Get ya bum juice and ya wings and get the fvck up outta here. LOL”

Ross’ 19-track Set In Stone is loaded with guests, just as 50 pointed out. The album features T.I., French Montana and Max B, Rich The Kid, YFN Lucci, comedian Deon Cole, Jeezy, Don Toliver, BigXthaPlug, The-Dream, Leon Thomas, Gucci Mane, Kodak Black, Yung Miami and more. It’s also Ross’ first release through gamma, after years of putting out music through major-label deals with Epic Records and, before that, Def Jam.

The projections may look rough compared with Ross’ earlier commercial run, but they aren’t exactly a shock in the context of his recent releases. Of his 11 albums before this one, 10 entered the top 10. His last album, 2021’s Richer Than I Ever Been, debuted at No. 22 on the Billboard 200, so the current chatter lines up more closely with that recent stretch than with the blockbuster peaks that defined his earlier catalog.

For now, the final tally is still pending. Until then, 50 Cent has made it clear he’s happy to keep score in public.