50 Cent is currently on his North American leg of “The Final Lap Tour.” Last night (Aug. 9), he performed at Barclays Center in Brooklyn for the first of two shows at the arena and surprised the crowd with a bunch of special guests, including J. Cole, who gave the G-Unit boss his flowers.

After performing his 2014 hit single “No Role Modelz,” J. Cole left the stage with a message — crowning 50’s classic debut studio album, Get Rich or Die Tryin’, the best album of all time, putting Michael Jackson’s best-selling project Thriller right behind.

“Can I say this before I move off stage?” the Fayetteville rapper began. “If y’all don’t make some noise for one of the greatest n**gas to ever do this s**t. 50 muthaf**kin’ Cent, Curtis Jackson. Get Rich or Die Tryin’ the best album of all time. I don’t give a f**k what you talking about, n**ga!” He continued, “It’s Get Rich or Die Tryin’ at No. 1 and it’s Thriller at No. 2, and I love Michael Jackson. But I promise y’all that, Curtis Jackson, 50 Cent, we love you my n**ga, for real.” In addition to J. Cole, 50 also brought out Tony Yayo, Jadakiss, Uncle Murda, Flo Rida, A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie, DaBaby, Moneybagg Yo, and Yung Bleu.

Back in August of 2022, 50 revealed that he actually had a chance to sign J. Cole, who visited his house and played music for him, before his breakthrough. “That was so early, bro,” the Queens rapper recalled on an episode of “The Breakfast Club.” “To me, J. Cole, Kendrick Lamar… these artists existed early on when I fell in love with hip hop, but it was Talib Kweli, it was Mos Def, it was A Tribe Called Quest, it was Common Sense.”

“As dope as they are, it’s smarter rap, smarter music. The logic is — ‘Sit down, be humble.’ We supposed to already know to sit down and be humble. But when they put that there, it’s almost the conscious side of it,” he continued. “I’m like, ‘Yo, it was cool.’ But I didn’t really know if everybody was ready for it because of how strong they were embracing what we were doing.”