Many Men

The gritty track that survived unfinished sessions, a shooting, and a political surge.

"Many Men (Wish Death)" is a song by American rapper 50 Cent from his debut studio album Get Rich or Die Tryin' (2003). The song was produced by Darrell "Digga" Branch, Eminem and Luis Resto. Despite the song charting and having a music video, it was only released as a promotional single.

Quick Facts

Artist

50 Cent

Album

Get Rich or Die Tryin'

Released

2003

Genre

Gangsta rap

Length

4:16

Label

Shady
Aftermath
Interscope

Writer

Curtis Jackson
Luis Resto
Darrell Branch
Freddie Perren
Keni St. Lewis

Producer

Six Figga Digga
Eminem
Luis Resto (add.)

Lore & Background

Darrell "Digga" Branch began working on the instrumental that eventually became "Many Men (Wish Death)" around "two or three years" prior to its official release. He developed it whilst working with The Diplomats on early material for their debut album Diplomatic Immunity (2003); however, the group never completed this song. The instrumental was then offered to Nas during the recording of his 2002 album God's Son by his A&R Lenny "Linen" Nicholson; Nas recorded vocals over the instrumental (along with his cousin and Bravehearts member Nashawn), but also never finished the song as according to Nicholson it "was a track that he just fell out of love with". 50 Cent first became aware of the instrumental after fellow rapper and Diplomats associate Cam'ron introduced him to Digga; after hearing the instrumental at a Nas recording session, he liked it and asked Nicholson to send him a copy to record to.

With Nas' permission, Nicholson agreed, since he knew that "50 was looking for something just to stay busy and to keep writing". Once 50 Cent had finished his recording in Sha Money XL's basement studio, Sha Money XL travelled to Detroit and gave the recording to Eminem, where the pair "spent about a week or two" mixing the track and adding additional sound effects; co-producer Luis Resto also provided a guitar section. Sha Money XL finally played the completed song to Digga via telephone, and after hearing it again in his lawyer's office Digga was satisfied that it sounded "exactly what I wanted it to be, as far as having that gritty, dirty type feeling".

Reader's Guide

The video was directed by Jessy Terrero and produced by Jill Hardin and Darrell "Digga" Branch. The song's music video is about 50 Cent's shooting from May 24, 2000, when he was shot nine times in Queens, New York. Mekhi Phifer appears in the video as 50's hitman. Adam Rodriguez and Rory Cochrane, both stars of CSI: Miami at the time of production, appear as detectives. Gabriel Casseus appears as a person who is allied with the person that shoots 50 Cent. Tommy Lister appears as one of 50 Cent's associates. G-Unit members Lloyd Banks and Young Buck make cameo appearances.

Did You Know?

The song peaked at number 11 on the US Bubbling Under R&B/Hip-Hop Singles in 2003.
On June 14, 2006, "Many Men" was certified Gold by the RIAA for selling 500,000 copies in the United States. On January 19, 2023, it was certified three times platinum.
American rapper Pop Smoke interpolated the song on his 2020 track "Got It on Me", and producer Metro Boomin sampled the song on his and 21 Savage's 2020 track "Many Men".
Vietnamese-American writer Ocean Vuong repeatedly references the song in his novel On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous.