Hold On

Album: Animal Ambition (2014)
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Songfacts®:

  • The first single from 50's Animal Ambition album features laid-back, soulful production influenced by the 1980s rap duo EPMD. "I wrote it, and at the time, I'll be honest I was listening to 'You Gots To Chill' by EPMD," he told MTV News.

    "I was looking for something to match the tempo and energy that was there, because these are the things that I fell in love with when I was actually falling in love with hip-hop," 50 added. "I'm looking for something to mirror that because it's far away from what is actually going on right now in the culture."
  • Unlike EPMD's rhymes urging the listener to chill out, we hear 50 spitting some typically braggadocio lyrics along with some baiting of his one-time foe James "Jimmy Henchman" Rosemond, who got sentenced to life on October 25, 2013 for trafficking drugs.
  • 50 Cent explained to MTV News regarding his Animal Ambition album and its lead single: "Overall, the project is about prosperity. The first joint I put out was 'Hold On,' and it's about the envy or jealousy connected to doing too well in front of people in the environment I grew up in."

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