Songfacts®:

• "React" has a guest verse from 50 Cent, who was an underground rapper at the time. It was his first appearance on a song released on a major label.
  
  This was before he was famously shot nine times, but he had done jail time for selling drugs, which he mentions in his verse (he got out in 1995). He was mentored by Jam Master Jay of Run-DMC, who signed 50 to his label, JMJ. Jay had also mentored Onyx and helped them get signed to Def Jam, Run-DMC's label, so when he asked the group to put 50 on a track, they complied.
  
  50 later signed with Eminem and Dr. Dre's parent label, Interscope, and in 2002 appeared on the 8 Mile soundtrack. A year later, he released his debut album, Get Rich or Die Tryin'.
• "React" was the lead single from the roughneck rappers Onyx' third album, Shut 'Em Down. The song is filled with their trademark fury and firearm references. The refrain "throw your gats" harks back to their 1992 single "Throw Ya Gunz."
• 50 Cent didn't seem all that grateful to Onyx for putting him on this track. In his 1999 song "How To Rob," he includes Onyx rapper Sticky Fingaz in the long list of rappers and celebrities he talks about boosting:
  
  Tell Sticky give me the cash before I empty three
  
  Sticky hit back in his song "Jackin' For Beats '99" with the lines:
  
  The real 50 from Brooklyn, God bless, he got outed
  You just a fake clown that front and rap about it
  
  From then on, 50 and Onyx traded barbs from time to time.
• This samples "Mona Lisa," a 1988 track by Slick Rick.
• In addition to 50 Cent, three other rappers make guest spots on this track: X-1, Bonifucco, and Still Livin'.
• The three group members wrote this song with the track's producer, Bud'da, who also did production work for Dr. Dre and Aaliyah.
• The music video shows the group and the guest rappers playing hockey, taking on the team from Wagner College in Staten Island and pushing them around the ice. Fittingly, 50 Cent is in the penalty box for his verse.
  
  It was made by Director X, known for his work with Rihanna ("Work") and Drake ("Hotline Bling"). He's from Canada, which might explain the ice hockey theme.