50 Cent is revisiting a deeply personal part of his upbringing: growing up around his late mother, Sabrina Jackson, who was a lesbian, and later deciding to make that family history part of his music. The rapper and G-Unit figure spoke about the subject in a recent wide-ranging interview, framing it not as a revelation or a source of shame, but as an ordinary fact of the world he knew as a child.
His explanation begins with a child’s perspective. He recalled seeing women around his mother and understanding them simply as her friends. It was his grandmother who eventually explained that those relationships meant more. That clarification, he said, did not make him uncomfortable. “I’m not ashamed of that in any way,” he said, adding that it was simply what he grew up around.
The remarks also provide fuller context for a line in “Hate It or Love It,” The Game’s 2005 hit featuring 50 Cent. His verse is often remembered for its compressed account of hardship, ambition, loss and survival. The reference to his mother’s sexuality was therefore not an isolated detail dropped in for effect; it was part of a larger autobiographical approach. In discussing it now, 50 Cent said he chose openness because other people may recognize the experience while feeling unable to say so publicly.
A personal detail placed inside a larger life story
Sabrina Jackson gave birth to 50 Cent when she was 15. She died when he was eight, and, with his father absent from his life, he was raised by his grandmother. He has said that as a child he had difficulty processing his mother’s death and initially believed she would eventually return home.
That context matters when considering what “vulnerability” means in this case. It is not only a reference to discussing a parent’s sexual identity. The song’s family details sit beside grief, childhood uncertainty and the experience of growing up without either parent present in the conventional sense. A lyric can carry several emotional threads at once, and 50 Cent’s comments point to why that particular passage has endured: it presents a difficult past without treating his mother’s sexuality as the difficult part.
His point was that many listeners may have comparable family experiences but worry that disclosure will change the way others see them. He said he did not share that concern, and viewed the decision to be candid as making the work more powerful for people who could identify with it.
That is an important distinction. “Vulnerability” is often used loosely as a catch-all for revealing something private. Here, it describes an artist putting a real family memory into a major commercial rap record, even though the memory could invite judgment or misunderstanding from listeners. His current comments make clear that he saw the risk as worthwhile because recognition can matter more than maintaining distance.
The Jay-Z connection, and an important difference
The conversation also raised a parallel between 50 Cent and Jay-Z. Jay-Z’s mother, Gloria Carter, publicly addressed her sexuality through “Smile,” a track from his 2017 album 4:44. The two artists have not discussed their mothers’ experiences with one another, 50 Cent said, but he recognized the shared connection.
Related coverage includes 50 Cent Revisits His Mother’s Legacy and a Shared Link With Jay-Z.
There is, however, a key difference in the circumstances described by each artist. 50 Cent has presented the matter as something he was never ashamed to include in his own story. Jay-Z has previously explained that Gloria Carter was initially hesitant about her personal life being made public through “Smile.” Carter later contributed a spoken-word poem to the track herself.
That contribution changes the shape of the record. A spoken-word passage is a performance of written or recited language rather than a conventionally sung vocal. In this case, it meant Carter’s perspective was part of the song rather than existing solely as a detail delivered by her son. Her eventual participation does not erase her earlier hesitation; instead, it underscores that public storytelling about family can involve consent, timing and control over one’s own voice.
50 Cent alluded to the contrast by saying the two men reacted differently to a similar reality. His phrasing was characteristically blunt, but the underlying point is more nuanced than a simple disagreement. The two stories show that relatives’ identities can enter an artist’s work in different ways: as a memory someone feels able to describe directly, or as a private truth that requires greater care before becoming public art.
Why the comparison should not flatten either family’s story
It would be easy to reduce the comparison to the fact that both rappers had lesbian mothers. But the available details suggest two separate family histories, told at different times and through different artistic choices. 50 Cent was eight when his mother died, and the material in his music reflects childhood memories and the lingering work of understanding loss. Jay-Z’s “Smile” involved Gloria Carter’s own eventual spoken contribution after initial reservations.
That difference is worth preserving. A family member’s sexuality is personal information, and the decision to discuss it publicly can belong to more than one person. In 50 Cent’s account, he is explaining his own upbringing and his own decision to use autobiographical writing. In the account of “Smile,” Carter’s participation is central because she ultimately spoke for herself on the finished recording.
Both examples nevertheless show how hip-hop’s first-person storytelling can hold material that is more complicated than a biography bullet point. The songs are not merely about disclosure. They deal with mothers, sons, memory, silence, acceptance and the pressures attached to being known by a massive audience.
From private memory to public art
50 Cent has addressed his mother’s sexuality before. In a 2012 interview, he discussed his upbringing and voiced support for same-sex marriage, pointing to Barack Obama’s public support for marriage equality. His new remarks are therefore not a reversal or a newly discovered angle. They expand on a position he has repeatedly treated as straightforward: his mother’s sexuality was part of his life, and it did not diminish his connection to her.
What is newly emphasized is the creative reason for including that fact in “Hate It or Love It.” He did not view the line only as confessional writing. He viewed it as a potential point of recognition for listeners who may have lived through something similar but lack language, confidence or safety to discuss it. That is a practical reminder of what an autobiographical lyric can do: it can communicate specific experience without claiming that every family follows the same script.
Music technology continues to create new avenues for artists to build and manipulate sound—an area also relevant to developments around potential AI audio tools for Logic Pro or GarageBand—but the emotional force in records such as these is not a technical matter. It comes from decisions about what to say, whose perspective is represented and how much of a private life should become a public work.
For 50 Cent, the answer has long been unusually direct. He has described no embarrassment about his mother being a lesbian, and he has connected that openness to the power of a verse that remains one of his most personal. The connection to Jay-Z adds another layer, not because the two have spoken about it together—they have not—but because each artist’s catalog contains a meaningful, though distinctly shaped, account of a mother’s life.
