The Game is reflecting on one of hip hop’s most notorious rivalries and says he once believed it would end with fatal consequences. In a recent interview with VIBE Magazine, the Los Angeles rapper spoke candidly with Datwon Thomas about the intensity of his conflict with 50 Cent during the mid 2000s.

“At the height of it, I was prepared to die in that beef,” he said. “I was almost 100 percent sure that me and 50 was going to die in that. I for sure thought it. I just knew it…”

Game explained that the dynamic mirrored an earlier era of rap history, drawing parallels to the East Coast West Coast tensions of the 1990s. At the time, he viewed himself as the dominant rapper on the West Coast while 50 Cent held that position in the East. “Were both young, in our 20s, and I just thought that we wouldn’t make it out of that.”

Before the fallout, Game had maintained relationships with members of G-Unit, but tensions escalated as his debut album The Documentary approached release. Issues reportedly intensified amid 50 Cent’s ongoing feud with Fat Joe, with Game feeling he was penalized for not fully aligning himself. He was soon pushed out of the group.

“The thing about it is, I didn’t give a fuck, because I hated that n*gga so much for trying to play me,” Game said.

Recalling the extremes of that period, he described confrontational actions and escalating hostility. “And again, Biggie and Pac, this sh*t is real. It’s real. I know 50. He ain’t playing, he’s for real. I was ready to literally go all the way out… I was serious, man.”

The rivalry included a shooting at the HOT 97 studio that left someone from Game’s camp wounded. While the two artists eventually held a press conference to cool tensions, the conflict lingered until 2016. Looking back, Game said, “Game and 50 made it out, but n*ggas died. Like, people died in that beef. It was that serious. And I thought it would be me or him.”