S. Samuel
Days after rap star 50 Cent heated up the Internet by publicly calling out estranged group members Tony Yayo and Lloyd Banks, the "Talk of New York" is defending their brand.
Yayo hopped on Twitter Sunday (August 12) and addressed Fif’s comments.
“Who started Gunit me that’s who.,” he tweeted.
“Why would I blow shots at 50 the media want see Gunit fail so bad we won to much in front of n*ggas everybody running with our format.” (Tony Yayo’s Twitter)
A few days ago, Fif admitted investing too much time into steering Yayo and Banks’ careers.
“I actually haven’t spoke to ’em very much. I’m to fault for that, though. I think I disabled them,” Fif revealed in an interview when asked about the rappers. “I did so much for them that they don’t have a continuous work ethic. They got both of those tapes out there, but did you see any visuals? Anything? There’s certain things that the new guy is doing to create momentum or energy. They just sit there and wait. When someone works for you, you have the habit of dealing with things by not dealing with them. You may get in the regimen of coming over and doing it for them.” (XXL Mag)
He also offered his take on them recently putting out new mixtapes.
“Dropping mixtapes…that was my ’02 strategy. That’s 2002 marketing. That’s old. You did nothing if you did that. Look what I’ve done with The Lost Tape or The Big 10. There’s videos for everything that was on the tapes. If you’re going to just wing it and drop a mixtape…pick the highlights that people like most and shoot ’em. Go shoot the video.” (XXL Mag)
Back in May, the rap executive revealed he had not talked to Banks in nearly a year.
“He goes through these things where there’s no communication and he goes off and does what he wants, it’s set at that point because I’ve spent marketing dollars so he can go wherever he wants to go and actually go do shows, make money and do other things,” 50 told radio host Big Boy. “At that point, it’s fine for him to move around and go do it by himself. I want them to be individuals and operate on their own away from me, I’m fine with it. … We can get on the phone together, but I haven’t spoken to him. I haven’t spoken to Banks in nine months. But this is not the first time this has happened. He’s a baby. He’s the youngest in the actual G-Unit, he got really rich at 19. Both him and Tony [Yayo] have made over nine million dollars. With [Young] Buck, it was almost eight million dollars.” (Power 106)
