How To Rob

50 recorded this with The Trackmasters, a group of hip-hop producers affiliated with Columbia Records. 50 Cent signed a deal with Columbia in 1999, but they never released his album. Instead, 50 released it himself as a bootleg single, where it was widely circulated. He wrote the song because he wasn't making any money from his deal with Trackmasters and he was sitting back looking at the people who had money, saying, "I wish I could have that chain." Then he realized, "I could have that chain, if he ever comes into the 'hood and he ain't paying attention."

"How To Rob" was included on Power of the Dollar, an as-yet-unreleased album that should have been 50 Cent's debut for Columbia Records. Instead it was not released and 50 was dropped from the label, supposedly because high bootlegging was going to eat into record sales. As the song circulated among the New York mix-tape underground the subsequent buzz led to Eminem's offer to sign 50 to the Shady/Aftermath label. Eminem said at the time that 50 was his favorite rapper.

The song outlines how 50 would go about robbing a variety of famous artists like Jay-Z, Master P, Kirk Franklin, Blackstreet, Brian McKnight, and any other hip-hop/R&B artist you can think of. He intended it as a joke, but many other rappers took it seriously and started dissing 50, which had the effect of making him more popular.