After became the hottest rapper in the game in 2003, 50 Cent returned in 2005 arguably bigger and more omnipresent than ever -- but after two years where it felt like he couldn't miss, 50's strike rate was finally starting to slip a little. On this Vintage Pop Stardom episode of the Greatest Pop Stars podcast, host Andrew Unterberger is joined by Billboard Hip-Hop's Carl Lamarre and Michael Saponara to continue celebrating our 2005 Week -- with 2005-themed content all this week (Apr. 14-18) on Billboard.com -- with a look at the year when 50 Cent still ruled all of hip-hop and pop, but where his fall from superstardom was now on the horizon.

Find all of Billboard's 2005 Week stuff here:

https://www.billboard.com/t/2005-week/

And if you enjoy the pod, please consider donating to the following causes:

Transgender Law Center

https://transgenderlawcenter.org/

Trans Lifeline

https://translifeline.org/

Gender-Affirming Care Fundraising on GoFundMe

https://www.gofundme.com/c/gender-confirmation-surgery-fundraising

Also, please consider subscribing to the trans legislation journalism of Erin Reed and

giving your local congresspeople a call in support of trans rights, with contact information you can find on 5Calls.org.

https://www.erininthemorning.com/

https://5calls.org/

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices