Rapper 50 Cent has put his money behind a new documentary about slain Run-DMC DJ Jam Master Jay as a tribute to the man who mentored him to become a hip-hop heavyweight.
The 'In Da Club' hitmaker insists he would never have made it to rap superstar status if it wasn't for the DJ, real name Jason Mizell, so when he heard the hip-hop pioneer's nephew was struggling to fund a film about him - called Two Turntables & A Microphone - he stepped in to help.
50 says, "He's one of my mentors... I thought it was the least I could do.
"He helped me develop my song structure. At that point, when I came in, I didn't know how to count bars, so he would make me write the chorus several times before we started the record. He said, 'You know how to rap, that's the easy part for you.'
"It's the thing that separates me from the other artists... I had to have his approval before I could finish the rest of the songs (on my first album)."
WENN.com