50 Cent's Late Mom Takes Center Stage in Brutal Diss Track, but How Did She Die?

For Curtis Jackson, known to the world as 50 Cent, it may feel like no time at all has passed since his mother died. Sabrina Jackson, who was a teen mom when she welcomed Curtis, died back in 1983.

Curtis has spoken often about his mom, his respect for her, and the way her death impacted his life.

Curtis was just 8 years old when she died tragically, changing the course of his life forever and forcing him to grow up being raised by his grandparents.

But how did she die? Here's what we know about the mysterious death of Sabrina Jackson, and why fans are so rabid about explaining what they believe happened.

Being raised by a single mom is an experience that 50 believes was instrumental to him becoming who he is. In an interview with Page Six, he said, “She was my mom and my dad, and she was tough so I didn’t know when it was OK to be emotional and when it wasn’t. She would look at me on the floor [when I was upset] and say, ‘Get up — what you over there crying for acting like a little girl?’"

He recounted how his mom put toys in socks to make makeshift weapons so he could defend himself from bullies, explaining, "I got bumped around a lot in the park, but I was more afraid of my mom than the people I got bumped around [by] because I could not escape her. She being a single mom at that point — she was everything."

Fans have long speculated that Sabrina, who was just 23 at the time of her death, was into the drug scene and that her involvement with dangerous people led to her death.

According to Bleu Mag, some speculate that Sabrina was drugged or incapacitated, but ultimately, all we know is that she died in a fire. Curtis himself told Contact Magazine, "Someone put something in her drink and turned the gas on. After that, every time something went wrong, I think, 'If my mother was here, it wouldn’t be like that.'”

The mystery around her death has endured, with diehard fans often spreading conspiracy theories about why the fire started or whether someone drugged her before setting the residence on fire.

Unfortunately for 50, other rappers don't hold his mother with the same reverence he does. This fact became glaring in February and March 2026 as rapper T.I., whose real name is Clifford Joseph Harris Jr., got into an online feud with 50.

50 shared a photo on Instagram of Clifford's wife, Tiny Harris, and captioned it, "I keep saying keep my name out ya mouth, OK?"

This prompted Clifford and Tiny's son, King Harris, to go on an expletive-laden rant against 50's mom, saying, "B---h a-- [n-word], wanna say something about my mama, your mama dead as f--k, [n-word]. Your mama dead as f--k, go dig her up. Go dig her up. F--k. Post a picture of your mothef--king mama [n-word], she dead, [n-word]. Pay respect, [n-word]. Stop f--king playing with my mama [n-word]. [N-word] ain't playing like that, [n-word] ain't going like that [n-word]. How y'all b---h a-- [n-word] raised, I'm not raised like that. I don't go, I'm not going about my mama [n-word]."

And the smackdown didn't stop there. T.I.'s son, Domani, released a diss track titled "Ms. Jackson," and he slammed 50's mom in the song.

Over an Outkast sampling of their song "Ms. Jackson," Domani rapped, "Ms. Jackson, am I overreacting or is it valid? / I wanna have a one-on-one convo about the man / You sacrificed your life for so the world could see his talent / He's a legend now, I guess it worked out, but I need some answers / Are you happy with the way he been holding your family name? / I need to know 'cause I can’t sleep at night, thinking you died in vain."

He added later, "I offered him a chance to reunite with you, and I'll do it / Nothing left to do, so I'll just send him to you, Ms. Jackson."

The song, clearly showing that the Harris family isn't backing down, earned stunned reactions from fans online after they went after the woman who's been dead for over 40 years.