Tony Yayo used Rick Ross’ “Set In Stone” sales to revive a rap feud that reaches back to 2009, when G-Unit and Ross were trading diss records and personal attacks.
“Ross, you need some help. You need the Drake stimulus package. That wasn’t there for you. Beefing with 50, that wasn’t good for you. It’s just nothing been good for you, man,” Tony Yayo said. “Find a new career, man.”The blunt assessment came during a recent episode of “The Real Report” with Tony Yayo and Uncle Murda, where Yayo turned Rick Ross’s latest album performance into another opportunity to take aim at a rival whose history with G-Unit stretches across nearly two decades. Yayo did not simply criticize the music. He connected Ross’ current numbers to his past battles with 50 Cent and his fractured relationship with Drake, arguing that both conflicts have worked against him.
The sales gave Tony Yayo something concrete to point toward. “Set In Stone” earned roughly 17,000 album equivalent units during its opening week and landed at No. 46. Ross released the 19 song project on July 17 through Maybach Music Group and Gamma. Tory Lanez released “Made You Think I Was Gone…But” during the same release cycle, and Ratings Game Music reported approximately 19,700 first week units and a No. 35 debut. That comparison became the centerpiece of Yayo’s criticism.
But Tony Yayo going after Rick Ross is much bigger than one week of album sales. The tension traces directly to Ross’s long running war with 50 Cent. According to a 2009 XXL interview with Rick Ross, the feud became public after Ross released “Mafia Music” in January of that year and included lines targeting 50 through a reference to Shaniqua Tompkins, the mother of 50’s oldest son. 50 responded with “Try Me,” beginning a rapid series of diss records, interviews and online attacks between both camps.
Yayo quickly became part of the conflict himself. In February 2009, Ross pulled Tony Yayo directly into his shots at 50. Ross mocked Yayo while criticizing 50’s fashion and finances, making it clear that his issue was no longer limited to one member of G-Unit. The insult placed Yayo squarely inside a feud that had already become intensely personal, and he soon answered Ross through music.
On February 26, 2009, Tony Yayo released “Somebody Snitched,” a Rick Ross diss produced by J. Staffz. Ross continued firing records at 50 while G-Unit answered with attacks of its own, turning what began as a conflict between two rappers into a wider fight between Ross and 50’s circle.
The 2009 feud eventually went far beyond diss songs. 50 responded to Ross with “Officer Ricky” and continued attacking the Miami rapper through online videos and personal material. The legal fallout from 50 publishing a sex tape involving Lastonia Leviston, the mother of one of Ross’s children, and noted that the years long conflict included both internet attacks and clashes between their camps.
The rivalry remained alive years later. Members of G-Unit and Gunplay, who was signed to Ross’s Maybach Music Group, were involved in an altercation surrounding the 2012 BET Hip-Hop Awards. In 2015, 50 and Ross had reignited their feud through social media, showing that neither side had fully left the 2009 battle behind.
Tony Yayo was still discussing the origins of that conflict more than 15 years later. During a 2025 appearance on “Club Shay Shay,” Yayo said the tension between 50 and Ross stemmed from an encounter where Ross felt 50 failed to acknowledge him. Whatever each side believes started the battle, Yayo’s continued willingness to discuss it showed that Ross remained part of G-Unit history long after the original diss tracks stopped arriving.
That history moved back to the front in 2026. In May, Tony Yayo and Uncle Murda responded after Ross took fresh shots at 50 Cent and members of his circle. During that exchange, Yayo said Ross’ jokes were getting old, while the conversation also touched on Ross’s renewed issues with Drake. The latest comments about “Set In Stone” are therefore not a new dispute sparked by disappointing numbers. They are another chapter in a rivalry Yayo has participated in since the first year of the 50 Cent and Rick Ross war.
Ross’s commercial performance gives Tony Yayo a new argument, but it does not erase the career Ross built after the original G-Unit battle. “Set In Stone” is Ross’ 12th album and his 2006 debut, “Port of Miami,” opened at No. 1 on the Billboard album chart. Nearly 20 years later, Yayo is now using a No. 46 debut to question whether that run has reached its end.
Whether listeners agree with him or not, his latest attack lands differently when viewed as part of a feud he has been fighting since 2009 rather than commentary on one album’s first week.
