Many Men was originally a Nas joint
During an interview with
Mass Appeal reflecting on
The Lost Tapes, former A&R Lenny "Linen" Nicholson shared the fun fact about the Darrell "Digga" Branch instrumental.
“50 [Cent’s] song ‘Many Men’ was a Nas track first—he actually vocalled it," says Nicholson. "He was developing another artist named Nashawn… he had to massively impress Nas. If Nas started something, he would add his vocal to it and see if Nas would be impressed enough to keep it. [Nas] didn’t finish that track… that was a track that he just fell out of love with."
Nicholson, with permission from Nas, then gave the beat to Fif, a move that was pretty organic considering both artists were on Columbia Records' roster at the time.
"At that time 50 was looking for something just to stay busy and to keep writing," Nicholson adds. "I gave it to 50, and it turned into ‘Many Men.’"