50 Cent released the album Guess Who’s Back April 26, 2002

50 Cent was on the cusp of blowing up back in 2002. You can really hear a lot of what was put into Get Rich and Die Tryin in this mixtape. 50 Cent Guess Who's back was recorded in Canada after 50 Cent was "blacklisted" in the recording industry and was unable to find a studio to work with in the U.S. As of May 2004, the album has sold over 400,000 copies in the United States, however international sales are probably higher.

I was unaware that 50 Cent was banned from recording in the USA. It is rumored that the song and the following music industry blacklisting of 50 Cent by Kenneth "Supreme" McGriff and his associates, led to the murder of Run DMC's Jam Master Jay. It is thought by some that Jay ignored the blacklisting by taking the young 50 Cent under his wing and introducing him to the music industry. According to an affidavit by IRS agent Francis Mace, law enforcement officials believed that the shooting of 50 Cent in 2000 was in retaliation for the lyrics of the song which detailed the history of Supreme Team, McGriff's gang.

Ghetto Qur'an served as a basis for 50 Cent's rivals (mainly Ja Rule, Irv Gotti and the Murder Inc. music group, with whom he was feuding at the time) labeling him a snitch. 50 Cent mentioned in an AllHipHop.com interview that everybody mentioned in the song appreciated it and McGriff even told him that he loved the song. He also talked about how Nas' record "Get Down" from the album God's Son similarly mentions names, but few people consider anything wrong with it.

The song was later added onto his 2002 mixtape Guess Who's Back?, titled as '"Ghetto Qua ran".

After releasing the mixtape, 50 Cent was discovered by rapper Eminem, who listened to a copy of the mixtape through 50 Cent's attorney, who was working with Eminem's manager, Paul Rosenberg, and 50 cent was signed to Interscope Records and Get Rich or Die Trying became one of the highest selling international albums in hip hop.