50 Cent has more than “Just a Lil Bit” of drama with his estranged son Marquise Jackson, but a source close to the situation tells PEOPLE that the rapper isn’t the only one at fault for their rocky relationship.
The pair’s ongoing feud was brought back into the spotlight recently after the rapper, 43, posted a comment last Thursday saying he “wouldn’t have a bad day” if his son got hit by a bus on an Instagram photo of Marquise, 21, hanging out with the son of Fiddy’s longtime rival, Kenneth “Supreme” McGriff.
Criminal investigators previously alleged McGriff was involved in a plot to 𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁 50 Cent which culminated in the rapper’s May 2000 shooting, a search warrant unsealed in 2005 revealed, according to CBS News. McGriff is currently serving a life sentence on unrelated charges.
“[Marquise] does this kind of stuff to get a rise out of him,” the source tells PEOPLE. “Any time 50 is having a problem with anyone on social media, his son will seek out that person and then make it a point to post it.”
A rep for Marquise didn’t immediately return PEOPLE’s request for comment.
The photo was first posted on Instagram by McGriff’s son, Kyle, but was later reshared by a fan account, where 50 Cent (real name: Curtis Jackson) made the controversial comment about Marquise and his rival’s son: “if both these little n— got hit by a bus, I wouldn’t have a bad day,” he wrote.
“People started commenting on the photo, tagging 50 and saying it was disrespectful,” the source explains of 50’s response.
On Friday, 50 Cent elaborated on the situation with his son by writing in a tweet, “I have zero ill will towards anyone living on this Earth. The people Shanquois [sic] son looks up to and associates with is a reflection of the negative energy he embraces towards me. I paid his mother $1,360,000 in support to afford him opportunities I never had.”
Though the source says 50 Cent supported Marquise until he became turned 18, he has been “estranged from his son for many years.” This is due, in part, to his reportedly nasty split from Marquise’s mother, Shaniqua Tompkins.
The couple dated for several years in the ’90s and welcomed Marquise together in 1997. The couple had an extended custody battle over the child and didn’t reach an official arrangement until October 2008.
During the custody fight, the rapper admitted in an interview with MTV.com that having limited contact with Marquise, who was 11 at the time, was “the toughest, because he’s my motivation.”
He added: “My relationship with my son is changing because he and his mom aren’t friends anymore. There’s different channels I have to go through. He has lawyers appointed to him through the court. So I have to talk to his lawyer to get things situated for me to actually get him.”
Most recently, 50 Cent and Tompkins have been feuding over the comment he made about how he “wouldn’t have a bad day” if his son got hit by a bus. She posted to her Instagram Story the text, “A n— with money don’t mean s— Ronald McDonald rich as f— ….. but he still a clown,” as reported by Hot New Hip Hop.
Soon after, 50 Cent allegedly screengrabbed the message and posted it in a since-deleted Instagram with the caption: “Alexa play bitter old bitch by lil 𝚋𝚊𝚋𝚢 ?]]>🐸
