Three decades after Tupac’s death, a summer movie announcement just delivered what hip-hop fans never thought was possible: Eminem and 2Pac on the same official record. And it’s real.
50 Cent made the shock reveal on Friday morning (July 24) while promoting his new STARZ series Fightland on NBC’s Today Show. Casually between plugs for the series—which drops July 31—50 explained that he’s got a new track for the Street Fighter movie soundtrack featuring both Eminem and unreleased vault vocals from Tupac. The song is built on real, previously unreleased recordings from Pac, not AI, and the move has the full blessing of the Shakur estate.
“We worked on it, and got it right,” 50 told the hosts. “Pac’s family and estate loved it.” He added the track “will be coming out shortly,” presumably before the film hits theaters on October 16, 2026.
Let that sink in: Eminem and 2Pac have never appeared on the same commercial release before. Ever. Pac was murdered in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas in September 1996—five years before Eminem became the dominant force in rap. The two never got a chance to share a studio session while Pac was alive. Eminem did produce posthumous Pac records starting in 2003 (“Runnin’ (Dying to Live)” and heavy production on the 2004 album “Loyal to the Game”), but this is different. This is Eminem and 50 Cent and Pac’s voice unified on a single track—a pairing that rewrites hip-hop history.
The G-Unit connection runs deep here. 50 signed to Eminem’s Shady Records in 2002 and has been in Eminem’s orbit for over two decades. Their relationship has spawned classic records and a business partnership that defines modern hip-hop. But getting Eminem on deck for a Street Fighter movie theme? That was the upgrade nobody saw coming. 50 had originally signaled in December that he was trying to lock Eminem for the film’s soundtrack, but the addition of 2Pac transforms this from a solid collab into a genuine cultural event.
The Street Fighter movie itself is a star-studded affair: Noah Centineo as Ken Masters, Jason Momoa as Blanka, Roman Reigns as Akuma, Cody Rhodes as Guile, and 50 Cent playing Balrog, the disgraced heavyweight boxer and security muscle for the film’s villain. The film is set in 1993 and directed by Kitao Sakurai—it arrives October 16. 50 is reportedly doing his own stunts for the role, which tracks with his hands-on approach to every project he touches.
But the music announcement is the real flex. In an industry wrestling with AI-generated posthumous releases and the ethics of bringing dead artists’ voices back, this one came with estate approval and real vault recordings. It’s a masterclass in how to honor legacy while creating something unprecedented. Tupac’s mother, Afeni Shakur, already blessed Eminem’s work on her son’s music years ago, telling Rolling Stone she was “glad” she took a chance on him. That institutional trust matters—especially now.
What makes this moment historically significant is the rarity of it. Movie soundtracks often become cultural touchstones (think 8 Mile, think Black Panther), but this one just cracked open a door that seemed permanently locked. Three names that defined different eras of hip-hop—2Pac in the ’90s West Coast reign, Eminem through the 2000s-2010s supremacy, and 50 Cent as the bridge between streets and stardom—colliding on a Capcom video game movie soundtrack.
The hip-hop community’s reaction has been instant. Social media blew up the moment 50 dropped the news. Fans who grew up debating whether Em and Pac would’ve been legendary together if fate had lined up differently now have the closest thing to an answer.
The 16BARS take: 50 Cent just gave us the collab we’ll never get from 2009—a real Eminem and 2Pac moment, with the estate’s blessing and no AI shortcuts. October 16 can’t come fast enough.
