50 Cent says Steve Stoute is close to getting his "a-- whopped" for speaking ill of him to the media last month. 

"Nobody cares about these people until I respond," he told Complex. "But didn't you hear Steve Stoute say something about me on the radio? That's why I approached him at the basketball game."

The rift with Stoute is one of many that the 38-year-old Queens MC has been involved in throughout his career, usually amounting to no more than exchanges of words or diss lyrics. This time, however, things might turn physical, he said. "He's getting into shallow waters," warned the G-Unit head. "Like he's getting closer to actually getting his a-- whooped. You feel what I'm saying to you? Once you start saying things and then I actually feel like I have to come at you … whose fault is it later?" 

Next, Fif turns his ire towards journalists, accusing the media of instigating beefs. "If the journalist pushes and pulls … and forces the artist into saying things ... it sets him up," he explained. "Because it provides the opportunity for him to go down that actual lane, and some of them [artists] are not smart enough not to."

All these years of reacting has earned him a title that he doesn't "understand," he admitted. "They call me the 'bully.' I'm responding to them, to something that he said," noted 50. "Do we say, 'Good for him,' if I smack fire out of him in front of everybody at Madison Square Garden.… Does anyone say, 'Good for him?' Or do they go, 'Oh man, why 50 do that? He bullied him.' … I don't understand how you're the bully for responding to someone else attacking you."

50 also addressed the Stoute drama during an MTV News interview earlier this week, and has yet to get a response from the Tanning of America author.

BET.com is your #1 source for Black celebrity news, photos, exclusive videos and all the latest in the world of hip hop and R&B music.

Click here to subscribe to our newsletter.

(Photos from left: Ben Gabbe/Getty Images,Larry Busacca/Getty Images for VH1)