50 Cent Biography:In many ways
the ideal East Coast hardcore
rapper, 50 Cent endured
substantial obstacles
throughout his young yet
remarkably dramatic life
before becoming in early 2003
the most discussed figure in
rap, if not pop music in
general. Following an
unsuccessful late-'90s run at
mainstream success (foiled by
a
more

50 Cent Biography:In many ways
the ideal East Coast hardcore
rapper, 50 Cent endured
substantial obstacles
throughout his young yet
remarkably dramatic life
before becoming in early 2003
the most discussed figure in
rap, if not pop music in
general. Following an
unsuccessful late-'90s run at
mainstream success (foiled by
an attempt on his life in
2000) and a successful run on
the New York mixtape circuit
(driven by his early-2000s
bout with Ja Rule), Eminem
signed 50 to a seven-figure
contract in 2002 and helmed
his quick rise toward
crossover success in 2003. The
product of a broken home in
the rough Jamaica neighborhood
of Queens and, in turn, the
storied hood's hustling
streets themselves, 50 lived
everything most rappers write
rhymes about but not all
actually experience: drugs,
crimes, imprisonments,
stabbings, and most infamously
of all, shootings -- all of
this before he even released
his debut album. Of course,
such experiences became 50's
rhetorical stock-in-trade. He
reveled in his oft-told past,
he called out wannabe
gangstas, and he made
headlines. He even looked like
the ideal East Coast hardcore
rapper: big-framed with
oft-showcased biceps, abs, and
tattoos as well as his
trademark bulletproof vest,
pistol, and iced crucifix. But
all-importantly, 50 may have
fit the mold of a prototypical
hardcore rapper, but man, he
sure could craft a catchy
hook! As a result, his music
crossed over to numerous key
markets, appealing to both
those who liked his roughneck
posturing and rags-to-riches
story as well as those who
liked his knack for churning
out naughty singalong club
tracks. And too, 50 didn't
forget about his posse. He
helped his G-Unit crew grow
into a successful franchise,
spawning platinum-selling solo
albums for his group members,
lucrative licensing deals for
the brand name, and sell-out
arena tours to promote the
franchise internationally.
Born Curtis Jackson and raised
in Southside Jamaica, Queens,
50 grew up in a broken home.
His hustler mother passed away
when he was only eight, and
his father departed soon
after, leaving his grandmother
to parent him. As a teen, he
followed the lead of his
mother and began hustling. The
crack trade proved lucrative
for 50, until he eventually
encountered the law, that is,
and began making visits to
prison. It's around this point
in the mid-'90s that he turned
toward rap and away from
crime. His break came in 1996
when he met Run-D.M.C.'s Jam
Master Jay, who gave him a
tape of beats and asked him to
rap over it. Impressed by what
he heard, Jay signed the
aspiring rapper to his JMJ
Records label. Not much
resulted from the deal,
though, and 50 affiliated
himself with Trackmasters, a
commercially successful New
York-based production duo
(comprised of Poke and Tone)
known for their work with such
artists as Nas and Jay-Z.
Trackmasters signed the rapper
to their Columbia sublabel and
began work on his debut album,
Power of the Dollar. A trio of
singles preceded the album's
proposed release: 'Your Life's
on the Line,' 'Thug Love'
(featuring Destiny's Child),
and 'How to Rob.' The latter
track became a sizable hit,
attracting a lot of attention
for its baiting lyrics that
detail how 50 would rob
particular big-name rappers.
This willingness to rap openly
and brashly and the attention
it attracted came back to
haunt him, however. His first
post-success brush with death
came shortly after the release
of 'How to Rob,' when he was
stabbed at the Hit Factory
studio on West 54th Street in
Manhattan. Shortly afterward
came his most storied
incident. On May 24, 2000,
just before Columbia was set
to release Power of the
Dollar, an assassin attempted
to take 50's life on 161st
Street in Jamaica, Queens
(near where Jam Master Jay
would later be fatally shot
two and half years later),
shooting him nine times with a
9mm pistol while the rapper
sat helpless in the passenger
seat of a car. One shot
pierced his cheek, another his
hand, and the seven others his
legs and thighs, yet he
survived, barely. Even so,
Columbia wanted nothing to do
with 50 when they heard the
news, shelving Power of the
Dollar and parting ways with
the now-controversial rapper.
During the next two years, 50
returned to the rap
underground where he began. He
formed a collective (G-Unit,
which also featured Lloyd
Banks and Tony Yayo), worked
closely with producer Sha
Money XL (who had also been
signed to JMJ around the same
time that 50 had), and began
churning out mixtape tracks
(many of which were later
compiled on Guess Who's Back?
in 2002). These mixtape
recordings (many of which were
hosted by DJ Whoo Kid on CDs
such as No Mercy, No Fear and
Automatic Gunfire), earned the
rapper an esteemed reputation
on the streets of New York.
Some of them featured 50 and
his G-Unit companions rapping
over popular beats, others
mocked popular rappers (namely
Ja Rule, who quickly became an
arch-rival), and a few
discussed his shooting. This
constant mixtape presence
throughout 2000-2002 garnered
industry attention as well as
street esteem, particularly
when Eminem declared on a
radio show his admiration for
50. A bidding war ensued, as
Em had to fend off numerous
other industry figures, all of
whom hoped to sign 50, driving
up the signing price into the
million-plus figures in the
process and slowly moving the
rapper into the up-and-coming
spotlight once again as word
spread. Despite the bidding
war, Eminem indeed got his
man, signing 50 to a joint
deal with Shady/Aftermath --
the former label Em's, the
latter Dr. Dre's. During the
successive months, 50 worked
closely with Em and Dre, who
would co-executive produce his
upcoming debut, Get Rich or
Die Tryin', each of them
producing a few tracks for the
highly awaited album. Before
Get Rich dropped, though, Em
debuted 50 on the 8 Mile
soundtrack. The previously
released (via the underground,
that is) 'Wanksta' became a
runaway hit in late 2002,
setting the stage for 'In da
Club,' the Dre-produced lead
single from Get Rich. The two
singles became sizable
crossover hits -- the former
peaking at number 13 on
Billboard's Hot 100 chart, the
latter at number one -- and
Interscope (Shady/Aftermath's
parent company) had to move up
Get Rich's release date to
combat bootlegging as a
result. Amid all this, 50 made
headlines everywhere. Most
notably, he was tied to Jam
Master Jay's shooting in
October 2002, the F.B.I.'s
investigation of Murder Inc's
relationship to former drug
dealer Kenneth 'Supreme'
McGriff, and the shooting
incident at the offices of
Violator Management.
Furthermore, he made more
headlines when he was jailed
on New Year's Eve 2002 for gun
possession. The media relished
his life story, particularly
his storied brush with death
-- and not just the expected
media outlets like MTV -- even
such unlikely mainstream
publications as The New York
Times ran feature stories
('Amid Much Anticipation, a
Rapper Makes a Debut'). By the
time Get Rich finally streeted
on February 6, 2003, he had
become the most discussed
figure in the music industry,
and bootlegged or not, his
initial sales figures
reflected this (a
record-breaking 872,000 units
moved in five days, the
best-selling debut album since
SoundScan started its tracking
system in May 1991), as did
his omnipresence in the media.
The G-Unit debut, Beg for
Mercy, hit the shelves in late
2003 and soon went platinum. A
new mixtape series with DJ
Whookid also kicked off around
this time. Titled G-Unit
Radio, the series would
introduce new tracks by the
crew along with cuts from
Lloyd Banks and Young Buck,
who would both release albums
in the coming years with 50 as
executive producer. Rapper the
Game would become a member of
G-Unit in 2004, but by the
time his solo album came out
in early 2005, things had gone
sour with 50. On February 28
as their collaboration 'How We
Do' was climbing the charts,
50 announced the Game was out
of G-Unit on New York's Hot 97
radio station. After the
revelation, members of 50's
entourage clashed with members
of the Game's outside the
radio station. Shots rang out
and one of the Game's crew
took a bullet in the leg. As
this was all taking place,
leaked copies of Get Rich's
follow-up were flying across
the Internet, forcing
Interscope to push the album's
release up by five days. The
Massacre was to officially hit
the shelves on March 3, but
street-date violations were
reported on March 1. By the
next day, everyone from the
mom-and-pops to the major
chains was selling the album
at a furious pace.
Unsurprisingly, it sold
extremely well, rode the top
of the album chart for a
while, spawned numerous hits,
and kept the 50 Cent train
a-rollin' mighty fine amid all
the requisite controversy and
plentiful paper-stacking.
Later in the year, the video
game 50 Cent: Bulletproof
appeared and in November the
rapper starred in the
semi-autobiographical film Get
Rich or Die Tryin'. The
soundtrack for the film
featured 50 and also
introduced the first
G-Unit-produced tracks from
the veteran duo Mobb Deep.

Category Music

Tags 50, CENT