(born July 6, 1975),[1] better known by his stage name 50 Cent, is an American rapper. He rose to fame with the release of his albums Get Rich or Die Tryin' and The Massacre. 50 Cent achieved multi-platinum success with both albums, selling over twenty-one million records worldwide.[2]
Born in South Jamaica, Queens in New York, 50 Cent began drug dealing at the age of twelve during the 1980s' crack epidemic.[3] After leaving drug dealing to pursue a rap career, he was shot nine times in 2000. After releasing his mixtape Guess Who's Back? in 2002, 50 Cent was discovered by rapper Eminem and signed to Interscope Records. With the help of Eminem and Dr. Dre—who produced his first major commercial successes—he became one of the highest selling rap artists in the world. In 2003, he founded the record label G-Unit Records, which signed successful rappers such as Young Buck, Lloyd Banks, and Tony Yayo. 50 Cent has engaged in numerous feuds with other rappers including Ja Rule, The Game, and Fat Joe.
50 Cent has also pursued an acting career, appearing in the semi-autobiographical film Get Rich or Die Tryin' in 2005 and the Iraq War film Home of the Brave in 2006.
In 1996, a friend introduced him to Jam Master Jay of Run-DMC who was organizing his label Jam Master Jay Records. It was the first time he entered a studio. Jay taught him how to count bars, write choruses, structure songs, and make a record.[4][5] 50 Cent's first official appearance was on a song titled "React" with the group Onyx on their 1998 album Shut 'Em Down. He credited Jam Master Jay as an influence who helped him improve his ability to write hooks.[6] He produced 50 Cent's first album, however it was never released.[7] In 1999, after leaving Jam Master Jay, the platinum-selling producers Trackmasters took notice of 50 Cent and signed him to Columbia Records. They sent him to a studio in Upstate New York, where he produced thirty-six songs in two weeks.[8] Eighteen were included on his unofficially released album, Power of the Dollar in 2000.[9] He also started the now-defunct company with former G-Unit member Bang 'Em Smurf called Hollow Point Entertainment.[10][11]
50 Cent's popularity started to increase after the successful but controversial underground single, "How to Rob", which he wrote in half an hour while in a car on the way to a studio.[12][13] The track comically explains how he would rob many famous artists. He explained the reasoning behind song's content as, "There’s a hundred artists on that label, you gotta separate yourself from that group and make yourself relevant."[12] Rappers Jay-Z, Big Pun, DMX, and the Wu-Tang Clan replied to the song[13] and Nas, who received the track positively, invited 50 Cent to travel on a promotional tour for his Nastradamus album.[14] The song was intended to be released with "Thug Love" featuring Destiny's Child, but two days before he was scheduled to film the "Thug Love" music video, 50 Cent was shot and confined to a hospital due to his injuries.[15]
Contents[hide] |
Shooting
On May 24, 2000, 50 Cent was attacked by a gunman outside his grandmother's former home in South Jamaica, Queens. He went into a friend's car, but was asked to return to the house to get jewelry. His son was in the house while his grandmother was in the front yard.[8] On returning to the back seat of the car, another car pulled up nearby. An assailant then walked up to 50 Cent's left side with a 9mm handgun and fired nine shots at close range. He was shot nine times—in the hand (a round hit his right thumb and came out of his pinky), arm, hip, both legs, chest, and left cheek.[7][16][17] The face wound resulted in a swollen tongue, the loss of a wisdom tooth, and a small slur in his voice.[14][16][18] His friend also sustained a gunshot wound to the hand. They were driven to the hospital where he spent thirteen days in recovery. The alleged shooter, Darryl "Hommo" Baum, was killed three weeks later. His funeral was attended by close friend Mike Tyson shortly before his fight with Lou Savarese.[19][20]
50 Cent recalled the incident saying, "It happens so fast that you don't even get a chance to shoot back... I was scared the whole time... I was looking in the rear-view mirror like, 'Oh shit, somebody shot me in the face! It burns, burns, burns.'"[16] In his memoir, From Pieces to Weight: Once upon a Time in Southside Queens, he wrote, "After I got shot nine times at close range and didn't die, I started to think that I must have a purpose in life... How much more damage could that shell have done? Give me an inch in this direction or that one, and I'm gone."[1] He used a walker for the first six weeks and recovered after five months. When he left the hospital, he stayed in the Poconos with his then-girlfriend and son. His physical workout regimen helped him attain his muscular physique.[7][16][21]
While in the hospital, 50 Cent signed a publishing deal with Columbia Records. However, he was dropped from the label and "blacklisted" in the recording industry after it was discovered he was shot. Unable to find a studio to work with in the U.S, he traveled to Canada.[22][23] Along with his business partner Sha Money XL, he recorded over thirty songs for mixtapes, with the purpose of building a reputation. 50 Cent's popularity rose, and in early 2001, he released material independently on the mixtape, Guess Who's Back?. Beginning to attract interest, and now backed by G-Unit, 50 Cent continued to make songs. They released the mixtape, 50 Cent Is the Future, revisiting material by Jay-Z and Raphael Saadiq.[9]
Rise to fame
-
"Window Shopper". - Problems playing the files? See media help.
In 2002, Eminem listened to a copy of 50 Cent's Guess Who's Back? CD. He received the CD through 50 Cent's attorney, who was working with Eminem's manager Paul Rosenberg.[15] Impressed with the album, Eminem invited 50 Cent to fly to Los Angeles, where he was introduced to Dr. Dre.[7][4][15] After signing a one million U.S. dollar record deal,[4] 50 Cent released the mixtape, No Mercy, No Fear. It featured one new track, "Wanksta", which was put on Eminem's 8 Mile soundtrack.[9] He was also signed to Chris Lighty's Violator Management and Sha Money XL's Money Management Group.
On February 6, 2003, 50 Cent's commercial debut album, Get Rich or Die Tryin' was released. All Music Guide described it as "probably the most hyped debut album by a rap artist in about a decade."[24] Rolling Stone noted the album for its "dark synth grooves, buzzy keyboards and a persistently funky bounce" with 50 Cent complementing the production in "an unflappable, laid-back flow."[25] The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, selling 872,000 copies in the first four days.[26] The lead single, "In da Club", which The Source noted for its "blaring horns, funky organs, guitar riffs and sparse hand claps"[27] broke a Billboard record as the 'most listened-to' song in radio history within a week.[28]
Interscope then granted 50 Cent his own label, G-Unit Records in 2003.[29] He signed Lloyd Banks, Tony Yayo, and Young Buck as the established members of G-Unit. The Game was later signed under a joint venture with Dr. Dre's Aftermath Entertainment. On March 3, 2005, 50 Cent's second commercial album, The Massacre was released. The album sold 1.14 million copies in the first four days (the highest in an abbreviated sales cycle)[26] and peaked at number one on the Billboard 200 for six weeks.[30] He became the first solo artist to have three singles on the Billboard top five in the same week with "Candy Shop", "Disco Inferno", and "How We Do".[31] Rolling Stone noted that "50's secret weapon is his singing voice - the deceptively amateur-sounding tenor croon that he deploys on almost every chorus."[32]
After the departure of The Game, 50 Cent signed singer Olivia and rap veterans Mobb Deep to G-Unit Records. Spider Loc, M.O.P., and Young Hot Rod later joined the label.[33][34] 50 Cent expressed interest in working with rappers outside of G-Unit, such as Lil' Scrappy of BME, LL Cool J from Def Jam, Mase from Bad Boy, and Freeway of Roc-A-Fella, some of whom he recorded with.[35] In September 2007, he released his third album Curtis, which was inspired by his life before Get Rich or Die Tryin'.[36] It debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, selling 691,000 units in the first week.[37]
Personal life
On October 13, 1997, 50 Cent's then-girlfriend Shaniqua Tompkins gave birth to a son, Marquise Jackson.[3][38] The birth of his son changed his outlook on life, "when my son came into my life, my priorities changed, because I wanted to have the relationship with him, that I didn’t have with my father."[39] He credited his son for inspiring his career and being "motivation to go in a different direction."[40] 50 Cent has a tattoo of "Marquise" with an axe on his right bicep. "The axe is 'cause I'm a warrior. I don't want him to be one, though,"[23] he explains. He also has "50", "Southside", and "Cold World" inscribed on his back because "I'm a product of that environment. It's on my back, though, so it's all behind me."[23] 50 Cent dated actress Vivica A. Fox in 2003. After a few months, he announced their split up on the The Howard Stern Show when pictures from a photo shoot they did together ended up on the cover of Today's Black Woman magazine without his knowledge.[41][42]
50 Cent expressed support for President George W. Bush in 2005 after rapper Kanye West criticized him for the slow response in assisting the victims of Hurricane Katrina.[43] If his felony convictions did not prevent him from voting, he claimed that he would have voted for Bush.[44] He later stated that Bush "has less compassion than the average human. By all means, I don’t aspire to be like George Bush."[45] In 2007, 50 Cent was recognized for his wealth by Forbes, placing him second behind Jay-Z in the rap industry.[46] He resides in Farmington, Connecticut, in the former mansion of ex-boxer Mike Tyson.[47] He put the mansion for sale at US$18.5 million to move closer to his son who lives in Long Island with his ex-girlfriend.[48] On October 12, 2007, the Mayor of Bridgeport, Connecticut declared it "50 Cent Curtis Jackson Day." He was honored with a key to the city and an official proclamation.[49]
Business ventures
50 Cent has established himself in a wide variety of fields outside of his rapping career. In November 2003, he signed a five year deal with Reebok to distribute a G-Unit Sneakers line as part of his G-Unit Clothing Company[50][51]. He provided the voice-over as the protagonist in the video game 50 Cent: Bulletproof, which was released for PlayStation 2, Xbox, and the PlayStation Portable. He worked with glacéau to create and market a grape flavored Vitamin Water drink called Formula 50. In 2007, Coca-Cola purchased glaceau for US$4.1 billion. 50 Cent, who owns a stake in the company, was estimated by Forbes to have earned $100 million after taxes.[52] He also launched a condom line and plans to donate a part of the proceeds to HIV awareness.[53]
In 2005, 50 Cent made a cameo appearance on The Simpsons episode "Pranksta Rap", in which he makes light of his legal troubles. The same year, he starred alongside Terrence Howard in the semi-autobiographical film Get Rich or Die Tryin'. He also starred in the 2006 film Home of the Brave as a soldier returning home from the Iraq War, traumatized after killing an Iraqi woman.[54] 50 Cent is working on a role as a fighter in an Angola State Prison in The Dance alongside Nicholas Cage, and is set to star opposite Robert De Niro in 2008's Righteous Kill, a movie regarding a police death.[55] He also started a production company called G-Unit Films.[56] On August 21, 2007, 50 Cent announced plans to launch a dietary supplement company in conjunction with his movie The Dance.[57][58]
Shortly before appearing in Get Rich or Die Tryin', 50 Cent released a memoir about his life and how he became successful titled From Pieces to Weight: Once upon a Time in Southside Queens. On January 4, 2007, he launched his G-Unit Books imprint at the Time Warner Building in New York.[59] He also co-wrote The Ski Mask Way, a novel about a small-time drug dealer who attempts to rob his employers, which is to be turned into a film before 2008.[53] 50 Cent said he was reading The 33 Strategies of War by Robert Greene and worked with the author on a book titled The 50th Law, an urban take on The 48 Laws of Power
No comments:
Post a Comment