Curtis James Jackson III (born July 6, 1975) is an American rapper commonly known by his stage name 50 Cent. He rose to fame following 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.
Born in South Jamaica, Queens in New York, 50 Cent began drug dealing at the age of twelve during the 1980s' crack epidemic. After leaving drug dealing to pursue a rap career, he was shot nine times in 2000. After releasing his mixtape compilation 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.
Life and music career
Early life
50 Cent, born Curtis James Jackson III, grew up in the South Jamaica neighborhood of Queens in New York City. He grew up without a father and was raised by his mother Sabrina Jackson, who gave birth to him at the age of fifteen. Sabrina, who was a cocaine dealer, raised Jackson until the age of eight, when she was murdered. At the age of twenty-three, she became unconscious after someone drugged her drink. She was then left for dead after the gas in her apartment was turned on and the windows shut closed. After her death, Jackson moved into his grandparents house with his eight aunts and uncles. He recalls, "My grandmother told me, 'Your mother's not coming home. She's not gonna come back to pick you up. You're gonna stay with us now.' That's when I started adjusting to the streets a little bit." Jackson grew up with his younger cousin, Michael Francis, who earned the nickname "25 Cent" for being his younger counterpart. Francis raps under the stage name "Two Five".
Jackson began boxing around the age of eleven. In the mid 1980s, he competed in the Junior Olympics as an amateur boxer. He recounts, "I was competitive in the ring and hip-hop is competitive too... I think rappers condition themselves like boxers, so they all kind of feel like they're the champ." At the age of twelve, Jackson began dealing narcotics when his grandparents thought he was at after-school programs. He also took guns and drug money to school. In the tenth grade, he was caught by metal detectors at Andrew Jackson High School. He later stated, "I was embarrassed that I got arrested like that... After I got arrested I stopped hiding it. I was telling my grand
mother [openly], 'I sell drugs.'"
On June 29, 1994, Jackson was arrested for helping to sell four vials of cocaine to an undercover police officer. He was arrested again three weeks later when police searched his home and found heroin, ten ounces of crack cocaine, and a starter gun. He was sentenced to three to nine years in prison, but managed to serve six months in a Shock Incarceration boot camp, where he earned his GED. Jackson said that he did not use cocaine himself, he only sold it. He adopted the nickname "50 Cent" as a metaphor for "change". The name was derived from Kelvin Martin, a 1980s Brooklyn robber known as "50 Cent". Jackson chose the name "because it says everything I want it to say. I'm the same kind of person 50 Cent was. I provide for myself by any means."
Early career
50 Cent started rapping in a friend's basement where he used turntables to record over instrumentals. 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. 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. He produced 50 Cent's first album, however it was never released. 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. Eighteen were included on his unofficially released album, Power of the Dollar in 2000. He also started the now-defunct company with former G-Unit member Bang 'Em Smurf called Hollow Point Entertainment.
"How to Rob"
50 Cent's first underground single in which he comically describes robbing celebrity musicians.
Problems playing the files? See media help.
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. 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." Rappers Jay-Z, Big Pun, DMX, and the Wu-Tang Clan replied to the song and Nas, who received the track positively, invited 50 Cent to travel on a promotional tour for his Nastradamus album. 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.
SHOOTING
On May 24, 2000, 50 Cent was attacked by a gunman outside his then grandmother's house. 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. 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. The face wound resulted in a swollen tongue, the loss of a wisdom tooth, and a small slur in his voice. 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 was killed three weeks later.
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.'" 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." He used a walker for the first six weeks and recovered after five months. When he left hospital, he stayed in the Poconos with his then-girlfriend and son. His physical workout regimen helped him attain his muscular physique.
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.[29][30] 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.[20]
Rise to fame
"In da Club"
The breakthrough single from Get Rich or Die Tryin'.
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.[24] Impressed with the album, Eminem invited 50 Cent to fly to Los Angeles, where he was introduced to Dr. Dre. After signing a one million U.S. dollar record deal,[18] 50 Cent released the mixtape, No Mercy, No Fear. It featured one new track, "Wanksta", which was put on Eminem's 8 Mile soundtrack. 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." 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." The album debuted at number one on the Billbo
ard 200, selling 872,000 copies in the first four days. The lead single, "In da Club", which The Source noted for its "blaring horns, funky organs, guitar riffs and sparse hand claps" broke a Billboard record as the 'most listened-to' song in radio history within a week.
In Bangkok, Thailand, February 26, 2006Interscope then granted 50 Cent his own label, G-Unit Records in 2003. 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) and peaked at number one on the Billboard 200 for six weeks. 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". 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."
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. 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.
Personal life
On October 13, 1997, 50 Cent's then-girlfriend Shaniqua Tompkins gave birth to a son, Marquise Jackson. 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."He credited his son for inspiring his career and being "motivation to go in a different direction." 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," 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." 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.
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. If his felony convictions did not prevent him from voting, he claimed that he would have voted for Bush. He later stated that Bush "has less compassion than the average human. By all means, I don’t aspire to be like George Bush." In 2007, 50 Cent was recognized for his wealth by Forbes, placing him second behind Jay-Z in the rap industry. He resides in Farmington, Connecticut, in the former mansion of ex-boxer Mike Tyson. 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.
-Ventures;
-Controversy;
-50 Cent discography;
-List of 50 Cent awards and nominations;
-Filmography;
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.
Life and music career
Early life
50 Cent, born Curtis James Jackson III, grew up in the South Jamaica neighborhood of Queens in New York City. He grew up without a father and was raised by his mother Sabrina Jackson, who gave birth to him at the age of fifteen. Sabrina, who was a cocaine dealer, raised Jackson until the age of eight, when she was murdered. At the age of twenty-three, she became unconscious after someone drugged her drink. She was then left for dead after the gas in her apartment was turned on and the windows shut closed. After her death, Jackson moved into his grandparents house with his eight aunts and uncles. He recalls, "My grandmother told me, 'Your mother's not coming home. She's not gonna come back to pick you up. You're gonna stay with us now.' That's when I started adjusting to the streets a little bit." Jackson grew up with his younger cousin, Michael Francis, who earned the nickname "25 Cent" for being his younger counterpart. Francis raps under the stage name "Two Five".
Jackson began boxing around the age of eleven. In the mid 1980s, he competed in the Junior Olympics as an amateur boxer. He recounts, "I was competitive in the ring and hip-hop is competitive too... I think rappers condition themselves like boxers, so they all kind of feel like they're the champ." At the age of twelve, Jackson began dealing narcotics when his grandparents thought he was at after-school programs. He also took guns and drug money to school. In the tenth grade, he was caught by metal detectors at Andrew Jackson High School. He later stated, "I was embarrassed that I got arrested like that... After I got arrested I stopped hiding it. I was telling my grand
mother [openly], 'I sell drugs.'"On June 29, 1994, Jackson was arrested for helping to sell four vials of cocaine to an undercover police officer. He was arrested again three weeks later when police searched his home and found heroin, ten ounces of crack cocaine, and a starter gun. He was sentenced to three to nine years in prison, but managed to serve six months in a Shock Incarceration boot camp, where he earned his GED. Jackson said that he did not use cocaine himself, he only sold it. He adopted the nickname "50 Cent" as a metaphor for "change". The name was derived from Kelvin Martin, a 1980s Brooklyn robber known as "50 Cent". Jackson chose the name "because it says everything I want it to say. I'm the same kind of person 50 Cent was. I provide for myself by any means."
Early career
50 Cent started rapping in a friend's basement where he used turntables to record over instrumentals. 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. 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. He produced 50 Cent's first album, however it was never released. 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. Eighteen were included on his unofficially released album, Power of the Dollar in 2000. He also started the now-defunct company with former G-Unit member Bang 'Em Smurf called Hollow Point Entertainment.
"How to Rob"
50 Cent's first underground single in which he comically describes robbing celebrity musicians.
Problems playing the files? See media help.
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. 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." Rappers Jay-Z, Big Pun, DMX, and the Wu-Tang Clan replied to the song and Nas, who received the track positively, invited 50 Cent to travel on a promotional tour for his Nastradamus album. 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.
SHOOTING
On May 24, 2000, 50 Cent was attacked by a gunman outside his then grandmother's house. 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. 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. The face wound resulted in a swollen tongue, the loss of a wisdom tooth, and a small slur in his voice. 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 was killed three weeks later.
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.'" 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." He used a walker for the first six weeks and recovered after five months. When he left hospital, he stayed in the Poconos with his then-girlfriend and son. His physical workout regimen helped him attain his muscular physique.
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.[29][30] 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.[20]
Rise to fame
"In da Club"
The breakthrough single from Get Rich or Die Tryin'.
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.[24] Impressed with the album, Eminem invited 50 Cent to fly to Los Angeles, where he was introduced to Dr. Dre. After signing a one million U.S. dollar record deal,[18] 50 Cent released the mixtape, No Mercy, No Fear. It featured one new track, "Wanksta", which was put on Eminem's 8 Mile soundtrack. 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." 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." The album debuted at number one on the Billbo
ard 200, selling 872,000 copies in the first four days. The lead single, "In da Club", which The Source noted for its "blaring horns, funky organs, guitar riffs and sparse hand claps" broke a Billboard record as the 'most listened-to' song in radio history within a week.In Bangkok, Thailand, February 26, 2006Interscope then granted 50 Cent his own label, G-Unit Records in 2003. 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) and peaked at number one on the Billboard 200 for six weeks. 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". 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."
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. 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.
Personal life
On October 13, 1997, 50 Cent's then-girlfriend Shaniqua Tompkins gave birth to a son, Marquise Jackson. 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."He credited his son for inspiring his career and being "motivation to go in a different direction." 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," 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." 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.
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. If his felony convictions did not prevent him from voting, he claimed that he would have voted for Bush. He later stated that Bush "has less compassion than the average human. By all means, I don’t aspire to be like George Bush." In 2007, 50 Cent was recognized for his wealth by Forbes, placing him second behind Jay-Z in the rap industry. He resides in Farmington, Connecticut, in the former mansion of ex-boxer Mike Tyson. 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.
-Ventures;
-Controversy;
-50 Cent discography;
-List of 50 Cent awards and nominations;
-Filmography;
Thanks to Wikipedia for this information
I would very thankful for your comment!!
What you think about 50Cent.(be honest)
He is cool, good or bad guy, intelligent, freak, stupid, handsome...if he is a good singer...blá...blá...blá...
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