Profile
Famous as :
Hardcore rapper
Birth Name :
Curtis James Jackson III
Birth Date :
July 06, 1975
Birth Place :
Queens, New York, USA
Claim to fame :
Album "Get Rich or Die Tryin" (2003)
Biography
by AceShowbiz.com
It was hard in his early life, but Curtis James Jackson III aka 50 Cent finally made it to become a renowned popular African American hip hop artist the world ever has. Born on July 6, 1975 in South Jamaica, Queens in New York, he grew up in a broken home family, his hustler mother Sabrina Jackson died when he was merely eight years old, while his father left the family, leaving his grandmother to parent him. Lost those closest to him at an early age and encouraged by his desire for things would drive him begun drug dealing at the age of twelve. Eventually encountered the law and began making visits to prison, 50 pursued his dream of becoming a heavyweight boxer, but finally fell back on rapping.
Took rapping seriously, it was in the mid '90s that the young man stayed away from crime and began making music. His break came soon thereafter upon meeting Jam Master Jay of Run DMC through a friend who instead of only taught him how to count bars, write choruses, and structure songs, passed over a tape of beats and asked him to rap over it. Got the man impressed, he was signed to his label, JMJ Records. Unfortunately, the deal didn't result much which prompted 50 to leave the label and quickly signed another deal with Columbia Records, thanks to the platinum selling producers Trackmasters who took noticed on his rapping skill. Began working on his debut album, he produced thirty-six songs in two and a half weeks, eighteen of which were included on his unofficially released album, "Power of the Dollar [Unreleased]" in 2000. A trio of singles preceded the album's proposed release, namely "Your Life's on the Line," "Thug Love" featuring
Destiny's Child, and "How to Rob," in fact, contributed to 50's rising to popularity. The latter track, which lyrics detail how he would rob particular big-name rappers, attracted a lot of attention thus making it a hit. Shortly after the release of the single, on May 24, 2000, just before Columbia was set to release "Power of the Dollar [Unreleased]", he encountered a deadly incident on 161st Street in Jamaica, Queens when an assassin attempted to end his life, shooting him nine times with a 9mm pistol while he sat helpless in the passenger seat of a car. Spent thirteen days in recovery, he survived but Columbia Records decided to drop him, blacklisted him in the recording industry after finding out he had been shot, put "Power of the Dollar [Unreleased]" to shelve.
Hard for him to find a studio to work with in the US during the two following years, 50 Cent headed for Canada. With the help from his business partner Sha Money XL, he made a return to the rap underground, began recording over thirty songs for mixtapes and formed a hip hop group
G-Unit, featuring
Lloyd Banks,
Young Buck, and
Tony Yayo, with the intention to set up a solid career in the industry. Together they produced large quantities of tracks, some of which featured the companions rapping over popular beats, while the others mocked popular rappers, and had them compiled on "
Guess Who's Back?" in 2002. Much to their surprise, the mixtape garnered industry attention as well as street esteem, particularly popular rapper
Eminem who declared on a radio show his admiration for 50 Cent. And amidst a bidding war that followed, Em indeed got him signed to his and
Dr. Dre's Shady/Aftermath label.
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