Who is Curtis James Jackson III?

Who is Curtis James Jackson III? The music world knows him as  50 Cent,[1] better known by his stage name 50 Cent, is an American Grammy  Award winning rapper and actor. He rose to fame with the release of his albums Get Rich or Die Tryin' (2003) and The Massacre (2005). Both albums achieved multi-platinum success, selling over twenty-one million copies combined.[2]

Get Rich or Die Tryin' has  been certified 8 times platinum by the RIAA^[2]  and has sold over 15 million copies worldwide.^[3]  His album The Massacre has been certified 5 times  platinum by the RIAA^[2]  and has sold 11 million copies worldwide.^[4]  Both albums sold more than twenty-six million copies combined.^[5]

50 Cent is one of  the richest hip hop performers, having a gross worth of $440 million in  2008. On December 11, 2009, 50 Cent was ranked as the 6th best artist  of the 2000-2009 decade by Billboard Magazine. (Also ranking as the 4th  Top male artist and as the 3rd Top rapper behind Eminem and  Nelly)^[7]  He was also ranked as the 6th best and most successful Hot 100 Artist  of the 2000-2009 decade by Billboard Magazine.^[8]  Billboard Magazine also named him the #1 Rap Song Artist of the  2000-2009 decade.^[9]  His album Get Rich or Die Tryin'  was ranked as the 12th best album of the 2000-2009 decade by Billboard  Magazine.^[10]  With his album The Massacre ranking as the 37th best album  of the 2000-2009 decade by Billboard Magazine.^[11]

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 album 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 world's highest selling rappers. 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 feuds with other rappers including Ja Rule,

The Game, and

Fat Joe.He 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.

Jackson was born July 6, 1975, 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, a cocaine dealer, raised Jackson until the age of eight, when she was murdered. Twenty-three at the time, 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.[4][5] After her death, Jackson moved into his grandparents' house with his eight aunts and uncles.[1][6][7] 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".[8] 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".[9]


Jackson began boxing around the age of eleven. At fourteen, a neighbor opened a boxing gym for local kids. "When I wasn't killing time in school, I was sparring in the gym or selling crack on the strip", he recalled.[10] 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".[11] At the age of twelve, Jackson began dealing narcotics when his grandparents thought he was at after-school programs.[12] 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 grandmother [openly], 'I sell drugs.'"[8]

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.[1][13][14] He adopted the nickname "50 Cent" as a metaphor for "change".[15] 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".[16]

50 Cent started rapping in a friend's basement where he used turntables to record over instrumentals.[17] In 1996, a friend introduced him to Jam Master Jay of Run-DMC who was organizing his label Jam Master Jay Records. Jay taught him how to count bars, write choruses, structure songs, and make a record.[18][19]

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.[11] Jay produced 50 Cent's first album, however it was never released.[4] 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.[5] Eighteen were included on his unofficially released album, Power of the Dollar in 2000.[20] He also started the now-defunct Hollow Point Entertainment with former G-Unit affiliate Bang 'Em Smurf.[21][22]

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.[15][23] The track comically explains how he would rob 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".[15] Rappers Jay-Z, Big Pun, DMX, and the Wu-Tang Clan replied to the song[23] and Nas, who received the track positively, invited 50 Cent to travel on a promotional tour for his Nastradamus album.[7] 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.[24]

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.[5] 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.[4][8][25] The face wound resulted in a swollen tongue, the loss of a wisdom tooth, and a small slur in his voice.[7][8][26] His friend also sustained a gunshot wound to the hand. They were driven to the hospital where 50 Cent spent thirteen days. The alleged shooter, Darryl "Hommo" Baum, was killed three weeks later.[27] Darryl Baum was also Mike Tyson's close friend and bodyguard.[28]
Mike Tyson, offered $50,000 towards a "hit" on two members of a violent gang suspected of killing Darryl Baum. The allegation was made by Dwayne Meyers, another former member of the Cash Money Brothers (CMB), a Brooklyn street gang accused of drug trafficking, kidnapping and murder.
Meyers, who along with several CMB members was indicted in 2005 for drug dealing and murder, made the claims as he testified at the trial of Abubakr Raheem.[29]
Raheem is accused of driving a getaway car after two turf-war killings.
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.'"[8] 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 fully recovered after five months. When he left the hospital, he stayed in the Poconos with his then-girlfriend and son. His workout regimen helped him attain his muscular physique.[4][8][30]

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.[31][32] 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 2002, 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]


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.[4][18][24] 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.[20] He was also signed to Chris Lighty's Violator Management and Sha Money XL's Money Management Group.

Interscope granted 50 Cent his own label, G-Unit Records in 2003.[38] 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.

In March 2005, 50 Cent's second commercial album, The Massacre, sold 1.14 million copies in the first four days—the highest in an abbreviated sales cycle[35]— and peaked at number one on the Billboard 200 for six weeks.[39] 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".[40] 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".[41]

After The Game's departure, 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.[42][43] 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.[44] In September 2007, he released his third album Curtis, which was inspired by his life before Get Rich or Die Tryin'.[45] It debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, selling 691,000 units in the first week.[46]



50 Cent has established himself in a wide variety of fields outside music. 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.[47][48] 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. Its sequel, 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand, is set for a 2008 release.[49] He worked with Glacéau to create a Vitamin Water drink called Formula 50. In 2007, Coca-Cola purchased Glacéau for US$4.1 billion. Forbes estimated 50 Cent, who owns a stake in the company, to have earned $100 million after taxes.[50] He has teamed up with Right Guardto launched a body spray called Pure 50 RGX Body Spray and a condom line called Magic Stick Condoms,[51][52][53] in which he planned to donate part of the proceeds to HIV awareness.[54] He also plans to release a female sex toy line. 50 Cent has signed a multi-year deal with Steiner Sports to sell his memorabilia.[55]

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 starred in the 2006 film, Home of the Brave, as a soldier returning home from the Iraq War, traumatized after killing an Iraqi woman.[56] 50 Cent is working on a role as a fighter in an Angola State Prison in Spectacular Regret alongside Nicholas Cage, and is set to star opposite Al Pacino and Robert De Niro in 2008's Righteous Kill, a movie regarding a police death.[57] He also started the film production companies G-Unit Films in 2007 and Cheetah Vision in 2008.[58][59] In August 2007, 50 Cent announced plans to launch a dietary supplement company in conjunction with his movie Spectacular Regret.[60]

On October 13, 1997, 50 Cent's then-girlfriend Shaniqua Tompkins gave birth to a son, Marquise Jackson.[3][63] 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".[64] He credited his son for inspiring his career and being "motivation to go in a different direction".[65] 50 Cent has a tattoo of "Marquise" with an axe on his right biceps. "The axe is 'cause I'm a warrior. I don't want him to be one, though",[32] 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".[32] 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 ended up on the cover of Today's Black Woman magazine without his knowledge.[66][67]

50 Cent expressed support for President George W. Bush in 2005 after rapper

Kanye West criticized him for the slow response in assisting the Hurricane Katrina victims.[68] If his felony convictions did not prevent him from voting, he claimed he would have voted for Bush.[69] He later stated that Bush "has less compassion than the average human. By all means, I don’t aspire to be like George Bush".[70] Despite his frequent use of anti-gay slurs in music and speech 50 Cent claims not to be homophobic, saying, "Absolutely. I say faggot all day...That don't mean it's bad," and implying that he loves his lesbian or bisexual mother[71]

In 2007, Forbes recognized 50 Cent for his wealth, placing him second behind Jay-Z in the rap industry.[72] 

He resides in Farmington, Connecticut, in the former mansion of ex-boxer Mike Tyson.[73] 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.[74] 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.[75] One of his homes in New York purchased for 2.4 million dollars in January 2007 and at the center of a lawsuit between 50 Cent and ex-girlfriend Shaniqua Tompkins caught fire on May 31, 2008 while he was out of town filming for a movie in Louisiana. [76]

Before signing with Interscope, 50 Cent engaged in a well-publicized dispute with rapper Ja Rule and his label Murder Inc. Records. The rappers engaged in mixtape "disses". 50 Cent claimed the feud began in 1999 after Ja Rule spotted him with a man who robbed him of his jewelry.[66] However, Ja Rule claimed the conflict stemmed from a video shoot in Queens because 50 Cent did not like seeing him "getting so much love" from the neighborhood.[77]

In March 2000, while at The Hit Factory studio in New York, 50 Cent had an altercation with Murder Inc. associates. He was treated for three stitches after receiving a stab wound.[66][78] Rapper Black Child claimed responsibility for the stabbing, saying he acted in self-defense because he thought someone reached for a gun.[79]


An affidavit by an IRS agent suggested that the label had ties to

Kenneth "Supreme" McGriff, a New York drug lord who was suspected of being involved in the

murder of Jam Master Jay and the shooting of 50 Cent. An excerpt of the affidavit read:
The investigation has uncovered a conspiracy involving McGriff and others to murder a rap artist who has released songs containing lyrics regarding McGriff's criminal activities. The rap artist was shot in 2000, survived and thereafter refused to cooperate with law enforcement regarding the shooting. Messages transmitted over the Murder Inc. pager indicate that McGriff is involved in an ongoing plot to kill this rap artist, and that he communicates with Murder Inc. employees concerning the target.[31]

Before releasing The Massacre, 50 Cent recorded a song, "Piggy Bank", which was leaked before the album's release. The song takes aim at rappers including Fat Joe, Nas, and Jadakiss.[80] Fat Joe responded with a song, "My Fo, Fo", accusing 50 Cent of taking steroids, hiding in his home, and being jealous of The Game. Jadakiss also responded with a song, "Checkmate", and said that 50 Cent was trying to "create a buzz for his new album".[81] The "Piggy Bank" music video portrays animated caricatures of Jadakiss (as a Ninja turtle), Fat Joe (as an overweight boxer who receives a knockout), Nas (as a kid chasing a "milkshake" truck in a Superman costume), and The Game (as Mr. Potato Head).[82]

50 Cent spoke negatively about Bad Boy Entertainment mogul Sean Combs and recorded a song, "Hip-Hop", revealing the reasons behind his negative feelings: primarily, a contract dispute over Mase. In the song, he implied that Diddy knew about The Notorious B.I.G.'s murder and threatened to expose him through former associates.[83] The feud was resolved, with both rappers appearing on MTV's TRL and Sucker Free, respectively, stating that there were no longer problems.[84]

On February 1, 2007, Cam'ron and 50 Cent had a live argument on The Angie Martinez Show on Hot 97 radio. 50 Cent commented that Koch Entertainment was a "graveyard", meaning major record labels would not work with their artists.[85] Cam'ron then ridiculed the record sales of G-Unit members

Lloyd Banks

and Mobb Deep by

stating that Jim Jones outsold their albums despite being signed to an independent label and that his group, The Diplomats, had a distribution deal from several labels.[85] Both rappers released "diss" songs with videos on YouTube. 50 Cent suggested in "Funeral Music" that Cam'ron is no longer able to lead The Diplomats and that Jim Jones should take his place. Cam'ron responded with "Curtis" and "Curtis Pt. II", in which he makes fun of 50 Cent's appearance, calling him "a gorilla, with rabbit teeth".[86] 50 Cent responded by releasing "Hold On" with Young Buck.[87]

In early 2005, 50 Cent began a feud with The Game, whom he was close to before releasing his debut album The Documentary. After its release, 50 Cent felt The Game was disloyal for saying he did not want to participate in G-Unit's feuds with other rappers and even wanting to work with artists they were feuding with. He also claimed that he wrote six songs on the album and was not receiving proper credit for his work, which The Game denied.[88]

50 Cent later dismissed The Game from G-Unit on Hot 97 radio. After the announcement, The Game, who was a guest earlier in the evening, attempted to enter the building with his entourage. After being denied entry, one of his associates was shot in the leg during a confrontation with a group of men leaving the building.[89][90] When the situation escalated, both rappers held a press conference to announce their reconciliation.[91] Fans had mixed feelings as to whether the rappers created a publicity stunt to boost the sales of the albums they had just released.[92] Nevertheless, even after the situation deflated,[93] G-Unit criticized The Game's street credibility. The group denounced The Game and announced that they will not feature on his albums. During a Summer Jam performance, The Game launched a boycott of G-Unit called "G-Unot".[94]

After the Summer Jam performance, The Game released a track, "300 Bars and Runnin'", which addresses 50 Cent and G-Unit.[95] He continued his attacks in a Stop Snitchin, Stop Lyin' DVD. After numerous songs aimed at G-Unit, 50 Cent responded to The Game's rebuttals on mixtapes. One track, "Not Rich, Still Lyin'", imitates The Game, attacks his credibility, and mentions his feud with his brother, Big Fase 100.[96]

The Game also released mixtape covers parodying the group. After he displayed pictures of G-Unit dressed up as the Village People, 50 Cent posted a cover of The Game's head on the body of a male stripper.[97] Although he was signed to Aftermath Entertainment, The Game left the label and signed with Geffen Records to terminate his contractual obligations with G-Unit.[98]

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