Checklist before leaving home: Car keys, home keys, cheque book. Bullet proof vest??? Oh! NY rapper ’50 Cent’ has made so many enemies in his short career and been shot at, so many times, it’s a wonder he’s still around to pick up his royalties. Now he makes sure he’s wearing a bullet proof vest before he leaves the house. ’’I put it on right after my undergarments’’ he says.
Intro: 50 is the new prince of hip-hop and doesn’t just pay lip-service to the concept of ’keepin’ it real’. 50 keeps it real in a way that many artists can’t. His put-downs of every major figure in the industry has made him something of a controversy and a multi-million dollar industry. ’’I am from the bottom & when you’re from the bottom you have nothing to lose so you say what you gotta say and don’t worry about the consequences’’, he says. But it has resulted in a one-man, multi-million pound rap factory.
Early childhood & teenage: 50 Cent was born Curtis Jackson on July 6, 1976 in the Jamaica district of Queens, New York city. His mother was only 15, when he was born. She was a local drug dealer and was murdered in mysterious circumstances when curtis was just 8yrs old. His father had already left home and he was sent to live with grandparents. But by the age of 12, he was on the streets selling crack (drugs). ’’Life is cheap in those places’’ he says. ’’You can have someone killed for $5, 000.’’ But he had always hankered after a career in rap and eventually a friend introduced him to JMJ (Jam Master Jay) of ’Run DMC’ fame who took the young curtis under his wing and taught him rapping. He continued to sell drugs on the side though, amassing a small fortune in the process. ’’I had a 400SE Mercedes Benz that I got from selling drugs. I sold my car and spent all my money to learn to rap with JMJ’’
Early career: 50 was signed to Columbia Records in 1999. The rapper promptly cut 36 songs which resulted in ’Power of a Dollar’, an unreleased album that featured the controversial single - How to Rob. In the song 50 daydreams of robbing famous rappers such as Jay-Z and others. Unsurprisingly, the song’s targets were not amused and a series of death threats followed.
The infamous shootouts: Then, one night in April 2000, 50 was shot nine times outside his grandmother’s house. The media speculated that it was a rival rapper behind the shooting. But 50 was more philosophical. ’’I look at it like karma, ’’ he says. ’’What goes around comes around. I’ve been in some situations where I’ve done bad things. I’ve shot people. But I don’t fear anything I have no control over.’’ But his record label, Columbia were less philosophical and promptly dropped 50 from the label fearing the ensuing carnage from a rapper-war wouldn’t be good for their image. 50 went back to basics. Hooking up with his friend, Sha Money XL, he recorded some 30 tunes and released the material as a disc, ’Guess Who’s Back’, in 2002, backed by his new crew ’G-Unit’
The rise: Before long, he reached Eminem. Eminem eventually signed 50 for a unknown 7-figure amount to his label (Shady) together with Dre’s ’Aftermath Records’. His first release on his new label was ’Wanksta’, a diss to all stupid rappers. The song was perceived to be an attack on Ja Rule, simmering a feud that exists to this day. (The feud began in 1999 when Rule was robbed at gunpoint. Rule later saw his robber joking with 50 in a club and assumed Mr. Cent had a part in the attack)
Successes: The controversy surrounding 50 did nothing to harm his major debut, ’Get Rich Or Die Tryin’. Released in February 2003 the album sold nearly 1.5m copies in its first 10 days of release in the US, reaching No.1 and spawning the hit singles In Da Club, and 21 Questions, & a total of 4m copies to date. With contributions and production from Eminem and Dr. Dre, the album utilises gangsta imagery and thug-life and sets it to a series of dark grooves with a funky bounce, topped off with 50’s laidback rap drawl. He also received a series of awards, including a ’2004 Brit for International Breakthrough Artist’, & sales show no signs of slowing. Today he is getting hired by all major rappers from Eminem to ’The Game’ & even newcomers like Cassidy. His G-Unit debut ’Beg for Mercy’, hit the shelves in late 2003 and soon went platinum. There were also tiffs between G-Unit & 50’s crews & shots rang out, hitting one of the G-Unit’s members in the leg.
Troubed grounds: Despite his success, trouble is never far away. ’’Yeah, trouble’s my shadow, ’’ he says. Last year’s street murder of his master JMJ outside his recording studio in Queens, sparked fears of another rap-war. 50, as Jay’s former pupil, was brought in for questioning. And in January 2003, gunmen burst into his management offices spraying bullets.
Future outlook: 50 is being aired on all the channels across the US & his albums ’Get rich or die tryin’, & ’The Massacre’ have whammied sales manifold, but, what with his tendency to make enemies & take tiffs with competitiors, whether 50 will be here for long is a question no one can answer......