50 Cent
- StudentCity.com Appearances:
- (Cancun '05) Performed with Lloyd Banks at The City
Born Curtis James Jackson III on July 6, 1975, 50 Cent is a true man of the streets, familiar with its codes and violence. He was born into a notorious Queens drug dynamic and lost those closest to him at a very young age. He started rapping early on, but did not decide to go about it seriously until the birth of his son, first signing with JMJ, then with Columbia Records to make his name known. In 1999, 50 was dropped from Columbia, however, during recovery after being shot in front of his grandmother's house 9 times! 50 did not give up, he was soon backed by G-Unit and signed on to work with Eminem and Dr. Dre. 50 is the most sought after newcomer in almost a decade, producing many albums and touring for packed houses of adoring fans.
A tenacious artist, 50 Cent rose to fame with the release of his albums Get Rich or Die Tryin' and The Massacre and achieved multi-platinum success with both albums, selling over twenty-one million records worldwide.
50 Cent's Career
50 Cent's tenacity began early in his youth when, during the process of pursuing a rap career, he was shot nine times in 2000. He kept persevering until he was discovered by Eminem and signed on to Interscope records. Under Dr. Dre's seasoned production and some help from Eminem, 50 achieved his first commercial success and became one of the highest selling hip-hop artists in the world. A year later, 50 Cent founded G-Unit Records which signed on Young Buck and Lloyd Banks among other artists. Life in the entertainment world has been as exciting as if out of it. 50 Cent has had more than a couple of feuds with other rappers including Ja Rule and The Game. In addition, 50 Cent has also acted in a couple of movies including his semi-autobiographical film "Get Rich or Die Tryin'" and "Home of the Brave".
Since his 2003 debut album Get Rich or Die Tryin’ was released, 50 Cent has done reasonably well in terms of wealth accumulation through his G-Unit entertainment portfolio, which includes a record label, clothing line, ring tones and video games. In 2006, 50 Cent appeared on the cover of Forbes Magazine’s Celebrity 100 issue.
50 Cent's Albums
Before I Self Destruct (2008)
This album was supposed to be released before his third album “Curtis”, however, it was pushed back to be released in 2008. It is now set to be released in March or April of 2008 due to the later release of “Curtis”. 50 chose this title, because he said “it could possibly happen” (self destructing that is) according to an interview with MTV. He also described the album ad being “darker” and more “aggressive” than previous albums and claims it will be “the best record of that time period”.
Curtis (2007)This third album named “Curtis” after his birth name was released on September 11, 2007. He collaborated with many artists such as Justin Timberlake, Nicole Scherzinger, and
Akon and was once again produced by Dr. Dre and Eminem as well as Timbaland. “Curtis” had great sales success in its first week, selling 691,000 copies and ranked highest sales week for an East Coast album since Jay-Z’s “Kingdom Come” on the Billboard 200.
The album did reasonably well with the hot single "I Get Money" with cameos by fellow rap starts Jay-Z and Sean "Diddy" Combs. This was the first collaboration between three rap kings, who each kicked off their riffs with "I run New York." the summer of 2007 saw some rumors on the Internet stating that Kanye would appear in the "I Get Money" remix also know as the “Forbes 1, 2, 3 Remix” and the “Billion Dollar Remix”, but that was not to be. Both artists have been involved in a well-publicized spat which came to a head when 50 Cent told reporters that if Kanye West's album '"Graduation" that dropped on September 11 - the same day that 50 Cent's "Curtis" was relased, outsold him, he'd retire from rapping. The numbers that came out showed that Kanye had a lead over 50 Cent in terms of number of copies sold but, in terms of income, 50 Cent makes twice as much annually as Kanye.
The Massacre (2005)
Yet again, 50’s second album was released early due to internet bootlegging, and the album reached number one status on the U.S. Billboard 200 and the UK Albums Chart that year. “The Massacre” sold 1.14 million copies during it first four days, which mad it the sixth fastest-selling album since 1991, when data of record sales began. Only Eminem’s “The Marshall Mathers LP” had a better opening sales week for any rap album in history. It also finished in 2005 being the second-best selling album with 4.85 million sold. This album has gone 5X platinum.
Get Rich or Die Tryin (2003)
50’s debut album “Get Rich or Die Tryin” was released a week earlier (February 6, 2003) than expected due to high volume of bootlegging on the internet. However, it became the first time since 1994 that an artist had both a single “In da Club” and album placed number one on Billboard Magazine for the entire year. “Get Rich or Die Tryin” was produced by both Eminem and Dr. Dre.
50 Cent's Past Controversies:
Ja Rule
Prior to signing up with Interscope Records, 50 Cent engaged in a well-publicized dispute with rapper Ja Rule. The rappers engaged in numerous public comment spats and even took the feud into their music with mixtape insults going back and forth. Both artists have conflicting claims about how this feud began with 50 Cent claiming that it began as early as 1999, when Ja Rule spotted 50 Cent with someone else who had robbed him. Ja Rule claimed that the conflict began when 50 Cent was envious of his popularity in Queens. Altercations between entourages of both artists have taken place.
The Game
Not since the Nas -JayZ feud, has there been a tussle of such near-epic proportions. The hip-hop rivalry between the 50 Cent and
The Game began in the first half of 2005 after their fall-out over certain issues. The feud began rather strangely. The Game signed on with Dr. Dre and Aftermath Entertainment in 2003 and he worked with G-Unit to create a viral marketing effort that would grow interest in both G-Unit and The Game. However, The Game recorded a track with Joe Budden in 2004 and speared on a Jim Jones video which caused bad blood. While the two resolved their differences temporarily, the conflict escalated as time went by and both hip-hop artists became successful.
The feud continued into their music, both artists enaged in a sort of parody warfare and kept criticizing each other's work and efforts publicly. This feud also led to
The Game leaving Aftermath Entertainment . While other artists like Busta Rhymes tried to effect a reconciliation between the two, most such efforts came to nothing. In the last known episode in this feud, The Game released a track called "My Bitch" where he took shots at 50 Cent and G-Unit. This was in response to the "Ova-Kill" song by Spider Loc and Papa Smurf, and the "Teach Em 'Bout Playin" song by Young Buck and C-Bo, which were both released in April 2007.
Fiddy's Business Acumen
50 Cent's business acumen was already the talk of the town back in 2005. In 2004, Curtis Jackson pocketed $50 million after taxes thanks to his involvement in different business ventures. Things were different then - there was the friction that Fiddy had with the Game, there was tons of buzz on his latest album "The Massacre" 50's follow-up to his debut, "Get Rich or Die Tryin'", the lead drack "Disco Inferno" was doing well on the Billboard top 100 and everyone wanted to see if "The Massacre" would top his debut 2003 album.
Produced by Eminem and Dr. Dre, "Get Rich" consisted of agressive chants, angst-ridden overtones and shakin-all-you-got dance floor tunes like "In Da Club" and "P.I.M.P." the album's success was phenomenal - it trumped acts like Shania Twain and spent six weeks at No. 1 It was the best selling CD of 2003 and 11 million copies were sold worldwide. this was the most amount of sales for a rap-debut album.
His company G-Unit in additon to music includes apparel, video games and ringtones. His involvement with the business is wholehearted and full-fledged. 50 makes it a point to meet regularly with the Reebok team to discuss ideas and actions for his line of footwear which was worn by several players on the Indianapolis Colts in the 2003 season. As 50 candidly states that the environment where he grew up taught up to either step up and be agressive about things (read - take the initaitive) or just lie back and be a victim. Fiddy's been known to show up unannounced at his record distributor's office for the weekly staff meeting, to steer his own marketing campaign. This work ethic is appreciated and admired by all his business accociates.
Fiddy also launched a line of vitamin water called Formula 50. In addition, in 2004, in line with his new CD launch beverage marketer Glaceau introduced a brand new platinum label for its grape-flavored Formula 50 vitamin water. Needless to say, the drink's sales were nearly as pathbreaking as his record sales.
