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In many ways the ideal East Coast hardcore
rapper, 50 Cent endured substantial obstacles
throughout his young yet remarkably dramatic life
before becoming in early 2003 the most-discussed
figure in rap, if not pop music in general.
Following an unsuccessful late-'90s run at
mainstream success (foiled by an attempt on his
life in 2000) and a successful run on the New York
mix-tape circuit (driven by his early-2000s bout
with Ja Rule), Eminem signed 50 to a seven-figure
contract in 2002 and helmed his quick rise toward
crossover success in 2003. The product of a broken
home in the rough Jamaica neighborhood of Queens
and, in turn, the storied hood's hustling streets
themselves, 50 lived everything most rappers write
rhymes about but never actually experience: drugs,
crimes, imprisonments, stabbings, and, most
infamously of all, shootings; all of this before
he even released his debut album. Of course, such
experiences became 50's rhetorical stock-in-trade.
He reveled in his oft-told past, he called out
wannabe gangstas, and he made headlines. He even
looked like the ideal East Coast hardcore rapper:
big-framed with oft-showcased biceps, abs, and
tattoos as well as his trademark bulletproof vest,
pistol, and iced crucifix. Furthermore, his
distaste for flossing stunner-rappers and
materialistic women -- yet somewhat paradoxically
coupled with his appetite for guns, drugs, and
wealth -- made him a welcome alternative to the
bling-bling sect in the early 2000s. Born Curtis
Jackson and raised in Southside Jamaica, Queens,
50 grew up in a broken home. His hustler mother
passed away when he was only eight, and his father
departed soon after, leaving his grandmother to
parent him. As a teen, he followed the lead of his
mother and began hustling. The crack trade proved
lucrative for 50; until he eventually encountered
the law, that is, and began making visits to
prison. It's around this point in the mid-'90s
that he turned toward rap and away from crime. His
break came in 1996 when he met Run-D.M.C.'s Jam
Master Jay, who gave him a tape of beats and asked
him to rap over it. Impressed by what he heard,
Jay signed the aspiring rapper to his JMJ Records
label. Not much resulted from the deal, though,
and 50 affiliated himself with Trackmasters, a
commercially successful New York-based production
duo (comprised of Poke and Tone) known for their
work with such artists as Nas and Jay-Z.
Trackmasters signed the rapper to their Columbia
sublabel and began work on his debut album, Power
of the Dollar. A trio of singles preceded the
album's proposed release: "Your Life's on the Line,"
"Thug Love" (featuring Destiny's Child), and "How
to Rob."
The latter track became a sizable hit, attracting
a lot of attention for itsbaiting lyrics that
detail how 50 would rob particular big-name
rappers. This willingness to rap openly and
brashly and the attention it attracted came back
to haunt him, however. His first post-success
brush with death came shortly after the release of
"How to Rob," when he was stabbed at the Hit
Factory studio on West 54th Street in Manhattan.
Shortly afterward came his most storied incident:
On May 24, 2000, just before Columbia was set to
release Power of the Dollar, an assassin attempted
to take 50's life on 161st Street in Jamaica,
Queens (near where Jam Master Jay would later be
fatally shot two and half years later), shooting
him nine times with a 9mm pistol while the rapper
sat helpless in the passenger seat of a car. One
shot pierced his cheek, another his hand, and the
seven others his legs and thighs; yet he survived,
barely. Even so, Columbia wanted nothing to do
with 50 when they heard the news, shelving Power
of the Dollar and parting ways with the now-controversial
rapper.
During the next two years, 50 returned to the rap
underground where he began. He formed a collective
(G Unit, which also featured Lloyd Banks and Tony
Yayo), worked closely with producer Sha Money XL (who
had also been signed to JMJ around the same time
that 50 had), and began churning out mix-tape
tracks (many of which were later compiled on Guess
Who's Back? in 2002). These mix-tape recordings (many
of which were hosted by DJ Whoo Kid on CDs such as
No Mercy, No Fear and Automatic Gunfire), earned
the rapper an esteemed reputation on the streets
of New York. Some of them featured 50 and his G
Unit companions rapping over popular beats (Raphael
Saadiq's "Be Here," Wu-Tang Clan's "Ya'll Been
Warned"), others mocked popular rappers (namely Ja
Rule, who quickly became an arch-rival), and a few
discussed his shooting ("F*ck You," among others).
This constant mix-tape presence throughout
2000-2002 garnered industry attention as well as
street esteem, particularly when Eminem declared
on a radio show his admiration for 50. A bidding
war ensued, as Em had to fend off numerous other
industry figures, all of whom hoped to sign 50,
driving up the signing price into the million-plus
figures in the process and slowly moving the
rapper into the up-and-coming spotlight once again
as word spread.
Despite the bidding war, Eminem indeed got his man,
signing 50 to a joint deal with Shady/Aftermath;
the former label Em's, the latter Dr. Dre's.
During the successive months, 50 worked closely
with Em and Dre, who would co-executive produce
his upcoming debut, Get Rich or Die Tryin', each
of them producing a few tracks for the highly
awaited album. Before Get Rich dropped, though, Em
debuted 50 on the 8 Mile soundtrack. The
previously released (via the underground, that is)
"Wanksta" became a runaway hit in late 2002,
setting the stage for "In da Club," the Dre-produced
lead single from Get Rich. The two singles became
sizable crossover hits -- the former peaking at
number 13 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart, the latter
at number one -- and Interscope (Shady/Aftermath's
parent company) had to move up Get Rich's release
date to combat bootlegging as a result.
Amid all this, 50 made headlines everywhere. Most
notably, he was tied to Jam Master Jay's shooting
in October 2002, the F.B.I.'s investigation of
Murder Inc's relationship to former drug dealer
Kenneth "Supreme" McGriff, and the shooting
incident at the offices of Violator Management.
Furthermore, he made more headlines when he was
jailed on New Year's Eve 2002 for gun possession.
The media relished his life story, particularly
his storied brush with death -- and not just the
expected media outlets like MTV -- even such
unlikely mainstream publications as The New York
Times ran feature stories ("Amid Much Anticipation,
a Rapper Makes a Debut"). By the time Get Rich
finally streeted on February 6, 2003, he had
become the most discussed figure in the music
industry, and, bootlegging or not, his initial
sales figures reflected this (a record breaking
872,000 units moved in five days; the best-selling
debut album since SoundScan started its tracking
system in May 1991), as did his omnipresence in
the media.
The G-Unit debut, Beg for Mercy, hit the shelves
in late 2003 and soon went platinum. A new mixtape
series with Whoo Kid also kicked off around this
time. Titled G-Unit Radio, the series would
introduce new tracks by the crew along with cuts
from Lloyd Banks and Young Buck who would both
release albums in the coming years with 50 as
executive producer. Rapper the Game would become a
member of G-Unit in 2004, but by the time his solo
album came out in early 2005, things had gone sour
with 50. On February 28th as the Game/50 Cent
collaboration "How We Do" was climbing the charts,
50 announced the Game was out of G-Unit on New
York's Hot 97 radio station. After the revelation,
members of 50 Cent's entourage clashed with
members of the Game's entourage outside the radio
station. Shots rang out and one of the Game's crew
took a bullet in the leg. As this was all taking
place, leaked copies of Get Rich's follow-up were
flying across the Internet, forcing Interscope to
push the album's release up by five days. The
Massacre was to officially hit the shelves on
March 3rd, but street-date violations were
reported on March 1st. By March 2nd everyone from
the Mom & Pops to the major chains were selling
the album at a furious pace.
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