Curtis James Jackson III, best known as 50 Cent in the music industry, is an American rapper, entrepreneur, and one of the most popular rap and hip-hop musicians. Curtis was born in Queens, New York, on July 6, 1975, to Sabrina Jackson (a heroin dealer) and an unidentified father.
During the crack epidemic of the 1980s, 50 Cent began dealing crack under the moniker BooBoo. At the age of eight, he was already entrenched in the world of drugs and guns; seven years later, he was jailed for illegal possession of narcotics.
He attempted boxing for a period, but he was unsuccessful and gave up at the age of 18. After considerable deliberation, he abandoned the drug trade to seek a career in rap and hip-hop.
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What is the Net Worth of 50 Cent?
Forbes estimates 50 Cent’s net worth to be $30 million as of January 2023, a substantial reduction from recent years, when it was projected to be $150 million.
50 Cent poses in his automobile
50 Cent, born Curtis Jackson, is an American rapper, producer, actor, and entrepreneur living in New York.
Despite news reports concerning the lawsuit filed against him and his decision to file for bankruptcy, he remains one of the world’s wealthiest rappers. It is believed that this choice was made purely to avoid spending millions of dollars.
Where was 50 Cent born? Age, Early Life
50 Cent was born Curtis James Jackson on July 6, 1975, in a Jamaican area of Queens, New York City to a mother who sold drugs. 50 Cent’s mother died in a mysterious fire accident when he was eight years old, prompting his father to leave and leaving him in the care of his grandmother.
Curtis had no musical goals as a child, and to make ends meet, he began distributing narcotics at the age of 12 to support himself. Once caught, he would bring guns and drugs to school.
His career as a street vendor ended when, as a teenager, he was caught in possession of cocaine, heroin, and crack. He was sentenced to prison, and for the first time in his life, he could see where his life was headed.
He claims that he began boxing at the age of 11 in order to defend himself from his many adversaries as a young street child.
Is 50 Cent Single? Relationship
The rapper prefers to keep his personal life private and believes that information about his life offstage should remain hidden.
Journalists discovered that Jackson and Shaniqua Tompkins have a son named Marquise. Curtis routinely publishes images of himself and his second son Sire on Instagram.
Curtis is a prosperous businessman who has lent his voice to various video games, signed a five-year contract with Reebok in 2003, and appeared in a commercial for the energy drink “Vitamin Water.”
An enormous Slim Shady admirer
50 Cent wrote “Wanksta” in 2002, the song that would rocket him to fame. “Wanksta” was a party song, but it was also a jab at Ja Rule, 50 Cent’s rival rapper (1976–).
In 1999, after Ja Rule was robbed and suspected 50 Cent of participation, the enmity between the two rappers began. In the song, 50 Cent asserts that his competitor is only a want tobe gangster: “You say you a gangsta, but you copped nothing/You say you’re a wanksta, and you need to stop frontin’.”
Fifty Cent delivered “Wanksta” and a few more tracks to Paul Rosenberg, the manager of Eminem, who was the most popular rapper at the time (1972–). Eminem phoned 50 Cent immediately to invite him to visit him in Los Angeles.
In June 2002, 50 Cent reportedly signed a $1 million contract with Eminem’s record label, Shady/Aftermath Records. He was the first rapper that Shady/Aftermath Records endorsed. It was a “hip-hop match made in heaven,” according to Serpick.
Unlike Columbia Records, Shady/Aftermath promptly put 50 Cent to work. Later that same year, three of 50 Cent’s tracks, including “Wanksta,” were featured on the soundtrack for 8 Mile, a biopic about Eminem.
Numerous radio stations played “Wanksta,” and fans rushed to purchase the new rapper’s CD.
50 Cent and Eminem entered the recording studio to commence production on 50 Cent’s debut album. Several tracks were created by hip-hop icon Dr. Dre, while others were produced by Eminem (1965–).
Get Rich or Die Trying was released in February 2003 and became platinum almost immediately. It sold approximately one million copies and topped the Billboard charts within days of its debut.
How did 50 Cent start his Professional Career?
In 1996, Jam Master Jay of Run-DMC, who was founding his record company “Jam Master Jay Records,” was introduced to him by a mutual friend. Jay instructed him on how to count measures, compose choruses, organize songs, and record them.
On the 1998 album “Shut ‘Em Down,” 50 Cent had his first official appearance in a song titled “React” with the group Onyx.
Upon departing Jam Master Jay, a number of Trackmasters producers took notes on the rapper and contacted him a year later to negotiate a contract with Columbia Records.
Later, he was transported to a New York studio, where he recorded 36 songs in two weeks, of which 18 were included on his unofficial release album, “The Power of the Dollar of 2000.” A project that was ultimately abandoned.
50 Cent rose to notoriety following the release of his hit “How to Rob” Jay-Z, Kurupt, Sticky Fingaz, and Big Pun were among the rap artists who responded to the song.
Rapper Nas was impressed with the theme and offered 50 Cent to join him on a promotional tour for his album “Nastradamus.” In addition to other tracks on the album, the song was intended to be released as a single.
However, the rapper was shot multiple times on May 24, 2000, just two days prior to filming the “Thug Love” music video.
Even though he had a publishing deal with Columbia Records, his song “Ghetto Qu ‘Ran” (Koran of the Ghetto) got him removed from the label and placed on the recording industry’s blacklist.
He came to Canada with his manager Sha Money XL to record over thirty songs for mixtapes, as he was unable to locate a recording facility in the United States. The reputation of 50 Cent developed gradually, and he released a compilation album titled “Guess Who’s Back?” in 2002.
Eminem was so impressed by Guess Who’s Back? in 2002 that he invited 50 Cent to Los Angeles, where he met Dr. Dre.
50 Cent released the mixtape “No Mercy, No Fear” after obtaining a contract with Shady Records and Aftermath Entertainment. The mixtape includes the single “Wanksta,” which was used by Eminem for the soundtrack of the film 8 Mile.
In February 2003, 50 Cent released his debut album, “Get Rich or Die Tryin.” The album was so successful that Allmusic declared it one of the best first albums pushed by a rap artist in the past decade, while other media dubbed it a smashing success.
It debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 with initial sales of 872,000 copies. It earned number 18 on VH1’s list of the 100 greatest hip-hop songs of all time. Additionally, he smashed the Billboard record for most radio spins in one week.
In the first four days after its March 2005 publication, more than 1.1 million copies of “The Massacre” were sold.
This album topped the Billboard 200 for six weeks, and 50 Cent became the first artist to have three top-five singles on the Billboard chart in the same week, with “Candy Shop,” “Inferno Disc,” and “How We Do.”
50 Cent was sentenced to two years of probation on July 22, 2005, for three charges of assault and violence stemming from an incident in May 2004.
The third studio album of 50 Cent, “Curtis,” was released in September 2007. It debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 with initial sales of 691 thousand copies.
The song “OK, You’re Right” was created by Dr. Dre and released on May 18, 2009. This song was the first official single to be released from the album “Before I Self Destruct.” In that same year, the rapper also appeared in the new season of VH1 Behind the Music.
On November 16, 2011, Curtis uploaded his song “Outlaw” to the Internet, which was produced by Cardiak. 50 Cent left Interscope Records, Shady Records, and Aftermath Entertainment on February 20, 2014, following a 12-year association.
Animal Ambition was released after he and his label, G-Unit Records, inked a distribution deal with Caroline Records and a recording deal with Capitol Records.
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