The Rapper 50 cent
50cent is considered to be one of the most successful hip-hop artist of his generation. His real name was Curtis James Jackson but he adopted his street name 50cent, when he started releasing underground mix tapes. He was born in south Jamaica section of queens, in 1976, grew up in New York from where his career began. He originally wanted to become a boxer, but upon the birth of his son, he started becoming more serious with rapping. 50 cent was a rapper loved and hated in equal measure. His music displayed the regular hardships face by those who come from the gang-infested streets of New York. This is what gave him an edge over other rappers as his music had a compelling side to it of which unlike other artist, had not been exaggerated for mere publicity.
His lyrics painted the true picture of life of a hustler in the streets and this is what made rapper 50cent be seen as real. His love for music always found him rapping and spinning tables at his friend’s basement. He was to later by his friend, be introduced to Jay Master Jay, an affiliate of the rap group DMC. 50cents gives credit to Jay Master Jay as being one of his greatest mentors. Under his guidance, 50cent learnt how to count bars and structure his lyrics from the free verses and rhymes he used to produce. He eventually made a name for him in the underground music meaning he did not have a record label and therefore, had to release his music on his own without assistance from any record label.
Eventually, large record labels started to notice the upcoming rapper with his free verses and as a result, in 1999, Trackmasters signed him up to Colombia records where he got an estimated $65,000, which meant he had to retain his day job of selling drugs in the streets. Once signed to the label, he produced about 36 songs but they still failed to take him seriously. To capture their attention, he released his underground single ‘How To Rob’ and rapped about how he would rob famous rappers and artist alike such as Jay-Z, DMX and Wyclef Jean. His record label did take notice and rapper Nas invited Jackson to tour with him. The song was intended to be released ‘thug love’ that feature Destiny’s child but two days before the scheduled date, he was reported to be hospitalized after sustaining multiple gunshot wounds. As a result, Colombia records dropped him from their record label as he was generating a lot of negative publicity and rumors had sufficed that he was selling drugs in the streets again.
In 2000, he came into the lime light after releasing his album ’Guess Whose Back’. This made a number start paying much attention to this underground rapper. In 2002, 50cent wrote a song ’Wanksta’ that was to propel him the lime light. Through his attorney who was a close worker with Eminem’s manager, passed him the CD, which was given to Eminem. Eminem liked the song and immediately flew Jackson to Los Angeles and signed him up to Shady/AfterMath Records. The song ‘Wanksta’ featured in Eminem’s movie, ‘8 Mile’. In 2003, Jackson rose to stardom after he released his debut album’ Get Rich or die Trying’ that hit the airwaves and topped the charts selling a record of 900,000 copies in its first week. His next single ’In da Club’ broke a record by becoming, in the history of radio, the most listened to song ever.
50cent was given his own record label by Interscope called G-Unit in the year 2003 where rappers such as Lloyd Banks, Young Buck became members of the group. He released his second hit ’The Massacre’ that went platinum in 4 days after launching it by selling 1.14 copies. The single topped the charts for a record of 6 weeks. 5ocent became the first rapper to have five of his single topping the charts in one week. 50 cent also went into the movie industry acting in ‘Get Rich or Die trying’ in 2005 as the lead actor and in others like ‘Home of the brave’ and ‘Gun’. He is one of the richest rappers currently, making it to Forbes top five rich rappers in the year 2011. His net worth is estimated to be over a hundred million dollars.
5ocent credits most of his success to Jay Master Jay who gave a chance at producing real music. Who showed him all he needed to know about making the right track. He also attributes his success to Eminem and Dr Dre, who signed him up and helped catapult his career to where he is now. Though critics say that he would not go far should he leave Eminem’s record label, 50cent is a gifted rapper and would continue to shine whichever record label he is signed on.
50cent is one rapper who has gone through many hardships in his earlier life. His father left him when he was still a child while his mother, Sabrina Jackson, who used to sell drugs, died while he was 8 years old. His grand parents who tried to provide for him raised him but his desire for making it big led him back to the streets where he sold drugs. By the time, he turned 19; he had long ago dropped out of high school and had become a drug kingpin. This led to his constant arrests by the police.
Street gangs feared his large physique as he was reported to easily break jaws with one blow. He loved listening to rap music and had thoughts of joining the music industry full time but never really committed to it. However, upon the birth of his son, he knew he had to make some life altering decisions that saw him go into music. In his years of rapping, he had made many enemies. One day, in front of his grandmother’s house, a rogue assassin came from nowhere and shot him 9 times, twice in the face. He holds those scars as a reminder of his long journey from rags to riches. Upon being released, he went and spent time with his then girlfriend and with his son. He recovered after 5 months and his persistent gym workouts helped him get back to shape.
The world definitely has not seen the end of this New York born rapper who defied the odds and made it to stardom.
Work cited
Brown, J. 50 Cent: no holds barred. Amber Books Publishing. phoenix: 2005.
Rose, T. The hip hop wars: what we talk about when we talk about hip hop–and why it matters. Basic Civitas Books. New York: 2008.
