Tabloid
Half de-Cent?
On the eve of rapper 50 Cent's performance in Dubai, tabloid! charts the star's rise from rags to riches.
- By I-Cheng Chan, Staff Reporter
- Published: 23:54 December 19, 2007
- 50 Cent performs to a sold-out crowd of 25,000 people in Kosovo three days ago.
- Image Credit:
On the eve of rapper 50 Cent's performance in Dubai, tabloid! charts the star's rise from rags to riches
From dealing crack by the age of 12 to having a day named in his honour, rapper 50 Cent has led a life you couldn't make up.
His tragic past must have seemed a long way away when he was being handed the keys to the city of Bridgeport, Connecticut, by the Mayor on "50 Cent Curtis Jackson Day" on October 12 this year.
The fact he has come this far, winning no less than 58 awards since he broke on to the commercial music scene around five years ago, is a testament to the American dream.
Curtis James Jackson III was born to 15-year-old Sabrina Jackson and grew up in South Jamaica, Queens, New York, without a father. After his drug-dealer mother was murdered - she was drugged and then gassed to death in her apartment - 8-year-old Jackson went to live with his grandmother.
By the age of 11 he was boxing and even competed in the Junior Olympics in the 1980s. However, he began dealing crack cocaine at 12 while his grandmother thought he was at after-school clubs.
But he was caught bringing a gun into school at 14 and arrested, after which he became more open about selling drugs in front of his family. At its peak, he oversaw a local drug operation that brought in more than $5,000 (Dh18,350) a day.
Prison
Jackson was not let off so lightly in his brush with the law in 1994 when, at the age of 18, he was arrested for selling cocaine to an undercover police officer.
When his home was searched by police three weeks later, revealing heroin, 10 ounces of crack cocaine and a starter gun, Jackson ended up behind bars serving just six months of a three to nine-year sentence in a prison boot camp.
This was to be the turning point of his life. His focus turned to music and, having taken the name 50 Cent, he began rapping in a friend's basement.
In 1996, he was introduced to Jam Master Jay of Run DMC who brought him into a studio, taught him how to write songs - from counting bars to writing choruses - and produced his first album, which was never released.
50 Cent then signed with Columbia Records in 1999 and made 36 songs in a fortnight. As a way to separate himself from the other artists on the label, he wrote an underground single called How To Rob which humorously described how he would rob famous rappers and musicians.
The plan worked with the likes of rappers Jay Z and DMX responding in kind.
Shooting
But never far from his past, 50 Cent was stabbed by rapper Black Child in March 2000 and needed three stitches. Just two months later in May, as he was about to film a music video, 50 Cent was gunned down at close range in South Jamaica outside his grandmother's house before her eyes.
The rapper was shot nine times - in the hand, cheek, arm, hip, chest and both legs - but miraculously survived. He spent two weeks in hospital and needed a further six months before he was fully recovered.
On learning he had been shot, Columbia Records dropped 50 Cent from their label.
Lucky for fans, it seems nothing could keep this artist down. Instead of giving up, he continued recording songs and independently released an album called Guess Who's Back? in 2002.
It was heard by Eminem who was so impressed he signed him to his Shady Records in a $1 million (Dh3.67 million) deal.
Success
His first commercial album, Get Rich or Die Tryin', came out the following year and debuted at No 1 on the Billboard charts, eventually selling more than 10 million copies.
His success led to the founding of his own label, G-Unit Records, in 2003. His second album, The Massacre, topped the charts for six weeks in 2005.
In September this year, 50 Cent released his third album, Curtis, which, although his least successful to date based on first-week sales, still managed a highly respectable 691,000 units in the first seven days.
Featuring guest artists such as Akon, Justin Timberlake and Mary J. Blige, some of the tracks were produced by Timbaland, Dr Dre and Eminem.
For inspiration for the album, 50 Cent turned retrospective looking back at his life before his success and even wrote some of the songs in his grandmother's old house. He titled the album Curtis in reference to his name before he became a rapper.
Did you know?
50 Cent lives in a mansion in Farmington, Connecticut, US, which he bought from former boxing champion Mike Tyson for £4 million (nearly Dh30 million). Although, he has recently put the house on sale.
- He has a 10-year-old son called Marquise Jackson with former girlfriend Shaniqua Tomkins.
- His business ventures include: the record label G-Unit; a vitamin water drink called Formula 50; G-Unit Clothing Company; G-Unit Sneakers; G-Unit Films; G-Unit Books.
- The rap star has acted in the films Get Rich or Die Tryin', Home of the Brave, The Dance, and is due to star in next year's Righteous Kill opposite Robert De Niro.
- The rapper took the name 50 Cent as a nod to the Brooklyn gangster Kelvin Martin who died of a gunshot wound in 1987. Martin is alleged to have murdered 30 people and been shot 24 times. He was called 50 Cent because he would rob anyone regardless of how much they had in their pocket.
In Dubai
- What: 50 Cent - Live in Concert
- When: Friday
- Where: Dubai Media City Amphitheatre.
- Time: Doors open 5pm, show starts 9pm.
- Cost: Dh195 for regular, Dh295 for pit and Dh695 for the cage.
- Visit: www.boxofficeme.com
Have your say
Send us your experiences at the concert by filling in the form below or send your pictures to feedback@gulfnews.com
Share this article
Covering everything from entertainment and lifestyle
