50 Cent 

Curtis Jackson "50 Cent" was born in the South Jamaica section of Queens in 1975. Curtis was raised by his grandparents in New York City where he's lived his whole life. His grandparents raised him from the age of eight years old when his mother was shot and his father had run out.

Curtis originally wanted to be a heavyweight boxer but fell upon rapping and discovered his passion for the music. DJs had taken it upon themselves to release two "Best of 50 Cent" CDs even before he had signed to a label.

In 1999 his album "Power of the Dollar", was heavily bootlegged & it was never released perhaps because of the shooting. 50 was shot nine times just three days before the filming of "Thug Love". Two shots hit his head and one of the bullets is one which he now carries as a reminder. The shooting led to his fall out with Columbia and the negotiations of the album release. J. Lo then removed his track from her album release and 50's career was somewhat on hold. Eminem felt differently and went on a radio show stating that "50 Cent is definitely my favorite rapper right now, he's the only one keeping it real." The next day a bidding war started on 50 Cent which ended with Eminem signing 50 to the Shady/Aftermath label and his career was officially launched.

50 Cents first album "Get rich or Die Tryin'" was released. This was the highest debut ever with 900,000 copies sold in the first week.