Checklist: Car keys, house keys, cheque
book. Bullet proof vest. Eh? New York rapper 50 Cent has made so many
enemies in his relatively short career and been shot so many times, it's
a wonder he's still around to pick up his royalties. Now he always makes
sure he's wearing a bullet proof vest before he leaves the house.
"I put it on right after my underwear," he says. 50 (nicknamed
Fiddy) was shot nine times in Queens New York outside his grandmother's
house in 2000.
50 is the new King of hardcore hip-hop and doesn't just pay lip-service
to the concept of "keepin' it real." 50 keeps it real in a way
that, Steps for instance, didn't. 50's put-downs of every major figure
in the rap game has made him something of a controversy magnet and a
multi-million pound industry. "I'm from the bottom," he says.
"When you're from the bottom you have nothing to lose so you say
what you gotta say and don't worry about the consequences."
But the consequences, thus far, have resulted in a one-man,
multi-million pound rap factory. His debut album Get Rich Or Die Tryin',
released on Eminem's record label, Shady Records, has sold 4m copies to
date (it sold 872,000 copies in its first week in the US making it the
highest selling debut of a major artist ever) and with a brace of
awards, including a 2004 Brit for International Breakthrough Artist,
sales show no signs of slowing. Mr. Cent is the most talked about rapper
since Tupac and Notorious BIG.
50 Cent (aka Curtis Jackson) was born on July 6 1976 in the Jamaica
district of Queens, New York. 50's mother was 15 when he was born. She
was a local drug dealer and was murdered in mysterious circumstances
when 50 was just 8-years-old. His father had already left home and 50
was sent to live with his grandparents. But by the age of 12, 50 was on
the streets selling crack. "Life is cheap in those places," he
says. "You can have someone killed for $5,000."
But 50 had always hankered after a career
in hip-hop and eventually a friend introduced him to Jam Master Jay of
Run DMC fame who took the young 50 under his wing and taught him to rap.
50 continued to deal drugs on the side though, amassing a small fortune
in the process. "I had a 400SE Mercedes Benz," he recalls
"and I got that from selling drugs. I sold my car and spent all my
money to learn to rap with Jam Master Jay." Dedication, as Record
Breaker TV star and trumpeter Roy Castle once said, is what you need.
50 was signed to Columbia Records in 1999. The rapper promptly cut 36
songs which resulted in Power of a Dollar, an unreleased album that
featured the controversial single, How to Rob. In the song 50 daydreams
of robbing famous rappers such as Jay-Z, Ghostface Killah and Sticky
Fingaz. Unsurprisingly, the song's targets were not amused and a series
of anonymous death threats followed. (again!)
Then one night in April, 2000, 50 was shot nine times outside his
grandmother's house in Queens. The media speculated that it was a
disgruntled rival rapper behind the shooting. But 50 was more
philosophical. "I look at it like karma," he says. "What
goes around comes around. I've been in some situations where I've done
bad shit. I've shot people. But I don't fear anything I have no control
over."
But his record label, Columbia were less philosophical and promptly
dropped 50 from the label fearing the ensuing carnage from a rap war
wouldn't be good for their image. 50 went back to basics. Hooking up
with his friend, Sha Money XL he recorded some 30 tunes and released the
material as a bootleg disc, Guess Who's Back, in 2002, backed by his new
crew, G-Unit.
Before long, 50's bootlegs reached Eminem. Em eventually signed 50 to
his Shady Recordings label together with Dr. Dre's Aftermath Records.
50's first release on his new label was Wanksta, not as you might
suspect an attack on George Michael's proclivity for lurking in LA
toilets but a diss to all mouth and no trousers gangsta rappers. The
song was perceived to be an attack on Ja Rule, helping to simmer a feud
that exists to this day. The feud began in 1999 when Rule was robbed at
gunpoint. Rule later saw his assailant joking with 50 in a club and
assumed Mr. Cent had a part in the attack.
The attendant controversy surrounding 50 did nothing to harm his major
label album debut, Get Rich Or Die Tryin'. Released in February 2003 the
album sold nearly 1.5m copies in its first 10 days of release in the US,
reaching No.1 and spawning the hit singles In Da Club, 21 Questions and
P.I.M.P. With contributions and production from Eminem and Dr. Dre, the
album utilises gangsta imagery and thug-life and sets it to a series of
dark grooves with a funk bounce, topped off with 50's laidback rap
drawl.
Despite his success, trouble is never far
away. "Yeah, trouble's my shadow," he says. Last year's street
murder of Jam Master Jay outside his recording studio in Queens, sparked
fears of another rap turf war. 50, as Jay's former pupil, was brought in
for questioning. And in January 2003 gunmen burst into 50 Cent's
management offices spraying bullets.
Couple 50 Cent's true-life street adventures and hardship with his knack
for addictive, rap hooks and it's clear that the rapper has exactly what
it takes to ride down the yellow brick road to the kingdom of bling.
Whether he'll be around long enough to enjoy it is another question.
