50 cent Biography

Early Life and Education

Curtis James Jackson most known by the name 50 Cent was born on July 6, 1975. He is from Queens, New York City, however, grew up in South Jamaica. He was raised by his mother Sabrina until she died in a mysterious fire. His mother was a drug dealer at that time. After the demise of his mother, his grandmother raised him. He went to Andrew Jackson High School.

Career

Jackson was a boxer in his teenage years. He began boxing at the age of 11. He used to spend most of his free time in a boxing gym of his neighborhood selling crack on the strip. 50 competed in the Junior Olympics in the mid-1980s. He soon got influenced by wrong deeds dealing narcotics and taking guns and drug money to the school.

As of now, Curtis is a professional rapper, actor, businessman and an investor.  He used to rap in a friend's basement, using turntables to record over instrumentals. 50 then learned to count bars, write choruses, structure songs and make records from Jam Master Jay of Run-DMC. He made his debut appearance on React for the album Shut Em Down alongside Onyx. 

Afterward, Jackson collaborated with Trackmasters the Columbia Records in 1999. There he produced thirty-six songs within two weeks which included in his 2000 albums such as Power of the Dollar. His controversial underground single How to Rob gained him the ultimate recognization.

In 2002 he released the compilation album Guess Who’s Back? His skillful work didn’t go unnoticed and got the attention of Eminem.  He released No Mercy, No Fear He then collaborated with Shady Records, Aftermath Entertainment, and Interscope Records. The mixtape featured on Eminem's 8 Mile soundtrack.

In 2003 he released his debut album Get Rich or Die Tryin followed by Rolling Stone which ranked at number one on the Billboard 200, selling 872,000 copies in its first four days. His lead single In da Club became the most listened-to song in radio history within a week.

He adopted the nickname 50 Cent after getting inspired by Kelvin Martin, as a metaphor for change. The same year, he gained his own G-Unit Records with his single Interscope.  

Jackson got the name and fame with the aid of Eminem and Dr. Dre. He is now one of the world’s best-selling rappers. His breakthrough came with  East Coast hip hop group G-Unit. 

He is the founder of G-Unit Records of Hollow Point Entertainment with G-Unit member Band 'Em Smurf which has signed with Young Buck, Lloyd Banks, and Tony Yayo. His second album The Massacre was released in 2005.

In 2014 he released his fifth studio album, Animal Ambition. Likewise, he sold over 30 million albums worldwide. Currently, he is working on his sixth studio album Street King Immortal.

Besides that, Curtis featured on the Starz’s  show Power. He is also the executive producer of the show.  He then entered the acting field with his appearance in semi-autobiographical films such as Get Rich or Die Tryin' (2005), the Iraq War film Home of the Brave(2006) and Righteous Kill (2008)

50 Cent is a well-accomplished rapper who has won awards like Grammy Award, thirteen Billboard Music Awards, six World Music Awards, three American Music Awards and four BET Awards. He was ranked the sixth-best artist of the 2000s and the third-best rapper Billboard.

His work Get Rich or Die Tryin and In Da Club was considered to be in their lists of "100 Best albums of the 2000s" and "100 Best songs of the 2000s" by Rolling Stone.

Personal Life

Jackson has a son named Marquise Jackson from his ex-girlfriend Shaniqua Tompkins. The duo dated for four years from 1994 till 1998. She charged him $50 million for failing to take care of her. However, the judge rejected her appeal and called it 'a love affair gone sour.' 

Curtis dated several Hollywood divas like Daphne Joy, Chelsea Handler, Vivica A. Fox, and Megan Good. He has a son Sire Jackson from his ex-girlfriend, Daphne Joy.

Jackson was shot nine times in 2000 even after leaving drug-dealing. He was visiting his grandmother at that point and was shot nine times at close range with a 9mm handgun. However, 50 Cent survived the shot, and the attacker got killed a few days later.

He injured his hand, arm, hip, both legs, chest and left cheek during the incident. He wrote an autobiography, From Pieces to Weight: Once upon a Time in Southside Queens regarding the incident, he survived. 

Law Allegation

On June 29, 1994, Jackson got caught red handed for selling vials cocaine to an undercover police officer. He again got arrested when police found heroin, cocaine and starting pistol. He served six months in boot camp and earned his GED and got released then.

Net worth

50 Cent earns a lucrative amount from his career. He signed $1 million record deal with Dr. Dre. He holds the staggering net worth of $155 million and also known as one of the fifth-richest figures in American hip-hop in 2015.

However, his fellow contemporaries have earned very impressive net worth like Dr. Dre ($600 million), Jay-Z ($650 million), Sean “Puff Daddy” Combs ($700 million), Snoop Dogg ($135 million), Eminem ($200 million). 

Jackson is a minority shareholder of Coca-Cola and in 2007,  Coca-Cola purchased Glacéau for $4.1 billion and during that time he earned $100 million from the deal after taxes. He owned film production company, Cheetah Vision in 2008 which obtained $200 million in funding in 2010.

Jackson signed a  $78 million deal with FRIGO Revolution Wear. In 2011, he made $10 million after using Twitter to promote a marketing company. He earned  $100,000 for his work in Southpaw and $50,000 for acting in Spy. 

He also acts on the Starz television show Power where he receives $20,000 per episode and $15,000 bonus. He donated  $100,000 to Autism Speaks.