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50 Cent: A Fighter Who Will Continue to Get Rich or Die Tryin´
Believe that! The name 50 Cent is sure fitting. The man grew up in South Jamaica Queens, raised by a single mother who was murdered when he was 8. Talk about tough beginnings! He then moved to his grandmother's place, where it wasn't long before he started making a name for himself. Not as a rapper. As a drug dealer. Probably, you all heard how 50 Cent was arrested at school with guns and drugs in 10th grade, right? Or how he was arrested again weeks later at his home, and finally sentenced to six months at a boot camp?
Shooting to the Top
You must have definitely heard also how 50 Cent was shot nine times just when he was starting to make a name for himself in the hip-hop world in 2000. But did you know that he was already on the verge of stardom when those shots rang out?
50 Cent had just written and released one of the first real 50 Cent songs, which turned into an underground hit, a 50 Cent track called "How to Rob." The song was all about how he would rob many of the big-time hip-hop stars out there. Heard it? Well, Jay-Z, Wu-Tang Clan, and DMX all did, and gave 50 Cent props for it. And Nas even invited 50 Cent to travel with him on tour.
Long Hard Road to Canada?
But it would take him five months to fully recover from all of his gunshot wounds. Worse yet, after 50 Cent did get better, the hip-hop world blacklisted him - even a publishing contract with Columbia Records got cancelled once they had found out about the incident. Do you call that fair?!
He was forced to travel to Canada to record, but as his name explains, 50 Cent was, and still is, willing to do whatever it takes to succeed. In the Great White North, he produced a 50 Cent album of mixes called "Guess Who's Back?"
To he who works and tries, and tries again, can come great rewards. Who said that? I don't know. But so it was that the 50 Cent album "Guess Who's Back?" ended up in the hands of megastar Eminem, who then brought 50 Cent to Los Angeles to meet with the even bigger megastar Dr. Dre. I'm sure you've heard of him. They signed 50 Cent to a million-dollar record deal in 2002.
The Big Breaks
The 50 Cent music legend took off. The 50 Cent song "Wanksta" got play on the " 8 Mile" soundtrack. That was followed up with the 50 Cent album, "Get Rich or Die Tryin'." Listen to 50 Cent here, and you can hear a legend being born. Or at least dig the lyrics, right?
That same year, 2003, Dr. Dre's label, Interscope, allowed 50 Cent to launch his own label, called G-Unit records. The 50 Cent music freight train did not slow down. By early 2005, the second big 50 Cent album was released, "The Massacre." These 50 Cent songs sold upwards of 1.14 million copies in just the first four days on the market. The 50 Cent album was number one on Billboard for a month and a half.
Here and Now
The latest 50 Cent albums include "Curtis," released in 2007, and "Before I Self Destruct," from 2008.
Lately, the 50 Cent music career hit a bit of patch when he challenged Kanye West to see who could sell the most albums, and Kanye appeared to dominate the sales. Let me know if you think otherwise (like 50 Cent did).
Still, 50 Cent hasn't stopped with just music. He supposedly made as much as $100 million when Vitamin Water maker Glaceau was sold to Coke. He had stake in the company. Can you believe how luck can change for one man? He's also had his voice and attitude used in such 50 Cent videogames as 50 Cent: Bulletproof and the upcoming 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand.
So whatever 50 Cent is doing, you can guarantee that he'll be working hard as ever to get rich.
