50 Cent

Curtis James Jackson III (born July 6, 1975) known by his professional name 50 Cent is an American rapper, actor, and businessman.

50 Cent
50 Cent in 2018
Born	Curtis James Jackson III (1975-07-06) July 6, 1975 (age 50) Queens, New York City, U.S.
Occupations	Rapper songwriter actor television producer record executive record producer businessman
Years active	1996 (1996)–present[1]
Organization	G-Unity Foundation
Works	Albums singles group records clothing books multimedia videography
Television	50 Central 50 Cent: The Money and the Power For Life Power The Oath[2]
Children	2
Awards	Full list
Musical career
Genres	Hip hop
Labels	Caroline Capitol G-Unit Shady Aftermath Interscope Universal Columbia Trackmasters JMJ
Formerly of	G-Unit
Website	50cent.com

Early life

He was born in the South Jamaica neighborhood of the borough of Queens, New York City on July 6, 1975. Growing up, he never knew his father and his mother was murdered when he was just 8 years old. He grew up in a neighborhood called STP. He learned how to play basketball and football. In 2000, he got shot nine times by an attacker. Before becoming a rapper he was a drug dealer.^[3] His stage name is a tribute to New York City criminal Kelvin Martin (also known as 50 Cent).

Career

50 Cent first appeared on Onyx's 1998 single "React". In 1999, he recorded the single "How to Rob" for the soundtrack of In Too Deep. Power of the Dollar was supposed to be 50 Cent's first album which included "How to Rob". He became successful in rap music in 2002. He was helped by his fellow gang boss Rijaan D. M. (the same person who helped him release track "Wanksta"). Since then, he has sold millions of records. His first album, "Get Rich or Die Tryin'" broke music records and went multi-platinum. It was number one right away on the Billboard 200. It sold 872,000 copies in the first four days.^[4] 50 and the album both won an American Music Award. He won the first Sound of... award by the BBC for new artists. He also won the BET Award for Best New Artist.

In the summer of 2005, 50 Cent had a fight (or "beef") with The Game, a rapper in his G-Unit group. After this, The Game left G-Unit, and made some diss songs about 50 Cent. 50 Cent answered with songs like "Mr. Potato Head" and "300 shots" featuring G-Unit. 50 Cent was also the first to sign onto a joint effort between Eminem's Shady Records and Dr. Dre's Aftermath Entertainment. 50 Cent also mentions Rijaan D.M. in many of his tracks e.g. Candy Shop, 'Down On Me FT Jeremih' etc. As a teen. 50 Cent's role model was Tupac Shakur so, from the start his ambition was to be a gangster rapper. 50 Cent rapped on Michael Jackson's 2010 single "Monster" from Jackson's album Michael.

Albums

• 2003: Get Rich or Die Tryin'
• 2005: The Massacre
• 2007: Curtis
• 2009: Before I Self Destruct
• 2014: Animal Ambition
• 2017: Street King Immortal (scrapped)

Collaborative albums

• Beg for Mercy (with G-Unit) (2003)
• T·O·S (Terminate on Sight) (with G-Unit) (2008)

Awards

Grammy Awards

50 Cent has been nominated 14 times and won once.^[5][6][7]

Year	Nominated work	Award	Result
2004	50 Cent	Best New Artist	Nominated
	"In da Club"	Best Male Rap Solo Performance	Nominated
		Best Rap Song	Nominated
	"Magic Stick" (with Lil' Kim)	Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group	Nominated
	Get Rich or Die Tryin'	Best Rap Album	Nominated
2006	"Disco Inferno"	Best Male Rap Solo Performance	Nominated
	"Encore" (with Eminem & Dr. Dre)	Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group	Nominated
	"Hate It or Love It" (with The Game)	Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group	Nominated
	"Candy Shop"	Best Rap Song	Nominated
	"Hate It or Love It"	Best Rap Song	Nominated
	The Massacre	Best Rap Album	Nominated
2008	"I Get Money"	Best Rap Solo Performance	Nominated
	"Ayo Technology" (with Justin Timberlake & Timbaland)	Best Rap Song	Nominated
2010	"Crack A Bottle"(with Eminem & Dr. Dre)	Best Rap Performance By A Duo Or Group	Won

World Music Awards

50 Cent has won six awards.^[8][9]

Year	Nominated work	Award	Result
2003	50 Cent	Best Artist of the Year	Won
	50 Cent	Best New Artist	Won
	50 Cent	Best R&B Act	Won
	50 Cent	Best Hip-Hop Act	Won
	50 Cent	Best Pop Act	Won
2007	50 Cent	Best-Selling Hip-Hop Artist	Won

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2005	Get Rich or Die Tryin'	Marcus "Young Caesar" Greer	Main role
2006	Home of the Brave	Spc. Jamal Aiken
2008	Righteous Kill	Marcus "Spider" Smith
2008	Before I Self Destruct	Clarence Jenkins	Writer/director
2009	Streets of Blood	Det. Stan Johnson
2009	Dead Man Running	Thigo
2010	Caught in the Crossfire	Tino	Executive producer
2010	13	Jimmy
2010	Gun	Rich	Writer
2010	Twelve	Lionel
2010	Morning Glory	Himself
2011	Blood Out	Hardwick	Executive producer
2011	Setup	Sonny	Producer
2011	All Things Fall Apart	Deon Barnes	Writer
2012	Freelancers	Det. Jonas "Malo" Maldonado	Producer
2012	Fire with Fire	Lamar	Producer
2013	Escape Plan	Hush
2013	Last Vegas	Himself
2013	The Frozen Ground	Pimp Clate Johnson	Producer
2014	Vengeance	Black
2014	The Prince[10]	The Pharmacy
2015	Spy	Himself
2015	Southpaw	Jordan Mains
2016	Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping	Himself
2017	The Pursuit[11]		Filming/producer
2018	Den of Thieves	Levi Enson Levoux
2018	Escape Plan 2: Hades	Hush
2019	Escape Plan: The Extractors	Hush

Television

Appearances

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2003–04	The Howard Stern Show	Himself	3 episodes
2003–2014	Jimmy Kimmel Live!	Himself	10 episodes
2005	The Simpsons	Himself	Episode: "Pranksta Rap"
2005–07	Late Show with David Letterman	Himself	2 episodes
2005–08	Late Night with Conan O'Brien	Himself	3 episodes
2005–2010	The View	Himself	2 episodes
2006	Flavor of Love	Himself	Famous Friends and Strangeness
2006	Last Call with Carson Daly	Himself	2 episodes
2007	Diary	Himself	MTVs Diary of 50 Cent
2007	America's Next Top Model	Himself	Episode: "The Girl Who Gets Thrown in the Pool"
2007–2010	The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson	Himself	2 episodes
2007–2013	MTV Cribs	Himself	2 episodes
2008–09	50 Cent: The Money and the Power	Himself	Episode: "Choose Your Crew Wisely"
2008–09	The Tyra Banks Show	Himself	2 episodes
2009	Entourage	Himself	Episode: "One Car, Two Car, Red Car, Blue Car"
2009	The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien	Himself	Season 1: Episode 105
2009	Party Monsters Cabo	Himself	Episode 6
2009	The Graham Norton Show	Himself	Season 6, Episode 10
2009–2010	The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon	Himself	2 episodes
2009–2013	Rachael Ray	Himself	3 episodes
2009–2014	Chelsea Lately	Himself	2 episodes
2011	George Lopez	Himself	1 episode
2011-2016	Conan	Himself	2 episodes
2011	The X Factor	Himself	Live season finale, part 2 of 2
2012	The Finder	Big Glade	Episode: "Life After Death"
2012	Dream Machines	Himself	2 episodes
2013	Robot Chicken	Gun/Himself	Episode: "Eaten by Cats"
2013	Katie	Himself	Episode 1.79
2014	Dream School	Himself	Producer
2014–2020	Power[12]	Kanan Stark	Main role
2014	The Today Show	Himself	Episode 2.56
2015	Ridiculousness	Himself	1 episode
2017	50 Central	Himself	2 episodes
2020	For Life	Cassius Dawkins	Recurring role

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2005	50 Cent: Bulletproof	Himself	Voice and likeness
2009	50 Cent: Blood on the Sand	Himself	Voice and likeness
2009	Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2	Navy SEAL[13][14]	Voice only