50 Cent

50 Cent is a popular American rapper, whose real name is Curtis James Jackson III. He was born in Queens, New York in July, 1975. Jackson’s mother was a cocaine dealer, who was murdered when he was just eight. Jackson started dealing with drugs at the age of twelve. He was also arrested a couple of times on account of narcotics and drugs possession. Upon leaving drug dealing and moving to rapping, he was shot nine times. 50 Cent came across Jam Master Jay of Run-DMC, in 1996. Jackson learnt many aspects of making a record like counting bars, writing choruses, as well as structuring songs. With the single "How to Rob", his popularity started to soar.

50 Cent's album ’Get Rich or Die Tryin’, released in February, 2003 was slated to be one of the most hyped debut albums. The album made a startling debut, opening at number 1 in the Billboard 200 list. "In Da Club", the lead single achieved the feat of breaking the previous Billboard record and became the most listened song in the radio history within a span of a week. The album ’Guess Who’s Back’ impressed Eminem a great deal, who then sent an invitation to the artist to fly to Los Angeles, where he even met Dr. Dre. 50 Cent released the album, ’No Mercy, No Fear’, after signing a record one million dollar deal. ’The Massacre’ was his second commercial album and it topped both UK and US charts. His next album, ’Before I Self Destruct’, is slated for a 2008 release.