50 Cent: From Queens to king of rap

It is hard not to see an element of spoilt-brattishness in the assertion by the rapper 50 Cent that he would retire as a solo artist if the new album by his rival Kanye West outsold his own. But his bluff could be called today when the US chart is published – West is expected to top it, as he has in the UK, and some people think this might be behind 50 Cent’s decision to cancel the European visit during which he was to perform at the MOBOs tonight. Fifty, as he is known, is a man with a publicity-grabbing history of feuds with rivals, and ambitions far beyond the music scene. Still only 32, he already has lines of video games, clothes and footwear to his name and when asked if there could be a President 50 Cent, he replied: “Never say never.” 50 Cent (real name: Curtis Jackson) grew up in one of the roughest areas of New York and had a spectacularly grim childhood. (The name comes from a Brooklyn robber of the same name; “I’m the same kind of person 50 Cent was,” the rapper has said. “I provide for myself by any means.”) His father wasn’t around and his mother, a drug-dealer, was 15 when she had him and 23 when she was murdered. Brought up by his grandparents, he began dealing crack at 12, impressed by the flashy cars and smart clothes of the local drug dealers. “Some people criticise my lyrics for being aggressive,” he has said, “but in my eyes it’s a direct reflection of the environment I grew up in.”

He ended up in and out of jail, and in 2000 had a run-in with another drug dealer, who shot him nine times. He now wears a bullet-proof vest constantly, travels in a bullet-proof car and says that anger is the feeling he is most comfortable with. “I know I did the wrong thing,” he once said of his drug-dealing past, “but it didn’t feel like there was any options.”

He credits the birth of his son, Marquise, now 10, with being the impetus he needed to turn his life around. Rap was his salvation, and he was the first artist Eminem signed to his record label. Get Rich or Die Tryin’, his debut album, sold nearly 11 million copies (he thanked his parole officer on the album sleeve). An attempt to break into films followed, when he appeared in a semi-auto-biographical film of the same name as his debut album, but it was voted by one internet film site as the 27th worst movie of all time.

But Fifty has had the last laugh: now worth upwards of $60 million (£30 million), and with a penchant for statement diamond jewellery, he lives in the former mansion of the boxer Mike Tyson in Connecticut, and has a stated ambition to become a billionaire. “I might be the rapper from Queens,” he said in 2006, “but most of my time is now spent thinking about brand names, company profiles and empire-building. In that sense I see myself primarily as a businessman.” Or possibly president.

Source: http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk