Born July 6, 1975, in Queens, New York City, U.S., Curtis Jackson A.K.A. 50-Cent childhood was surrounded by acute poverty that gave tumultuous past and a precarious upbringing. Such times can either make or break a person, and 50-cent chose the former path. He grew up in one of New York’s roughest neighbourhoods, which was surrounded by crime and rugs, and his mother was a drug dealer.
When he was merely 8 years old, he lost his mother to an incident coined a ‘mysterious’ fire. Afterwards, his father left young Jackson, and he was at the mercy of his grandmother. At the age of 12, Jackson started walking on the footprints of his mother and dealing drugs. The time when he was in the drug industry was labelled as a drug epidemic in the 1980s.
Every negative is a positive. The bad things that happen to me, I somehow make them good. That means you can’t do anything to hurt me.
Life turned back on Jackson at the age of 19 when he was finally arrested for dealing drugs and possession of arms. He was sentenced to 3-9 years in prison but was finally sent to Bootcamp, where he spent only 6 months and earned his GED (General Education Development).
After the release, he changed his name to 50-cent as a moniker on the name of a local bank robber. All he did was to change his life and to start living from a new beginning.
50-cent quoted once for his moniker name, “because it says everything I want it to say. I’m the same kind of person 50-Cent was. I provide for myself by any means.”
The struggle ends here for him. In 2000, Jackson cheated on death when he was shot 9 times at close range by an unidentified assailant out of his grandmother’s home. He was left for dead but somehow was saved by the excellent medical staff of the US.
In the hospital, 50-cent cracked a deal with Columbia Records but was later dropped from the label. Due to his controversial song “Ghetto Qu’ran”, the entire recording industry of The US blacklisted him, forcing him to go to the neighbouring country ‘Canada’ to record over 30 songs to release a mixtape.
It was the year 2002 when the sun shone on him. Eminem signed 50-Cent to his label ‘Shady Records’ after listening to his song “Guess Who’s Back?” Under the mentorship of two coaches, Eminem and Dr Dre, Jackson released his first studio album, “Get Rich or Die Tryin’”. The album was sold like hotcakes, and it became 6-times platinum in The US, starting the era of 50-Cent.
Currently, Curtis Jackson, A.K.A. 50-Cent, is one of the world’s most famous and selling rappers in the world.
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