10 Years of 50 Cent

“Go shorty, it’s your birthday, we gonna party like it’s your birthday”….

It is indeed the tenth birthday (February 6^th 2003) of 50 Cent’s first official album release ‘Get Rich or Die Tryin’’. After flooding the underground mixtape scene with material such as ‘Power of the Dollar’ and ‘50 Cent is the Future’ this was Curtis Jackson’s first shot a mainstream fame.

He already created a buzz for himself with songs like ‘How to Rob’, ‘Wanksta’ and ‘Ghetto Qu’ran’ as Colombia Records, who he was signed to in 2000 dropped him after he was shot nine times outside his Grandmothers house in South Jamaica Queens.

Overcoming adversity was nothing new to 50, his mother was killed when he was eight-years-old and his mentor Jam Master Jay was murdered in 2002. Even though 50 lost the two closes people to him he surrounded himself in the streets with a group initially known as the ‘134 All-Stars’ later 'G-Unit'.

After being shot, 50 stopped selling drug and focused all his attention on succeeding in the Rap game and as soon as he recovered from the shooting (with a new flow due to being shot in the mouth) he was straight back on his grind. 50 somehow managed to get a copy of his ‘Guess Who’s Back?’ mixtape to Eminem who then introduced him to Dr. Dre and the three headed monster was born.

Impressed by his dedication and perseverance (50’s mixtape campaign was unprecedented at the time) Dr. Dre, Eminem and Jimmy Iovine signed him to Shady/Aftermath/Interscope in 2002 for one million dollars and a five album deal.

While the majority of 50’s tracks were all about the struggle and tales from the hood, his first single from GRODT ‘In Da Club’ was a celebration of life and a became 50’s first number one single. The song also won Best Rap Video at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards and 50 also won the award for Best New Artist. The hit single spent eight weeks on top of the Billboard charts and remained in the charts for 100 weeks. Other album cuts such as '21 Questions' (also a number one single) showed a different side to 50 not seen in his previous releases.

To keep his hardcore audience happy 50 included gritty tracks on the album such as ‘Many Men’, ‘Back Down’ and ‘P.I.M.P’. The album was an instant hit, selling 872,000 copies in it’s first week and debuted in the Billboard charts at number one. The album went on to sell 12 million copies world wide, nominated for two Grammy’s (Best Rap solo performance and Best Rap song) and in 2009 Billboard magazine rated it at number 12 in the top 200 albums of the decade.

A new star was born. The best compliment that can be given to 50 is that GRODT can be spoken in the same breath as legendary debut albums such as Jay-Z’s ‘Reasonable Doubt’ Notorious B.I.G.'s 'Ready to Die' and Nas's ‘Illmatic’. Those album all had reply value and you could listen to them years later without skipping a track GRODT was in that category.

After the success of his GRODT 50 was granted his own label G-Unit Records in 2003, he signed Tony Yayo, Lloyd Bank$ and Young Buck. The group’s first album ‘Beg for Mercy’ sold 3.5 million records, another triumph for 50, everything he touch turned to gold (well platinum actually). All three members of G-Unit released solo albums with one going gold and the other two going platinum, between 2002-2005 was truly the G-Unit era. 50 later signed Mobb Deep, The Game (who also went platinum in 05), M.O.P., Spider Loc, Olivia, Kidd Kidd, Governor, DJ Pauly D,  Precious Paris and Hot Rod.

Not satisfied with conquering the music industry 50 created G-Unit clothing, games, his own website (ThisIs50.com), books and starred in his own film ‘Get Rich or Die Tryin’’(the soundtrack to the film also went double platinum). He knew music wouldn’t last forever and planned for his future after he hung up the microphone.

On March 3rd 2005 50’s second album ‘The Massacre’ was released, this album had a more commercial sound to it with songs like ‘Candy Shop’, ‘Disco Inferno’ and ‘Just a Lil Bit’. Nevertheless ‘The Massacre’ sold a million copies in it’s first week, became the number one album three different countries and went platinum nine times. It was also nominated for Grammy Award for Best Album at the 48^th Grammys.

50 next two albums ‘Curtis’ in 2007 and ‘Before I Self Destruct’ in 2009 were less critically acclaimed (however both went platinum) but included standout singles such as club banger ‘I Get Money’ (Curtis) and ‘Baby by Me’ (BISD).

50 also worked with Glacéau to create a vitamin water drink called Formula 50. In 2007, Coca-Cola purchased Glacéau for 4.1 billion dollars. Forbes estimated 50, who owed a stake in the company earned 100 million dollars from the deal.

After his two previous album were released speculation mounted that 50 wasn’t focused on music anymore, this could be attributed to the fact that he had created a energy drink (Street King, with every purchase, a portion of the sales went to providing a daily meal to an underprivileged child around the world), SMS Audio (headphones) and became a boxing promoter (signing 2004 Olympic gold medallist Yuriorkis Gamboa).

However even though 50 is now a one man conglomerate he never forgot what brought him to the dance, mixtapes. While other rappers such as Jay-Z, Nas and Kayne West abandoned the mixtapes 50 has released six in the past five years.

His last album obligation to Shady/Aftermath/Interscope ‘Street King Immortal’ is due out in spring this year and the singles so far indicate 50 is far from finished. He wants to leave the label the same way he entered with a bang.

Throughout all his rap beefs with Ja Rule, Jay-Z, Fat Joe, D-Block, Nas, Diddy, The Game and Rick Ross, 50 always remained focused and relevant, most importantly for him he has never back down from a challenge or confrontation.

From his death bed to Hollywood, from mug shots to Forbes magazine 50’s journey to the top is a remarkable story, an inspiration! His mission in life was to ‘Get Rich or Die Tryin’ and from where I’m standing it’s mission accomplished without the dying.