50 Cent

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

## 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. 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. 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_ <small>(with G-Unit)</small> (2003)
- _T·O·S (Terminate on Sight)_ <small>(with G-Unit)</small> (2008)

### Grammy Awards

50 Cent has been nominated 14 times and won once.

|Year|Nominated work|Award|Result||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|rowspan="5"|2004|50 Cent|Best New Artist||
|rowspan="2"|"In da Club"|Best Male Rap Solo Performance|||
|Best Rap Song|||||
|"Magic Stick" <small>(with Lil' Kim)</small>|Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group||||
|_Get Rich or Die Tryin_'|Best Rap Album||||
|rowspan="6"|2006|"Disco Inferno"|Best Male Rap Solo Performance||
|"Encore" <small>(with Eminem & Dr. Dre)</small>|Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group||||
|"Hate It or Love It" <small>(with The Game)</small>|Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group||||
|"Candy Shop"|Best Rap Song||||
|"Hate It or Love It"|Best Rap Song||||
|_The Massacre_|Best Rap Album||||
|rowspan="2"|2008|"I Get Money"|Best Rap Solo Performance||
|"Ayo Technology" <small>(with Justin Timberlake & Timbaland)</small>|Best Rap Song||||
||2010|"Crack A Bottle"<small>(with Eminem & Dr. Dre)</small>|Best Rap Performance By A Duo Or Group||

### World Music Awards

50 Cent has won six awards.

|Year|Nominated work|Award|Result||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|rowspan="5"|2003|50 Cent|Best Artist of the Year||
|50 Cent|Best New Artist||||
|50 Cent|Best R&B Act||||
|50 Cent|Best Hip-Hop Act||||
|50 Cent|Best Pop Act||||
|2007|50 Cent|Best-Selling Hip-Hop Artist|||

## Filmography

|Year|Title|Role|class="unsortable"|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_|The Pharmacy|||
|2015|_Spy_|Himself|||
|2015|_Southpaw_|Jordan Mains|||
|2016|_Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping_|Himself|||
|2017|_The Pursuit_||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|class="unsortable"|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_|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|class="unsortable"|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|Voice only||

## Other websites

- 50 Cent (Note: needs Adobe Flash)
- 50 Cent

## Infobox (musical artist)

- **embed**: yes
- **genre**: Hip hop
- **past member of**: G-Unit


## Infobox (person)

- **name**: 50 Cent
- **image**: 50 Cent in 2018.png
- **caption**: 50 Cent in 2018
- **birth name**: Curtis James Jackson III
- **birth place**: Queens, New York City, U.S.
- **years active**: –present
- **organization**: G-Unity Foundation
- **children**: 2
- **awards**: List of awards and nominations received by 50 Cent, Full list