According to news reports, he’s been shot 9 times. He’s been stabbed. He’s done jail time. His drug-dealing mother was murdered when he was eight and by age 12 he was selling crack to buy expensive shoes. He was in and out of jail throughout his teens, and he wears a bulletproof vest every day. To hip-hop music fans these brutal realities only add to 50 Cent’s appeal.
Popular on the mix-tape circuit for years, the 26-year-old Queens, New York native has hit the big league with his new album, “Get Rich or Die Trying,” which pushed 872,000 copies in only four days, making the album the fastest-selling major label debut of all time, according SoundScan, which has been tracking music sales since 1991.
Eminem and Dr. Dre reportedly signed the rapper to a $1 million deal with Shady/Aftermath records. With the backing of hip-hop’s two most prominent players in his back pocket, 50 Cent was bound to get hype.
“Having Dr. Dre’s and Eminem’s stamp on him definitely helped, but he’s good on his own,” said Nick Mitchell, a history sophomore. “A lot of rap now is repetitious, but his lyrics take on a different perspective.”
Leonard Moore, an associate professor of history and director of African and African-American studies, thinks 50 Cent’s success is based more on marketing strategies.
Kelly Porter, a political science junior, was tired with the current state of rap music and sees 50 Cent as a breath of fresh air.
“His style is different. His rhyming style is more hip-hop, while the beats are more club,” Porter said. “It’s catchy.”
“50 Cent has a thug image, and he makes dance music,” Moore said. “He’s able to be in two genres — the club bouncing, ‘real nigga’ genre over here with the tattoos and the doo-rag and the big arms rolling around in the bulletproof jeep, but also his songs get major radio play and they are excellent songs to dance to. So, that explains the phenomenon, in many ways, of 50 Cent.”
But, 50 Cent’s seemingly swift rise to hip-hop’s hottest commodity did not happen overnight.
Born Curtis Jackson in New York’s Jamaica, Queens ghetto, 50 Cent began rapping after he got out of jail in 1995, according to the Los Angeles Times, and was discovered by Jam Master Jay, the Run-DMC DJ who was shot and killed Oct. 30, 2002.
In 1999, 50 Cent worked out a deal with Columbia Records and laid down 36 tracks in three weeks, according to the L.A. Times, but the label never released the sessions which included the now notorious “How to Rob” anthem, in which the rapper fantasizes about robbing some of the hip-hop elite.
The song touched a susceptible nerve in the rap world, thus instigating several responses in songs and in interviews, but none were more severe than a March 2000 brawl at a Manhattan studio. The incident left the rapper stabbed by an alleged East Coast rival, according to the L.A. Times.
Two months later 50 Cent was shot multiple times (including one shot to the face) in his old neighborhood of Queens.
“When you get shot, where I’m from, if you can move your fingers and toes afterwards, you’re all right,” 50 Cent told the L.A. Times. “In the hood, it ain’t nothing shocking. You heal up. You get back to work. The truth is, losing that record deal hurt me more than that shooting.”
The loss turned out to be Eminem’s and Dr. Dre’s gain, who were impressed with the rapper’s talent and proceeded expeditiously to pursue the rapper in a much-publicized bidding war, according to the Associated Press.
This year, 50 Cent secured his major label and mainstream introduction on Eminem’s soundtrack for “8 Mile,” with the hit single, “Wanksta.”
The song assisted the soundtrack’s sales to become one of the best-selling albums of 2002, with more than 4 million records sold, according to SoundScan.
With the release of 50 Cent’s debut LP, “Get Rich or Die Trying,” which SoundScan reported had sold more than 1.7 million units at press time, the rapper has many supporters and haters.
“I think his success is a time frame issue,” said Ronnie Redman, a general studies senior. “The fact that he is backed by Eminem is his only distinction. People associate popularity with Eminem.”
However, some see his scarred background and thug lifestyle as testament to his street credibility.
“His popularity makes sense to me because he seems more human — he wears a bulletproof vest and he was a drug dealer,” said Adrianne McDonald, a pre-veterinarian sophomore. “That makes him seem real.”
Moore explains that “real is relative” because a lot of record companies drum up their artists’ delinquencies to promote sales and sensationalize the rapper’s personas. He points to 50 Cent’s album title, “Get Rich or Die Trying” as an example.
“Hip-hop is entertainment,” Moore said. “Some artists lie about their age. They lie about where they’re from. They lie about having a violent upbringing, and it’s all part of the packaging. You’re not only selling the music, but also you’re selling the culture.”