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Curtis James Jackson III, more commonly known as 50 Cent, was born in the Jamaica District of Queens, New York on July 6th, 1975 (Reece, 2003). His life was centered in a rough area well known for the amount of drugs present and a main area for crack dealers. He grew up not knowing his father who had run out on him at an early age. His mother was a well-known cocaine dealer who had him when she was only fifteen years old. She was killed over what was most likely a drug-related incident when he was only eight years old. After her death he went to live with his grandparents.
Moving in with his grandparents was unable to shield 50 Cent from the life of drugs that his mother endured. At the young age of twelve he began selling crack on the streets (Toure, 2003). On June 29, 1994, Jackson was arrested for helping to sell four vials of cocaine to an undercover police officer. He was arrested again three weeks later when police searched his home and found heroin, ten ounces of crack cocaine, and a starter gun. He was sentenced to three to nine years in prison, but managed to serve six months in a shock incarceration boot camp, where he earned his GED (“50 Cent”, 2007).
By the mid-nineties Jackson began moving away from the life of a drug dealer and pursuing a career in rap music. Jam Master Jay, a member of Run DMC, became his mentor and helped him refine his song-writing skills. He later released the single, “How to Rob”, which became the first song in a future of controversial hits. His rap career temporarily came to a halt when he was attacked by a gunman outside his parent’s home in May 24, 2000 and shot nine times. He survived this incident but he was dropped by his record label soon after it occurred. One bullet pierced his left gum and left him with a piece of the bullet in his tongue and a hole in his jaw. Ironically, the piece of bullet in his tongue combined with the hole in his jaw left him a slur that characterizes him from other...