Curtis Jackson (Left) with Eminem (Right) during his induction to the Hollywood Walk Of Fame

Everyone has heard of 50 Cent and can objectively say that he has had a very influential impact on the hip-hop/rap industry, however, not many are aware of who he was before the fame and how he got there.

Curtis Jackson was born and raised in the South Jamaican boroughs of Queens in New York City in 1975. Not much is known about his absent father, and his mother, Sabrina, worked as one of the top drug dealers in Queens until she was murdered when Jackson was 8 years old. After that, Curtis moved in with and was raised by his grandmother. With the onset of the 1980’s inner city crack epidemic life was tough and unforgiving, and Curtis had to adapt to his harsh environment. At the age of 12, Curtis Jackson began selling narcotics because his family was too poor and he was too young to get a legal job. 

Jackson’s early schooling career (elementary to high school) mostly consisted of messing around in school, boxing/sparring, and selling crack-cocaine on the side. As a dealer, Jackson would bring paraphernalia, guns, money, and drugs to school, and he was able to successfully avoid the law for a few years until he was caught by a metal detector at Andrew Jackson High School in Queens. Up until this point in his life, Jackson had kept his drug dealing secret away from his grandmother, but after the embarrassment of getting arrested in school Curtis came clean and openly spoke with his grandmother about selling drugs. 

Album cover for “Get Rich or Die Tryin'”, which was released as 50 Cent’s debut album

Despite selling drugs, Curtis tried his best to stay away from addiction as he knew that his obsessive personality would not mix well with drugs, and he has even stated that he would not just get high, but get to a point at which he wouldn’t come back as himself. Three years after his first arrest, Curtis was again arrested for drugs after selling cocaine to an undercover police officer. Then, only a few weeks later, he was arrested again when the cops did a house raid and found guns and narcotics. Jackson was facing a sentence of 3-9 years in prison for his drug-related escapades, fortunately he was able to plead down to 7 months in a youth work boot camp in upstate New York. While anyone in this situation would not have a very good outlook on life, those 7 months would be the most important and impactful young Jackson would ever experience. Within those 7 months Jackson became a changed man. He earned his GED, gained a resolve to join the music industry by any means possible, and gave himself the nickname ‘50 Cent’ to literally spell out his change in life.

With this Jackson turned his life away from drugs and began to pursue his dream of making music. In the beginning, 50 Cent worked with producers and friends to learn how to write music properly and after many mixtapes, he was successfully signed to Columbia Records. Then, after being shot nine times in a drive-by by Darryl Baum (Who was later killed), he was in the hospital and was dropped from the label and blacklisted from the American Music industry because of his song “Ghetto Qur’an” that portrayed the life of drug dealers in the 1980’s. Instead of quitting music, 50 Cent moved to Canada and began working again after his full recovery from the shooting. Then in 2002, he released a track Guess Who’s Back that caught the attention of Eminem who then signed a record deal with him and eventually gave him his own label. 

If Curtis never realized he wanted more out of life, didn’t get away from drugs, or continue to pursue his musical passion he would not be who he is today. The point is that there are countless paths in life and taking one does not guarantee anything, but what we can do is take the one that fosters the most passion and happiness and never let go.