What Will I Learn?
Information
Name: | Curtis James Jackson III |
Nickname: | 50 Cent, Ferrari F-50. |
Birth Date: | July 6, 1975 (age 44) |
Occupation: | Rapper, Songwriter, Entrepreneur, Producer, Businessman, Actor. |
Net-Worth: | $30 million |
Spouse: | None |
Children: | 2 |
Zodiac Sign: | Cancer |
Introduction
He is probably one of the most famous rappers in history, selling over 30 million albums throughout his career and winning various music awards including a grammy. Coming from a low-income family he made it to success amassing a fortune of more than US$ 30 million passing through multiple failures, an almost deadly shooting he was involved in and. Today we talk about the man that is considered the baddest in hip hop history Curtis James Jackson III a.k.a. 50 Cents.
Early life
He was born in July 6, 1975 in Jamaica, Queens. His mother gave birth to him when she was only 15, while 50 cents never knew who his father was. The family struggled financially, and his mother needed to deal with drugs to provide support for 50 cents; she sold them in Southside Jamaica, a dangerous block of New York.
One day she didn’t come back home as she was murdered inner apartment with a poisoned drink. This caused Curtis Jackson to react by getting himself involved as well in the drug dealing business under the name “Bubu” by selling crack that at the time was very popular. Life was hard in the neighborhood and in order to make it through the streets, Curtis subscribed to boxing and purchased a gun with which he could defend himself and get himself respected.
During his drug dealing time, he was arrested twice, once when he was 14 and another time when he was 17 but since he was too young to go to jail, the officers opted for his shock incarceration. Out of the boot camp that was similar to a military one, he went back to his city selling drugs again.
Career
He knew he couldn’t have made it selling drugs only, that’s when he figured out the idea of getting into the rap world and write music for a living. One night Curtis went to a club and randomly met Jam Master Jay, a promise t figure in the rap world at the time. Curtis approached him with so much confidence, telling him that he was going to make it big that Jam Master Jay agreed to make him listen to his lyrics.
He wasn’t good at first, so he needed to take some classes on how to write music. Eventually, he started becoming good and got signed to Jam Master Jay’s record label, a fact that was about to change Curtis’ life forever.
He later god a child, and this caused him to focus on his career as a musician. He still didn’t make it big, even after signing to Columbia Records and producing an entire album of his. So he wrote a single pointing out his frustration and anger concerning the rap industry, citing as well big names of it that later answered back to him in their songs; he was making a lot of enemies.
His beginning success was starting to bother someone, until, on May 24, 2000, Jackson was attacked by a gunman that shot him nine times; he still survived and went to a rehab period that would change him forever.
His Success
After the shooting he started releasing independent mixtapes after the shooting, being more confident and aggressive than ever speaking still with his bullet in his tongue. He formed a group g-unit with two of his friends with which they sold out many shows (Lloyd Banks, Tony Yayo and Young Buck were three of the members), making thousands of dollars in a short time; it was finally working.
All the record labels started to call him to offer deals of the magnitude of million dollars. Eminem was one fo those interested in him, so he flew to LA to meet him and Dr.Dre and together they signed a US $1 million deal that eventually made him one of the hottest stars in hip hop.
In January 2003, 50 cents released his single “In da Club” from his album “Get rich or die tryin'” that brought him to heights never seen before. Suddenly he made hundreds of thousands of dollars each week, and ladies and fans were all around him.
In 2005 he released another of his album “the massacre,” selling 4 million copies like candies; also his enemies increased after this huge success. He started expanding his horizons, so he made deals with fashion labels and other businesses that made him earn more than US $100 million.
3 Lessons we can learn from his story
Lesson 1: Be Fearless and bigger than your problems
Fifty cents didn’t get scared after he was almost shot to death. Better saying that he was afraid at the beginning, but he knew that he couldn’t let his fear take over him. That’s when he decided to come back stronger than before and never to be fooled by his own fears anymore because if you have problems in life, the only way to overcome them is to become bigger than those problems.
Lesson 2: Learn from your mistakes
After being sent to the rehab program after his arrest, he learned that he couldn’t go back to the streets selling drugs as this wouldn’t’ have ensured him a bright future. That’s when he decided to pursue his career as a rapper, even though he could make much more money selling drug (at least at the beginning).
Lesson 3: Keep Pushing
Even though he wanted to win so bad as a rapper, he didn’t see the lights of success until years of struggle passed by. In his case, backing up has never been an option, but many people just surrender to circumstances even when things don’t go well. Whatever your situation keep pushing like 50 cents did and one day you’ll see the light shine upon your face.
5 Tips to Succeed
Tip #1: Understand Life
Sometimes things won’t work out for you the moment you feel ready for them; usually, things will just happen to you, and you’ll find yourself in a completely different energy setting than before. When things don’t work well for you, don’t worry, you’re just making your skin thicker so that you’ll be able to handle success once you achieve it.
Tip #2: Give Back
Whether you already achieved success or you’re on your path to achieve it, give back to the people as we’re not alone in this world. This will help you develop not only a sense of confidence (you can give instead of only taking) but also will make you feel happy and grateful for contributing to the improvement of others lives.
Tip #3: Don’t chase Money
It won’t be the amount of money that you’ll make that will make you feel good about yourself. It will be the process it self of making them and the journey that will transform you as a man into a better version of yourself that you should be really looking for. In the end, money is just a number, but all the things you will experience through your path to success won’t be numbers but emotions that you’ll bring with you forever.
Tip #4: Be Yourself
It’s useless that you try to copy somebody and make it big like them. If you do that you’ll hardly become successful as you’ll just be a copy of something already existing. The best thing to do to raise your odds of success is to make things that are original and that nobody else has already done.
Tip #5: Be Confident
Believe in yourself enough so that other people will start believing in yourself too. There will be times when you won’t feel like being up to the challenges confronts yourself with but if you aren’t the first to believe in yourself, then who do you think is going to do? Fifty cents is a master when it comes in the power of self-belief and self-confidence, and we can see this from the benefits he got of believing in himself.
Favorite Quotes
- “Get rich or die tryin’.”
- “I never allow my fear to limit me.”
- “Everything happens when it’s supposed to happen.”
- “Love your enemies and hate your friends. Your enemies remain the same; friends always change.”
- “Your opinion of yourself becomes your reality.”
- “Just be confident. I think confidence is the most attractive part of a person.”
Curiosities
- He owns an $18 million mansion in Connecticut.
- Snoop Dogg once stole his Lamborghini.
- He made $100 million after the sale of Vitamin Water, of which he was a shareholder.
- During his shooting, one of the bullets hit him in the face, throwing away one of his teeth and tearing his tongue.
Conclusion
Fifty Cents is not only one of the greatest rappers in history but also an incredible business savvy and investor. Thanks to his confidence, desire to win and unstoppable drive, he made it both through the rap and business ranks, accumulating a fortune of more than $30 million. His legacy will be remembered days after he’ll be gone.
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