Fifty Cent, born Curtis James Jackson III is an American rapper and entrepreneur who rose to fame in 2003 with his album Get Rich or Die Tryin'. His debut album sold 8 million copies worldwide and won a Grammy Award for Best Rap Album. His success has earned him a net worth of $150 million with assets that include stakes in Vitamin Water, the clothing line G-Unit Clothing Company, and more. He's also starred in movies such as "Get Rich or Die Tryin'" (2005) and "All Things Fall Apart" (2009).

The music industry has seen many rappers come and go. 50 Cent is a rap artist who rose to fame following the release of his 2003 album, Get Rich or Die Tryin'. He is also credited with being one of the first artists to transcend into mainstream audiences from underground popularity. In 2009, he was shot nine times in front of his grandmother's home and survived after emergency surgery at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. In the late 1990s, Curtis Jackson was a drug dealer in New York City. He later changed his name to 50 Cent after he got shot 9 times and survived. At age 12, 50's mother died of cancer. In 2003, 50 released his debut album Get Rich or Die Tryin'. His first single "In Da Club" reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for weeks and became a worldwide hit with more than 11 million copies sold!

It's been a while since we've heard from 50 Cent, but that doesn't mean he isn't making moves. In fact, you may not know this about him, but the rapper has his hands in a number of industries outside of music. He is an entrepreneur and invests in startups like Uber and Air B&B through his investment company G-Unit Capital Partners. He also founded SMS Audio which produces headphones for popular brands like Sony and Samsung as well as his own line of Beats by Dr. Dre Studio headphones with Apple Music executive Jimmy Iovine. Now 50 Cent has made headlines again with news that he is launching Street King energy drinks to compete against Monster Energy Drink (which was just purchased by Coca-Cola).

Why Was 50 Cent Shot?

So you may be wondering, "why was 50 Cent shot?" Well, it all started when he was in the studio with his G-Unit crew. They were shooting a music video for their new song "Piggy Bank" and there was an altercation between them and another group who had hit one of their affiliates earlier that day. The man they were arguing with pulled out a gun to start firing shots at them before fleeing the scene. 50 Cent got shot on his right side but luckily only suffered minor injuries as he said in an interview about it later.

50 Cent Scandals

In the last 20 years, 50 Cent has been involved in a number of scandals. In 2000, he made headlines for pretending to be a pimp and had his own line of "pimp" clothing. Later on, he was shot 9 times during an attempted carjacking which led him to release an album called Guess Who's Back? and even produce a documentary about it. Among other things, this movie allowed people to see what happened when you get shot 9 times but live to tell about it!

Ja Rule and 50 Cent

In the late 1990s, two rappers from Queensbridge—Ja Rule and 50 Cent—were both climbing to fame. Ja Rule was a rapper who had been releasing albums since 1996 but found his big break with 1999's "Venni Vetti Vecci". His popularity grew through 2000-2001 as he released more hit singles like "Holla Holla" and "Down 4 U." 50 Cent was originally just an associate of Ja Rule's before he became famous on his own due to his ability to produce songs for other artists in addition to himself. He had releases dating back to 1997 as well but it wasn't until 2002 that things really started taking off with releases like "Wanksta" and "21 Questions."