50 Cent

50 Cent (real name Curtis James Jackson III) is a highly successful rapper from Queens, NYC.

He has released three solo albums to date: Power of the Dollar (1999), Get Rich or Die Tryin’ (2003), The Massacre (2005). He was also featured on the soundtrack to the movie Get Rich or Die Tryin’, a story about his life in which he starred as himself, released in 2005.

Before 50 Cent ever inked a major deal, he built up a substantial fan base in New York through underground mixtapes. 50 Cent met up with Jam Master Jay of Run-D.M.C. and was signed to his label to write all of Jay’s music. After he’d left JMJ, he signed to Columbia Records in 1999. On this label, he released Power of the Dollar, and the singles How to Rob and Ghetto Qu’ran. Columbia Records released him from the label after being shot on May 24th, 2000.

Around this time, Eminem had heard one of 50 Cent’s demo tapes and expressed a huge interest in him on MTV, as did Dr. Dre. Shortly after this, 50 Cent officially signed to Interscope Records. He was the first rapper to sign to the joint label owned by Dr Dre and Eminem. The first song he released on this record was entitled Wanksta and was featured on the 8 Mile soundtrack.

In its first week of release, his debut ”Get Rich Or Die Tryin’” sold 872,000 units - easily reaching Gold status. Within the second week it went Platinum (1 mil) and on April 12th, 2004 the RIAA certified it six times Platinum.

In 2005 he followed the success of his album Get Rich or Die Tryin’ with a new release - The Massacre (originally called St. Valentines Day Massacre until the release date was pushed back). The first single released off this, Disco Inferno, was a huge hit - he followed this hit up by the release of Candy Shop and then again with Just a Lil Bit.

In 2003 Interscope allowed 50 Cent to have his own label - G-Unit records. He first signed Lloyd Banks, Tony Yayo and Young Buck as the established members of G-Unit. In 2004, Dr. Dre and 50 Cent had signed The Game under a joint venture.

Before 50 Cent had even signed to Interscope Records he was involved with a dispute between rival rapper Ja Rule - the rappers recorded several mix-tapes ‘dissing’ each other. 50 Cent accused Ja Rule of singing rather than rapping.

50 Cent currently has an escalating feud with The Game. The Game, who had previously worked with G-Unit, left the group due to a growing number of personal disputes with 50 Cent. Recently, the feud has been unilateraly called off by The Game, but speculations have since arisen due to the presence of diss tracks on The Game’s LP, The Doctor’s Advocate.

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Kante West

Kanye Omari West is a ten-time Grammy Award-winning American rapper, record producer and singer. He released his debut album The College Dropout in 2004, his second album Late Registration in 2005, his third album Graduation in 2007, and his fourth album 808s & Heartbreak in 2008.

He gained fame by producing hit singles for major hip hop/R&B artists, including Jay-Z, Talib Kweli, Cam’ron, Paul Wall, Common, Mobb Deep, Jermaine Dupri, Scarface, The Game, Alicia Keys, Janet Jackson, John Legend among others.

The College Dropout (2002–2004)
On October 23, 2002, West was involved in a near fatal car crash while driving home from the recording studio. The crash provided inspiration for West’s first single, “Through the Wire”. The album also featured the singles, “Jesus Walks”, “All Falls Down” and “The New Workout Plan”, as well as Twista’s number one single, “Slow Jamz.”

The album was eventually certified triple platinum. Guest appearances included Jay-Z, Ludacris, GLC, Consequence, Talib Kweli, Mos Def, Common, and Syleena Johnson.

Late Registration (2005)
The first two singles from Late Registration were “Diamonds from Sierra Leone” (which features vocals from Shirley Bassey’s “Diamonds Are Forever”) and “Gold Digger” featuring Jamie Foxx, (which contains an interpolation of Ray Charles’s “I Got a Woman”). The album sold over 860,000 copies in its first week and earned eight Grammy Award nominations including Album of the Year and Record of the Year for the song “Gold Digger”.

The album is certified triple platinum. Guest appearances include Lupe Fiasco, Jamie Foxx, Adam Levine, Paul Wall, GLC, Cam’ron, Common, Brandy, Nas, Jay-Z, Consequence, The Game, and Really Doe.

Graduation (2007)
In July 2007, West changed the release date of Graduation, his third album, from September 18, 2007, to the same release date as 50 Cent’s album Curtis, September 11, 2007. West was nominated in 8 Grammy Award categories for the 50th annual Grammy Awards. He won four of them, including Best Rap Album for Graduation and Best Rap Solo Performance for “Stronger” from Graduation. During the four-hour televised Grammy Awards ceremony, West also performed two songs: “Stronger” (with Daft Punk) and “Hey Mama” (in honor of his recently deceased mother).

The album has been certified double platinum. Guest appearances included T-Pain, Mos Def, & Lil Wayne

808s & Heartbreak (2008–present)
On September 7, West debuted a new song “Love Lockdown” at the MTV Video Music Awards. “Love Lockdown”, which features no rapping and only singing using an auto-tune device. This song appears on Kanye’s fourth studio album, 808s & Heartbreak. The new album was expected to be released on December 16, but West announced on his blog on September 24, 2008, that he had finished the album and would be releasing it sometime in November, earlier than previously scheduled. The first two singles from 808s & Heartbreak were “Love Lockdown” and “Heartless”. This was a success thanks to Rocky Dang and John Salinas’s producing.

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